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The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said today that it wants to make sure laser-light displays are aimed at your home, not at the sky. Each year, the FAA receives reports from pilots who are distracted or temporarily blinded by residential laser-light displays. The extremely concentrated beams of laser lights reach much farther than you might realize.
“If we become aware that your laser-light display affects pilots, we’ll ask you to adjust them or turn them off. If your laser-light display continues to affect pilots, despite our warnings, you could face a civil penalty,” said the FAA. The FAA works with federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to pursue civil and criminal penalties against individuals who purposely aim a laser at an aircraft. It can impose civil penalties of up to $11,000 per violation. Civil penalties of up to $30,800 have been imposed by the FAA against individuals for multiple laser incidents.
A serious safety threat.
Laser strikes against aircraft continue to increase each year. As of November 22, the FAA received 8,550 laser strike reports for 2021, exceeding the 2020 total of 6,852. This marks the highest number of laser strike incidents since FAA began tracking statistics in 2010.
“Intentionally aiming a laser at an aircraft is a serious safety risk and violates federal law. Many high-powered lasers can completely incapacitate pilots who are trying to fly safely to their destinations and may be carrying hundreds of passengers,” said the FAA.
To identify laser strike trends, the FAA developed a visualization tool, using the Tableau software platform that shows laser strike data from 2010 to 2020 and highlights trends by geographic area, per capita data, time of day and year. The FAA shares the information to draw attention to the dangerously high rate of laser strikes on airplanes. Laser report data by year can be downloaded on the FAA’s website.
