Pilots Contend With Record Number of Laser Strikes, F.A.A. Says
By Livia Albeck-Ripka, May 2, 2022, NY Times

One foggy night in December 2018, David Hill was trying to
land a helicopter when a beam of light suddenly overwhelmed
his night vision goggles. Mr. Hill, an emergency services
pilot, had been called to airlift a teenager who had been
badly injured in an all-terrain vehicle crash from a village
35 miles north of Madison, Wis. But now, Mr. Hill was
temporarily blinded.

Flying about 500 feet above the ground, he tried to get his
bearings. It was “like looking into the sun, and all I can
see are bright spots,” he recalled.

A person had pointed a laser at his helicopter. From 2010-2021,
close to 70,000 pilots reported similar episodes, according to
the Federal Aviation Administration. Last year it recorded over
9,700 cases, a record high, and a 41 percent increase from 2020.

When a laser pointer reaches a cockpit, the light can disorient
or “completely incapacitate” a pilot, who on a commercial airplane
could be responsible for hundreds of passengers, the F.A.A. said.
Some commercial flight paths have been disrupted, causing pilots
to change course or even turn around.

“What you might see as a toy has the capacity to momentarily
blind the crew member,” Billy Nolen, the acting administrator
of the F.A.A., said.

Though no plane has ever been reported to have crashed as a
result of a laser strike, Mr. Nolen said in a phone interview
that there was always a risk of a “tragic outcome.” He added,
“This is not an arcade game.”

The F.A.A. said one factor for the increase in laser strikes
was that lasers were becoming increasingly powerful, cheap and
easy to purchase. Pilots may also be getting better at reporting
the incidents, the agency said. Other observers point to a society
frayed by the pandemic for the bad behavior.

“If you’re invading the safety of my airplane, then you’re an aggressor,” said Capt. Dennis Tajer, a spokesman for the Allied
Pilots Association, the union that represents the pilots of
American Airlines. “These are attacks.”

It is a federal crime to knowingly aim a laser pointer at an
aircraft. Offenders can be sentenced to up to five years in
prison; the F.A.A. can also impose civil penalties.

In April, a Philadelphia man was sentenced to one year in
prison and fined $1,000 for shining a laser at a police
helicopter. In September, an Alabama man was sentenced to
eight months in prison for aiming a laser at a helicopter
flown by the local sheriff’s office. Also that month, a
Milwaukee man was sentenced to a year of probation for
pointing a laser at law enforcement aircraft during protests
against police brutality in 2020.

In many instances, however, cases are difficult to prosecute
because airplane pilots cannot easily spot who is pointing
the laser. As of early March, there had been more than 100
incidents involving lasers pointed at aircraft around Seattle-
Tacoma International Airport. The F.B.I. has offered a $10,000
reward to find those responsible.

In some cases, those beaming lasers at aircraft have unwittingly
led law enforcement officials directly to their location.

In Feb 2020, while on patrol near Vacaville CA, about 55 miles
NE of San Francisco, Jan Sears, a California Highway Patrol
pilot, said he was struck by a laser. His aircraft had an
infrared camera that helped identify the source of the light.

“It’s painful,” he said of the laser, describing symptoms
that can include aching and watery eyes, headaches and blurred
vision. Officer Sears said that for several days after the
strike, he saw bright afterimages when closing his eyes.

“Teenagers do dumb stuff,” he said. “But when you start
getting adults who do it, you start to wonder, What is
your motivation?”

People who point lasers at aircraft can broadly be divided
into two groups: those who are ignorant of the dangers they
pose, and those who are antisocial, said Patrick Murphy, a
laser safety expert who runs the website LaserPointerSafety.com.

By the accounting of Mr. Murphy, who also serves on a committee
that helps advise the F.A.A. and pilots about the issue, there
have been more than 100,000 such strikes globally since 2004.
Overwhelmingly, he added, those charged with pointing lasers are men.

“It’s a guy thing,” said Mr. Murphy, adding that when it comes
to lasers, the bigger and more powerful, the better. “It’s like
having a ‘Star Wars’ light saber,” he added. “‘It’s pretty awesome:
I have this beam of energy coming out of my hand.’”

The FDA restricts the sale of lasers that are over five milliwatts
for use as pointers, but experts say that more powerful lasers are
easily purchased and that the devices are often mislabeled.

On TikTok, some videos promote high-powered lasers with links
to purchase them. Such devices can be used at close range to
pop balloons and light cigarettes.

Though other countries have restricted the sales of the devices,
Mr. Murphy and others said that such efforts were unlikely to
succeed in the United States.

He and other experts said that, for now, pilots should be
educated about lasers and be prepared to respond to them.
Many pilots have also started carrying protective goggles.
But Mr. Hill, the emergency services pilot, was unlucky.

That evening in 2018, he was forced to abandon the rescue.
Hours later, his eyes were still burning and aching, he said.
By April 2019, he was on medical leave because of problems with
his vision and balance. Mr. Hill, now 58, retired in April.

Mr. Hill’s doctors told him they could not find any evidence
that his issues were linked with the laser strike, and experts
say that permanent injuries from laser strikes are extremely
unlikely. However, Mr. Hill said he believed there was some
correlation.

“I know that I experienced this laser strike,” he said. “A
little over three months later, I couldn’t fly.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/02/business/laser-strikes-airplane-pilots.html

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