"Pilots worry as more laser beams hit planes"

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Pilots worry as more laser beams hit planes 
BY LESLIE MILLER
The Associated Press


WASHINGTON -- Delta Air Lines pilot Perry Winder was approaching Salt Lake
City International Airport last fall when what he thought was an extremely
bright camera flash blinded him.

''The intensity of the light was nearly indescribable,'' Winder said. ''It
was like looking at an arc welder without goggles.''

Despite spots before his eyes and distorted depth perception, Winder landed
the plane safely. He recounted the incident Tuesday during a House aviation
subcommittee hearing into what has become a growing problem -- laser beams
being flashed into cockpits.

Pilots are concerned about a surge in such incidents -- there have been 112
since November, roughly one quarter of all such cases reported in the past
15 years, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

None resulted in an accident, but an FAA study has concluded that it's
possible a laser beam could disorient a pilot enough to cause a crash.

The federal government has warned that al-Qaida operatives might use lasers
to blind pilots. And though no links to terrorism have been found, pilots
remain troubled by the growing number of incidents. To them, it makes no
difference if the person holding a laser is a terrorist or prankster.

Pilots have criticized the FAA for not doing more to alert them to laser
incidents. In January, the agency began requiring pilots to report laser
sightings to control towers.

''There is no easy answer to this problem,'' said Nicholas Sabatini, who's
in charge of aviation safety for the FAA.

More than 500 million lasers have been sold worldwide. The price of a
hand-held green pointer that can produce a 3-mile beam is just $50.

Col. Peter Demitry, assistant Air Force surgeon general, said it would take
just three minutes on the Internet to find a laser that would disable the
human eye from many miles.

That's what happened to Winder. While approaching Salt Lake City, he and the
captain were startled to see an intense green-and-white light in the
cockpit.

''What is this, what's going on?'' Winder recalled the captain saying.

They landed without incident, but while driving home that night, Winder's
dull headache intensified. The next morning, he said, ''I felt like someone
had pricked me in the eye with an ice pick.''

An eye doctor found his retina was swollen, leaving Winder unable to fly.
The problem cleared up after two weeks of daily visits to the doctor.


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