"Transportation Secretary steps up effort to combat lasers being beamed at planes"

Monday, January 17, 2005

Transportation Secretary steps up effort to combat lasers being beamed at
planes
The Associated Press


OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta announced
changes Wednesday to the way pilots report lasers being beamed at airplanes
- a response to a rash of such incidents in recent weeks. 

Mineta also issued a stern warning that federal officials will aggressively
prosecute those caught shining laser beams into cockpits. The bright lasers
- usually green - can temporarily blind pilots. 

"We will not allow careless people making stupid choices to put pilots and
their passengers at risk," Mineta said. 

He said authorities do not believe that people shining lasers at airplanes
have terrorist motivations. They suspect that copycats who have heard news
reports about the lasers apparently have been involved in some of the more
recent incidents. 

Mineta said the Federal Aviation Administration will now require pilots to
immediately report laser incidents to air traffic controllers, who would
then repeatedly broadcast warnings and quickly notify law officers. 

There appears to be no current problem with the way pilots report the lasers
to authorities, but the changes will standardize the reporting system and
provide police with more timely and detailed information. 

A cluster of laser incidents received wide attention between Christmas and
New Year's Day. 

Mineta said in a news conference at the FAA's aeronautical research center
in Oklahoma City that 31 of these incidents have been reported since Dec.
31, including one involving a Southwest Airlines flight in Phoenix, Ariz.
Nobody was arrested. 

He said there have been 400 reports of lasers being beamed at airplanes
since 1990. 

"Shining these lasers at an airplane is not a harmless prank," Mineta said.
"It's stupid and dangerous. You are putting other people at risk and law
enforcement authorities are going to seek you out and if they catch you,
they are going to prosecute you." 

Mineta said officials are working on possible devices to protect pilots from
lasers, including modifications to windshields, but no one solution has
emerged. Research into the issue is being done at the aeronautical center in
Oklahoma City. 

He also said an effort will be made through government regulatory agencies
to ensure that laser devices are better labeled to warn about the dangers of
using them improperly. 

Terry McVenes, executive air safety chairman for the Air Line Pilots
Association, said in a telephone interview that pilots are on board with
Mineta's plan. 

"We're very happy with what the secretary has done here," McVenes said. "It
does provide a means of collecting data so we can assess what the threat
really is, or if there is a threat." 

A New Jersey man was arrested and charged under the Patriot Act last week
for aiming a green laser at a small jet flying over his home near Teterboro
Airport. The man, David Banach, said he had been using the device to point
at the stars from his back yard. 

That type of laser pointer, which sells for $119, is the most powerful that
can be used in a public place without government regulation, according to
Bigha, the company that manufactures it. It produces a bright green beam
that can be seen up to 25,000 feet away, and is used by bird watchers,
astronomers and lecturers to point out faraway objects. 

The FBI and Homeland Security Department sent a memo to law enforcement
agencies in November saying they had evidence terrorists have explored using
lasers as weapons.


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