Aiming a laser at an aircraft is a federal crime.
And the number of reported laser crimes has grown since 2010.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report in August 2022 calling on the FAA to do more to address the increasing number of crimes.
The first recommendation the GAO suggests is: “The FAA administrator should determine what information from pilots and crewmembers would be most useful for investigating laser incidents, and how best to collect the information and to share it with law enforcement.”
That’s a good suggestion.
The GAO report claims, “FAA received responses for about 12% of the 8,221 laser incidents that occurred over a recent one-year period from 2020 to 2021.”
If you haven’t yet, take a look at the five-page questionnaire pilots are asked to complete following a laser incident. (Enter “FAA laser questionnaire” in your search engine of choice.)
From my non-law enforcement perspective, the questionnaire quickly strays beyond what an investigator needs to know.
For example, the FAA wants to know:
Effect on flight
- Interference: Did incident impact with performance of duties
- Flight Path: Did incident cause change in flight path?
- Disruption of mission (for law enforcement, medical, or military flights only)
Effect on eyes
- Experience adverse vision effects
- Any physical effects
- Did you rub your eyes after incident
Eye exam results
- Enter the medical facility name
- What type of doctor examined eyes
- Describe results of exam
For someone completing the questionnaire upon landing, this last question is, obviously, not appropriate.
For more context, in the effect on eyes section, the questionnaire asks, “Did you experience any adverse VISIONS EFFECT from the exposure?” Optional responses are:
- Did not experience adverse vision effects
- Glare (could not see past the light while it was in your eye(s))
- Temporary flash blindness and/or after images (similar to a camera flash)
- One or more blind spots (spots in visual field lasting longer than 5-10 minutes)
- Blurry vision
- Significant loss of night vision
- Other (specify)
To me, this and the eye exam questions are not appropriate. It turns the report from reporting a crime to a report on the victim. Whether or not I have adverse effects from the incident is none of the FAA’s concern.
So, by all means, let’s see if we can reduce the number of laser crimes being committed against pilots. But let’s keep our eyes on the criminals, not the pilots.
I will differ from other opinions that all of the questions are relevant. The government agencies need to know what affects the laser had on the flight crews ability to continue to conduct the flight and whether there were demonstrable injuries, even if they do not persist. That lets the prosecution (if it takes place) prove actual harm and provides a reading of how serious the attacks actually are. I will concede that telling the FAA about any results from follow up eye exams could cause problems at the next FAA physical, especially for professional pilots so they might be less inclined to make a report with those details (or any report at all).
While it probably seems like the questionnaire is overly intrusive, it’s important data to capture to help build a case if law enforcement catches the person who was shining the plane at the aircraft. If a pilot had temporary vision problems or it somehow negatively affected the flight, that factors into sentencing (it’s punishable by up to 5 years).
This article struck a chord with me. A few years back I was hit with a laser flying in Las Vegas in a Boeing 737. When on the ground my eyes felt dry and a little scratchy. Felt the need to document just in case.
Filled out the paperwork required by our airline to report the incident. An hour after submitting, my really cool Chief Pilot called and mentioned that his experience with these incidents was if a pilot reported an injury and then flew afterward, they opened up a huge can of worms with both FAA Aeromedical and FAA legal. If you report ANY such injury, you were immediately assumed to be not fit for duty. If you flew afterward without FAA Aeromedical clearance, you just admitted you were not fit and will be crucified by the FAA.
If you report, you then have to clear FAA Aeromedical (multiple eye exams) in order to return to flight status. He advised me to amend report to remove mention of injury and see how I felt the next day. If I still felt injured I could amend again. This Chief Pilot saved me from a lot of FAA BS and grief.
Flew a few months later with another pilot who says it took him 3 months (using his sick leave) to clear with the FAA.
IMHO, don’t report ANYTHING to FAA that can use later to hang you with.
BTW…just in case any FAA Aeromedical types read the GAN, the next day I felt just fine.
Ken Nebrig
Prescott, Arizona
Odd… I down-loaded a 1-page… NOT 5-page… LASER BEAM EXPOSURE QUESTIONAIRE.
I think it is valid for FAA to give examples of visual effects/after-effects of LASER exposure; and ASK if any effects were noticeable. However, the form should clearly state ‘no regulatory consequences to the flight crew’ for answers to this question… ‘seek ophthalmic medical consultation if any after-effects persist.’
I’m with the FAA I’m here to help 🙄
Maybe the FAA should buy all pilot’s a helmet with gold filter?
Maybe all the windows should be equipped with opaque shields.
Inexpensive dash cams can be employed to triangulate and locate fairly precisely the laser’s location. One on the pilots side and one on the copilots side in a standard, known orientation, GPS capability turned on. Since the field of view of most are 170 degrees or so only two would be needed.
I live right next to the FAA Mike Monroney Center and Will Rogers airport. I sometimes monitor approach and hear the laser reports in real time. Using FlightRadar24 and the pilot’s report I’ve been able to leverage some GIS skills to approximately locate the offending location with what I believe to be a 1000 foot radius probability location…most of those either at the edge or within housing subdivisions. It’s a simple parallax/elevation/location trig problem.
I think an automated solution is preferable to the
Great! Yet another mandate. DASH CAMS?? Really? Besides the cost, I wouldn’t want them blocking real estate in my wind screen.
I can see where the author would see these questions as intrusive and unnecessary, but from a law enforcement perspective the questions are to see what the total impact the lasers are having. They can’t effectively evaluate the danger without knowing if it caused damage to your eyes and how reliable the test results are, aka did you go to an eye specialist compared to a family doctor. And without knowing the danger they can’t put a level of priority on enforcement or what type of punishment is fair for said crimes.
“It’s a simple parallax/elevation/location trig problem.” [:-)
Jim, I took trig in high school and a little math in college too. What you figured out how to do was not “simple.” I understand if you don’t want to brag. But give yourself at least a little credit. Your trig teacher would be proud.