Pilots call for laser ban as crash feared
Strikes should be in ‘same category as hijacking or bomb threats’
Airline pilots say it is only a “matter of time” until lasers cause a serious plane crash.
With the number of incidents involving lasers up 130 per cent in the last five years, the pilots say it is time to ban the devices.
The call comes after Clutha Southland MP Hamish Walker’s bill to increase fines for reckless laser use is before Parliament.
New Zealand Air Line Pilots’ Association president Tim Robinson said a serious crash was imminent as statistics showed a rising trend of interference.
“There is potential for significant accidents and crashes if they continue to be used, especially in airports.
“They [pilots] describe the confusion, temporary blindness and the resulting headaches as one of the most terrifying things they’ve ever gone through,” he said.
Walker’s High-power Laser Pointer Offences and Penalties Bill proposes to double the maximum fine to $4000 and double the term of imprisonment from three months to six months.
But Robinson said that didn’t go far enough. He believed Parliament needed to place the dangerous use of lasers in the same category as hijacking or bomb threats.
A police spokeswoman said implications of laser strike incidents were a major concern, both on the ground and in the air. “They could lead to the potential loss of aircraft or people’s lives,” the spokeswoman said.
She said anyone found to have pointed a laser at an aircraft would most likely face prosecution.
Between 2014 and 2018, a total of 717 laser incidents were reported to the Civil Aviation Authority.
Incidents in 2018 (228) were up 33 per cent on 2017 (171) and up 130 per cent since 2014 when 99 incidents were reported. The hot spots were in Auckland, Christchurch, Hamilton and Gisborne.
There are two laser strikes a month at major airports.
Robinson was last made aware of interference at a control tower in Wellington on its first day of operation last August. Several staff members reported a land-based laser being shone in their eyes during the opening of Airways’ $20 million control tower.
In 2018 police laid six charges relating to lasers, up from two in 2017, and three in 2016 with the offence being “endangering transport”.
Of those charges seven of 11 were in Auckland..