Misused handheld lasers posing safety hazard to pilots

On the mostly cloudy night of Nov. 14, US Airways Flight 257 was climbing at 3,000 feet from Philadelphia on a five-hour trip to Phoenix when a green laser wielded on the ground illuminated the plane, posing a safety risk to the passengers and crew.

One night earlier, on Nov. 13, the same Phoenix-bound US Airways Flight 257 was struck by a laser beam, also at 3,000 feet and in the same vicinity, five miles west of Philadelphia International Airport.

Handheld lasers - readily available for a few bucks on the Internet as classroom and astronomy pointing aids - have become a big safety issue to pilots.

Misused by their owners, the powerful light beams were used to zap aircraft in the Philadelphia region scores of times last year, briefly blinding pilots in some cases and sending police scrambling on the ground.

Philadelphia was ranked sixth in the country by the Federal Aviation Administration in 2010 for the number of laser incidents in airspace around Philadelphia airport.

On Oct. 8, the crew of a blimp aloft one mile north of Citizens Bank Park, scene of a Phillies playoff game, reported a green laser illuminating the flight deck.

On Sept. 15, a medevac helicopter was en route to a local hospital when someone on the ground flashed a laser into the cockpit three times, startling the crew.

A former Edison High School student, Lenny Tavarez, was scheduled for sentencing Thursday in federal court in Philadelphia after pleading guilty to shining a laser pen at a Philadelphia police helicopter on Oct. 2, 2008, near Hunting Park and Lawndale Streets. (His defense attorney has requested a postponement.)

Tavarez, 22, repeatedly flashed a green laser point that struck the pilot, Lt. Anthony Ginaldi, in the right eye, causing him "severe pain and discomfort," according to court records. Ginaldi momentarily lost control of the helicopter, which banked to the side.

Another officer, Christopher Clemens, righted the chopper while Ginaldi trained a search light on Tavarez until patrol cars reached the scene and made an arrest. The government is recommending 37 to 46 months in prison for the federal crime of interfering with the safe operation of aircraft.

"It's a very serious matter because it can incapacitate the pilot," said David Zwegers, director of aviation safety at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla.

He said a pilot at Embry-Riddle was the "victim of a green laser shining in his cockpit" on Jan. 24. "Fortunately, he did not look directly into the laser beam. He notified air-traffic control, who, in turn, notified authorities to look for the person."

Laser threats to aircraft have risen steadily, from 300 reported in 2005, when the FAA began to collect the data, to 2,836 last year - nearly double the 1,527 incidents reported to all types of aircraft in 2009.

At Philadelphia airport, 66 laser strikes were reported to air-traffic controllers in 2010, up from 12 the year before.

Los Angeles International Airport logged the most laser threats - 102 - and Chicago O'Hare airport was second, with 98. Airports in Phoenix and San Jose, Calif., had 80 laser incidents each, and Las Vegas recorded 72.

Among the 66 laser incidents reported in Philadelphia airspace, one plane airborne at 28,000 feet was illuminated and another at 16,000 feet. "We've had some that have reached up to 30,000 feet," said FAA spokesman Jim Peters.

On Oct. 2, three aircraft - two United Airlines flights and a Mesa Airlines plane - were "successively hit one after another by one laser" five miles north of Philadelphia airport, Peters said.

Many incidents involve planes and helicopters taking off or landing, the FAA said.

The rise in reported laser incidents is due to several factors: the availability of inexpensive handheld lasers on the Internet; higher-power levels that allow lasers to hit aircraft at higher altitudes; increased pilot awareness and reporting of laser strikes, and use of green lasers which are easier to see than red lasers.

While a laser itself cannot bring a plane down, the pilot's reaction could. To date, there have been no aircraft accidents caused by lasers. But the bright light can jeopardize a pilot's vision and ability to see outside the aircraft.

In October, a Philadelphia teen was convicted in Family Court and sentenced to probation for shining a laser pointer into the cockpit of a city police helicopter. The 17-year-old shined a green light at the helicopter as it hovered 500 feet above a Manayunk neighborhood on Aug. 28.

The pilot, after being struck more than five times by the light, became disoriented and turned the controls over to his copilot, said Philadelphia Assistant District Attorney Nicole Siller.

At least two other Philadelphia juveniles faced charges in similar cases, she said. One youth was convicted by a judge of reckless endangerment, and the other pleaded guilty to risking a catastrophe.

The union for 53,000 commercial airline pilots last week called on Congress and regulators to crack down on laser threats to aircraft. The Air Line Pilots Association asked the government to restrict the sale and use of portable lasers, and to create "laser-free zones" around airports.

The pilot group called for a public-awareness campaign to let people know that laser illumination is particularly dangerous when the aircraft is close to the ground during takeoff and landing.

Currently, it is a federal offense to interfere with the safety of a flight crew. On Jan. 20, U.S. Rep. Dan Lungren (R., Calif.) introduced a bill that would make it a federal crime to shine a laser at an aircraft.

"The new proposed legislation specifically would make it a federal crime to use a laser," Peters said.