Wed, Jun 06, 2007
Local Police Turn Case Over To FBI
The pilots of a commercial airliner preparing to land at Boise
International Airport in Idaho Saturday reported a green laser beam
was pointed at their aircraft from the ground around 11:30 pm.
Controllers alerted other aircraft about the laser sighting. The
pilot of a St. Luke's Hospital System helicopter saw the laser
coming from the same area, police told the Idaho Statesman.
The pilot was able to identify the source of the beam as a
residence in a neighborhood and used his spotlight to lead police
to the home where officers found two 17-year-old boys and a green
laser pointer.
Local police turned the case over to the Federal Bureau of
Investigations as shining a laser at an aircraft in flight is a
possible federal offense, police spokeswoman Lynn Hightower
said.
As ANN reported, under
legislation approved in May by the House of Representatives, the
use of cheap, handheld laser pens "presents an imminent threat to
aviation security and passenger safety," said House Judiciary
Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) before the voice vote to
approve the measure, according to the Associated Press.
Trent Pedersen, regional media representative for the FBI,
declined to comment on what, if any, charges the boys might be
facing.
Since 1990 the Federal Aviation Administration has reported more
than 500 incidents of pilots being blinded or disoriented by laser
beams according to Florida congressman Ric Keller, sponsor of the
legislation. The National Transportation Safety Board has
documented two cases where pilots sustained actual injury to their
eyes and were incapacitated during critical phases of a flight.
BOI officials say this is the third time this year laser beams
from the ground have been reported, but this is the first time
investigators were able to actually locate the source.
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