The Actions of Imbeciles

Two JetBlue aircraft were struck by lasers in the vicinity of Boston’s Logan International Airport (BOS) on Thursday, 21 September—so stated the FAA.

The flight-crews of JetBlue flights 494 and 972 reported being targeted by an unknown party wielding a green laser early Thursday morning. No injuries were reported.

Human beings get up to all sorts of mischief, some of it harmless, some of it decidedly not so. Alas, the borderlands separating mischief and crime are poorly delineated, and the notion of harmlessness is decidedly and dangerously subjective.

The number of reported instances involving the aiming of lasers at U.S. aircraft hit a record high in 2021—rising 42-percent over the previous year to a deplorable and worrying total of 9,273 incidents.

The FAA puts forth in both regulation and public announcements that intentionally aiming lasers at aircraft poses a safety threat to pilots and violates federal law. “Many high-powered lasers can incapacitate pilots flying aircraft that may be carrying hundreds of passengers," the agency asserts—albeit to insufficient effect.

The FAA loudly trumpets its authority to issue fines of up to $11,000 per laser-related violation; yet in 2021 the agency levied a scant $120,000 in such fines—a sum that represents less than 0.12-percent of the $102,003,000 that might have been collected had every reported laser-crime perpetrator been arraigned.

The lack of actionable arrests and indictments belies the existence of a software visualization tool created by the FAA to compile and analyze aircraft laser-strike data from 2010 through 2021. The tool ostensibly identifies and categorizes laser incidents by geographic area, per capita data, and time of day and year. What the agency is doing with the data gleaned by subject tool remains a mystery. The FAA alleges, however, that its personnel "… work closely with other federal agencies and state and local governments to report and investigate incidents, help apprehend suspects, and advocate for the prosecution of offenders."

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) states the FAA "… does not consistently share collected information with law enforcement," and noted an interagency group comprising the FAA, FBI, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)—which has regulatory authority over laser devices—was dissolved in 2015.

Particularly hard hit by laser-wielders are FedEx aircraft operating in the vicinity of the company’s Memphis, TN Super Hub. FBI reports indicate that between January and July 2021, 49 green laser strikes were made on both inbound and outbound FedEx aircraft.

FMI: www.laserpointersafety.com