Laser pointers at aircraft are becoming a growing hazard

I am not certain if you knew about this issue, but apparently it is very dangerous to point a laser pointer at aircraft.

Apparently, that laser point is a millimeter close up will actually be many inches across when it is high in the air. You can imagine how distracting this can be to pilots. Worse yet, the beam will spread when it hits the windscreen of a cockpit. As you can see, the light is spread so much with glare that the pilot is flying blind (visibly).

So I am definitely sending a shout-out to everyone who is using a laser-pointer to distract a pilot. Are you out of your mind? Do you really want to raise Cain so much that thousands of tons of metal fall perilously from the sky?

By the way, the FAA is reporting that there is a record number of reports of laser pointers pointed at aircrafts in 2010. In fact, it doubled from 2009. LAX had the highest number with 102, while my hometown of Seattle had the lowest with 26.

Clearly, something needs to happen to in order to cut down on laser pointer aircraft incidents. By the way, I don’t think that is the official name for events like this, but I don’t think it will be long before this will be a “hot button” issue, like texting while driving or distracted driving is.