Man charged as laser pointed at police plane over city

This week’s laser pointer attack on a Saskatoon police aircraft appears to be the first such incident in Saskatchewan reported this year — but there hasn’t been a year with no attacks since 2013.

According to information from Transport Canada, 64 laser attack incidents on aircraft have been reported in Saskatchewan since the beginning of 2013. The annual number of incidents had been decreasing from a high of 17 to only one in 2018, but increased again in 2019.

The number of incidents reported to Transport Canada is included in its Civil Aviation Daily Occurrence Report System.

Laser attacks have become less frequent in recent years. Lasers over one milliwatt are not allowed outside a private home in the Montreal, Vancouver or Toronto metropolitan areas, or within a 10-kilometre radius of any Canadian airport or certified heliport.

Violating such regulations can result in fines. Shining bright lights, such as hand-held lasers, into aerospace or at an aircraft can result in steep fines of up to $100,000 or up to five years in prison if charged under the Aeronautics Act.

On Sunday night, Saskatoon police charged a man in connection with an incident in which a green laser was pointed at the Saskatoon police air support unit plane.

The laser was pointed in the aircraft’s direction mid-flight around 11 p.m. Police identified a home as the location where the laser beam was believed to have originated; ground patrol units went to the home and arrested a 30-year-old man. He’s charged with mischief and breach of an undertaking.

Neither officer on the aircraft was injured.