Pilots Believe Lasers Are Deliberate

Federal agents are investigating a recent rash of lasers being directed towards the cockpits of airplanes in several locations, including Cleveland, Washington, Houston, Teterboro, N.J., Medford, Ore., and Colorado Springs. Although not uncommon, lasers incidents have historically been accidental whereas the latest events appear to be deliberate.

"This type of activity is completely unprecedented," said Dave Mackett, a pilot and head of the Airline Pilots Security Alliance. "These have all the hallmarks of being deliberate."

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"A few seem to be intentional, and we're wondering why and what's going on," said Steve Luckey, a retired pilot who is chairman of the Airline Pilots Association's national security committee.

A high-intensity laser directed into the cockpit could cause irreparable damage to the eyes of the pilot and copilot, creating a crash risk during a non-instrumented landing. Loren Thompson, military technology teacher at Georgetown University, stated:

"What we're talking about is a fairly powerful visible light laser that has the ability to lock on to a fast-moving aircraft.

"That's not the sort of thing you pick up at a military surplus store," he added. "It sounds like an organised effort to cause airline accidents."

According to a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, investigators are questioning a Parsippany, N.J., man about an incident last night involving a police helicopter and two incidents on Wednesday night involving a Cessna airplane. On Wednesday, a government official stated that six commercial aircraft had been targeted with lasers in a period of four days.

Although the danger of laser damage to a pilots' eyes is everpresent, the recent incidents seem to primarily involve fixed-wing aircraft on landing approach and, in one case, a helicopter. To my knowledge, there has been no mention of incidents during takeoff or flight at cruising altitude. The potential, however, does exist.