Laser incidents at Edinburgh Airport triple
27.09.11
Cases of laser pens being shone at planes coming in to land at Edinburgh Airport have almost tripled, the Evening News reports. Airport bosses have warned that there has been a ‘phenomenal growth’ in reports of planes and helicopters being targeted as they come into land, putting lives at risk.
At Edinburgh Airport 37 cases have been reported this year. In 2010 there were 52 of laser pens - up from 16 in 2009. In 2007 there were no cases. The laser beams can disorientate or blind pilots for up to ten seconds as they come in to land.
The latest incident was on September 5, when an easyJet Airbus A319 flying in from Stansted reported a green beam being shone at the cockpit at about 22:45. Police said the light originated from the Duddingston Loch area. Just four days earlier, another pilot reported seeing a laser pen in the Cramond area. At the end of April, similar incidents were reported in Silverknowes and Livingston. All major airlines including Ryanair, British Airways, Flybe and Jet 2 have been affected.
A police spokesman said they treated all incidents ‘extremely seriously’. In September last year, a man who targeted a fighter jet pilot with a laser pen was jailed for four months.
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