Two WestJet Airlines pilots sought medical treatment after a blinding laser was repeatedly fired directly into their eyes as they prepared to land a 737 airliner at the Ottawa airport.
The strikes are the most serious lasing at the airport in recent years. The incident occurred late Sept. 23 as the inbound Vancouver flight descended from 19,000 feet to 6,000 feet on an approach for runway 25.
A green laser beam came from directly ahead of and below the aircraft and illuminated the flight deck for about four minutes, according to new details released Monday by Transport Canada.
“The captain and first officer both looked directly into the beam,” says the report. “The captain is experiencing a slight burning sensation to his left eye. First officer has no symptoms at this time. Both pilots have decided to seek medical treatment.”
WestJet said Tuesday that both pilots reported itching and discomfort, were checked out at hospital and cleared to fly.
“Our concern is from and (occupational health and safety) perspective — everyone has a right to a safe working environment,” WestJet spokeswoman Brie Thorsteinson Ogle said in statement.
“The fact that some prankster thinks it is clever to shine a laser that could easily cause injury or serious damage to a person’s eyes is just plain foolish.
“Clearly, they don’t understand that what they’re doing is not a joke — it’s potentially quite harmful to the person exposed. Whenever we do experience a laser strike, it is fully reported in the hopes that the person involved will be caught and prosecuted.”
Transport Canada says Ottawa police were called and took statements from the crew. But Ottawa police today said they have no record of the incident.
A similar incident in 2009 left an Ornge medical helicopter pilot with serious eye damage and grounded for several weeks after he was hit with a laser beam while flying at about 2,000 feet over the Gatineau Hills.
The new details about the WestJet incident follow the announcement in June of an aggressive, nationwide U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) operation to reduce the 4,000 reported aviation laser attacks in the U.S. annually.
At the very least, pilots are at risk of being distracted by what is likened to a camera flash going off in a darkened car. Worse, they can become temporarily blinded, losing their night vision and the ability to see instrumentation, runways, helipads and obstacles. The greatest risk is during descent, landing and takeoff.
Transport Canada statistics show a 24-per-cent increase last year in reported laser-pointer strikes against aircraft in Canadian skies — 461 compared with 357 in 2012. The 4,000 annual U.S. incidents compares with just 300 in 2005.
The FBI offers a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of anyone who intentionally points a laser at a plane or helicopter. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and the Air Line Pilots Association, International are partners in launching an awareness campaigns in U.S. schools.
The U.S. initiative mirrors a 60-day pilot project earlier this year at 12 major metropolitan FBI field offices where lasing was most common. That crackdown is credited with 19-per-cent drop in reported incidents.
In Canada, the Aeronautics Act prohibits directing laser pointers at aircraft. If convicted, offenders face a maximum $100,000 fine, five years in prison or both. Transport Canada has posted information about the safe and legal use of handheld laser pointers at tc.gc.ca/lasers.
But the Air Canada Pilots Association, the country’s largest pilots’ union, is seeking more government controls and Criminal Code sanctions. In the U.S., lasing was made a felony crime in 2012.
An Edmonton-area man was convicted in 2010 of inadvertently shining his son’s toy laser at an Edmonton police helicopter. The police pilot testified he was “bathed in a green light” that affected his ability to fly the aircraft. The man was fined $500.
In March, a 26-year-old California man was sentenced to 14 years in prison for aiming a powerful laser pointer at a police helicopter and a hospital emergency transport helicopter.
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