Pilot is affected by laser beam

WARWICK, R.I.— Federal and local authorities are 100mw laser pointers vowing to crack down on people who shinelaser pointers at aircraft after a significant increase this year in the number laser for sale of such cases, including one that left a pilot temporarily blinded last week as he landed a passenger plane here.

Tweet Be the first to Tweet this!Yahoo! Buzz Share laser penThis “It’s no joke, no harmless prank; it endangers lives,’’ Peter F. Neronha, US attorney for Rhode Island, said during a press conference wholesale yesterday morning at T.F. Green Airport to discuss the case and the surge in incidents in New England and around the country.

In the latest local case, Joseph Aquino, a 31-year-old Warwick man,laser for sale allegedly pointed his high-powered laser pointers at the cockpit of a Continental Airlines passenger airplane laser for sale landing at T.F. Green Airport, briefly blinding the pilot. The plane landed safely.

According to FBI statistics, about 1,000 incidents were laser pen reported nationwide in 2008; from January through August of this year, 1,700 incidents were reported.

In Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire,Blue Laser Pointers and Rhode Island, there have been 66 incidents from January 2009 through last month.

“We’ve been responding to these on a regular basis,’’ said Neronha.Green Laser Pointers Locating suspects is difficult, he said, and pinpointing the origin of the flash requires quick response.Green Laser Pointers He asked for the public’s help in locating people suspected of committing the crime.

A bill passed in the US House and under consideration in the Senate would stiffen penalties for shining a laser at aircraft.

In another local case, a Northeastern University 100mw laser pointers student was arrested in June after he allegedly pointed a laser at a State Police helicopter. Christopher Phaneuf, 20, was attending a backyard barbecue near Lawrence Municipal Airport when he allegedly shone the laser on the Blue Laser Pointers helicopter, which is based at that airport.

In 2007, a Medford man was charged 100mw laser pointers after allegedly shining a laser into a State Police helicopter that was escorting a liquefied natural gas tanker into Boston Harbor. In 2008, someone shone a laser at a blimp about a quarter-mile west of Fenway Park during an American League Championship series game on Oct. 13, 2008, and this past March, someone beamed Blue Laser Pointers a laser at an American Airlines jet that was taxiing after landing at Logan Airport.

“The seriousness wholesale of these incidents cannot be overstated,’’ said Richard DesLauriers, special agent in charge of the FBI field office in Boston. “Most often lasers are pointed Green Laser Pointers at aircraft during critical phases of flight while they are at low altitude or preparing to land or take off. Any brief distraction in the cockpit during this time can be catastrophic.’’

Authorities say the rise in the number of cases wholesale may be connected to the availability of cheap, high-powered laser pointers, intended primarily as an astronomy tool for pointing at Green Laser Pointers stars and planets. Some of the devices cost as little as $20 to $30 and are capable of beaming up to 20,000 feet.

As for why anyone would shine a laser on laser pen an aircraft, Neronha said: “We all know in our lives that people do really stupid things. That’s just the reality of a culture in which we live.’’

Aquino was allegedly standing on the shore Blue Laser Pointers of Oakland Beach about 10 p.m. on Sept. 15, about 4 miles from the airport, when he pointed his green-light laser pointer at wholesale a Continental airplane arriving from Newark. The beach is in line with the airport’s final approach path.

Warwick police were able to find Aquino because 100mw laser he allegedly had been flashing his laser at a nearby boat earlier. The boat operator alerted police to that incident at about the same time the Continental pilot reported the incident to the FAA.

According to police, Aquino admitted to shining the laser Green Laser Pointers at the plane and said that it was “a stupid thing to do.’’ Authorities said they found the device, about the size of a felt marker, on him.

Aquino was charged Wednesday in federal court in Green Laser Pointers Providence with interfering with an aircraft with reckless disregard for safety and attempting to Blue Laser Pointers interfere with an Blue Lasers aircraft with reckless disregard for safety. On each count he faces up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years supervised release.

Thomas Walsh, a Delta Airlines pilot and a laser pen representative of the International Pilots Association, said a pilot does not have to look in the direction of a laser to be temporarily blinded;Blue Lasers the light can be scattered throughout the cockpit by the window.

“Temporary blindness can last for 100mw laser a second or two to minutes,’’ he said.

He said the threat from lasers to pilots dates laser pointers pens back to the early 1990s, but no cases of accidents or crashes caused by laser flashes have been reported, he said.