Cheap lasers pose hazard to pilots

MANILA, Philippines - The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) yesterday warned airline pilots at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Parañaque City to watch out for laser beams coming from nearby residential areas that cause temporary blindness among pilots.

After the hazards posed by bird strikes, kites and bees, there is now a threat from laser pens used by pranksters near the airport. 

Two pilots of international airlines reported that they were temporarily blinded by laser beams, believed to have originated from one of the houses beside the NAIA runway.

In a letter to MIAA general manager Jose Honrado, the Airline Operators Council (AOC) said pilots from Continental Airlines and Royal Brunei complained of being zapped inside the cockpit with an intense beam of laser.

AOC president Ma. Lourdes San Juan and Onnie Nakpil, ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) AOC chairman, said the pilots told them that the laser beams struck them in the eyes while they were landing their planes at Runway 06-24. 

The light came from one of the houses along the southern portion of Runway 06-24. The pilots, however, were able to land the plane safely.

However, as required by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the pilots filed a report with the AOC, hoping that the practice would be stopped or that authorities would arrest the culprits.

Cheap laser pens are available in novelty stores, and sidewalk vendors sell them as toys.

Laser pens are not really harmful but when the light is beamed on the eyes they cause temporary blindness.

Honrado said the AOC report would be investigated and MIAA immediately act to stop “these laser pens or laser hooligans that can cause a disaster.”

He ordered airport policemen to keep secure the vicinity of residential areas near the runway to ferret out the culprits of this latest intrusion to the safety of the flying public and prevent them from causing harm.

Similar laser zapping incidents were also reported in Russia when two pilots were attacked with laser pens while landing at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport a week ago. Luckily, the planes landed safely.

In a report compiled by aviation authorities, there have been over 30 laser beam attacks on pilots in Russia during the past years. 

Another pilot trying to land in Rostov-on-Don airport was blinded for over a minute. Lawmakers in Russia decided to criminalize attacking people with laser pens and the guilty punished with imprisonment ranging from three to 10 years.

Chechnya banned the sale of laser pens following the attack on pilots, and similar measures are also being discussed in some Russian states.

In the United States, there were some 2,836 laser attacks as planes were taking off or landing in 2010 alone.

In 2011, pilots have reported over 1,100 such incidents as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced that they would impose fines of up to $11,000 per violation.

“Laser can temporarily blind a pilot,” Randolf Babbit of FAA said. “At a minimum, shining a laser at an aircraft can create a dangerous distraction.”