From: imbibe@mindspring.com   
      
   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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