Teen Arrested For Pointing Laser At Plane

A 14-year old girl was arrested on Tuesday evening for pointing a laser at a plane landing at Los Angeles International Airport, CNN reports.

The plane was roughly 2,000 feet from the ground and no one was injured. The felony comes less than a week after the Senate approved an amendment making pointing lasers at pilots illegal.

Oddly enough, this isn't a recent phenomenon: The FAA released a statement last year that the number of such incidents had risen to 2,836 in 2010, with over 100 incidents occurring at LAX, the most in the country.

An FAA spokesman told CNN that pointing a laser is "potentially very dangerous...because a laser can distract a pilot and there have been cases where pilots have suffered temporary vision problems as a result of being struck by a laser beam. We've had reports of pilots having to turn over control of the aircraft to a co-pilot or had to abort landing."

Comments

[XFilesTheTruthIsOutThere]

10:51 PM on 02/10/2011

Dork!

[MichaelMcKLA]

06:04 PM on 02/10/2011

I wonder how she got caught.

[XFilesTheTruthIsOutThere]

10:52 PM on 02/10/2011

Fanned

[sue denim]

03:35 PM on 02/10/2011

This is what we can expect from the video game generation. She wanted to see something crash and burn.

[XFilesTheTruthIsOutThere]

10:52 PM on 02/10/2011

It sure seem that way.

[JtownesquireAgain]

11:33 AM on 02/10/2011

Just anote...the plane was 2000 feet in the air! How much of a "threat" was this really. She could have been aiming at a bird or anything else for that matter. How can they verify from 2000 feet away that she was "aiming" at the pilot or the plane? BULL $ H ! T!!!

[JtownesquireAgain]

11:31 AM on 02/10/2011

I'm calling BULL $ H ! T on this one. Just another attempt to criminalize otherwise innocuous behavior and further subjugate the populace to the whims of the controlling corporations.

[ZenCrusader]

11:56 AM on 02/11/2011

apparently you don't fly often or feel that kid should be able to blind a pilot during landing ? what if you were on that plane ? you lack persective

[Derek Lantin]

02:07 AM on 02/10/2011

Sir
Such behaviour should be treated as attempted murder, - and punished accordingly. I am a pilot and I assure you that this behaviour could have very serious consequences.
Sincerely, Derek Lantin. http://dereklantin.booksabuzz.com

[JtownesquireAgain]

11:32 AM on 02/10/2011

Maybe pilots drinking and trying to fly the plane or sleeping while at the controls should be attempted murder too then! Oh, but I'm, sure you have a "ggod" reason why that shouldn't happen.

[pydbl]

09:31 AM on 02/11/2011

Just because some pilots drink and try to fly the plane doesn't mean that people can point a laser at planes. I wonder if you would also say the same thing if someone pointed a laser at you when you were driving, with their reasoning being "well, there are so many drivers who drive drunk."

[ZenCrusader]

11:56 AM on 02/11/2011

thank you Derek

[YoBear]

01:07 AM on 02/10/2011

Have her take her laser to Pakistan to go hunting for bad guys

[NinaColbert]

08:55 PM on 02/09/2011

A couple of years ago, while on vacation in Lake tahoe, my husband and I were scared out of our wits when someone shone a laser on us while we were sitting in our living room in the vacation rental.
The litle red light roamed over my husband's chest, head and torso.
We discussed calling the police but in the end closed the blinds, checked on our sleeping kids, double locked our doors and sat on the floor away from the windows.
We suspected it was kids but how can you know it is not from a gun?
I didn't sleep much that night!

[gypsysailor]

06:12 PM on 02/10/2011

That happened to me a few years back and my response was to aim my laser sight back.

[XFilesTheTruthIsOutThere]

10:54 PM on 02/10/2011

Thankfully you and your husband were not hurt. I would have called the authorities.

[Brett Tonaille]

03:52 PM on 02/09/2011

This is one of these remarkably stupid things kids do thinking it's a joke. A lot of it is about power - "Wow, I've got this little stick and it can make a ray travel miles." Unfortunately, kids often do things that can be fatal - like removing Stop signs a few years ago (several people died) - without particularly thinking about it.
But of course more people probably actually die because of people texting while driving - and think how many ADULTS do that.

[shthar]

02:35 PM on 02/09/2011

Good thing the Taliban doesn't have of these lasers. Jets would be dropping from the sky all over afghanistan.

'pull up jonsey!'

'I can't see!'

Coalition airpower has been driven from the skies of Afghanistan...

[Max Shaw]

01:11 PM on 02/09/2011

Even the picture hurts my eyes. I would be livid if someone pointed one of those things at me.

[XFilesTheTruthIsOutThere]

10:55 PM on 02/10/2011

Same here.

[trying2help]

01:06 PM on 02/09/2011

It may seem like a harmless prank but it could crash a landing plane. Plus- the pilot can have lasting damage to his vision. Education is the best prevention.

[Mithrall]

05:22 PM on 02/09/2011

Problem is, do you really think this kid came up with the idea all on his own? I'm guessing he was "educated" or heard of other people pointing lasers at planes. It might not just be a kid doing something stupid.

[NinaColbert]

08:56 PM on 02/09/2011

Kids are very resourceful all on their own!

[raker]

12:58 PM on 02/09/2011

Do these lasers have any use other then trying to make planes crash? Ban them. Make selling or owning them a crime.

[Max Shaw]

01:11 PM on 02/09/2011

There official use is for Astronomers to locate stars and other objects. Other than that, youre right---they should be banned OR there should be strict laws governing who can purchase/own them.

[XFilesTheTruthIsOutThere]

10:55 PM on 02/10/2011

I thought someone introduce a law banning these types of lasers.

[Glencora]

01:43 PM on 02/09/2011

If you make owning these a crime, 75% of all cat owners would be in jail.

[raker]

02:10 PM on 02/09/2011

So lasers are essential to cat ownership. Who knew.

[KKSSHOE]

12:06 PM on 02/09/2011

It would not even occur to me to even think of pointing a laser at a plane in hopes to blind the pilot. Aren't there enough distractions to keep kids busy? Who thinks of this stuff? I read some article the other day about kids sniffing a drug made form human sewage!! Parents maybe have some blame, but what world do we live in where these kinds of ideas even come about? I think we as society need to take some responsibility. This i more than a few parents-- see quote from article above- "Oddly enough, this isn't a recent phenomenon: The FAA released a statement last year that the number of such incidents had risen to 2,836 in 2010, with over 100 incidents occurring at LAX, the most in the country." Seems its a trend of sorts.

[XFilesTheTruthIsOutThere]

10:57 PM on 02/10/2011

Something truly needs to be done about this.

[medicontheedge]

12:02 PM on 02/09/2011

When lasers are outlawed...only outlaws will have lasers.