How to reduce incidents:
For airlines and the FAA
The pilot is the “last line of defense” in preventing an incident from turning into an accident. Even if it were possible to miraculously eliminate the majority of laser pointer incidents from ignorant individuals, there still may be accidental exposures from professional laser uses, or there may be persons who deliberately would want to target an aircraft.
Mandatory pilot training
For this reason, it is essential that pilots learn how to recognize and recover from a laser illumination. Airlines and the FAA can get this to all pilots by providing accurate, pilot-focused information. This can be mandated by the airline or by FAA.
At a minimum, pilots can be provided with written information, similar to this page.
The Air Force has recently (Feb. 2009) completed a 22-minute video about the laser pointer problem. It features pilots discussing how to recognize and recover from incidents. It also shows what lasers look like from the air. This video, or one like it, should be mandatory viewing as part of pilots’ continuing education.
Simulator training
In addition to the written and/or video material, we suggest that pilots be exposed in a flight simulator to a bright light flash. This can be done during both initial training, and at least once during recurrent training. This does NOT have to be from a laser source. For safety and practical reasons, it would be sufficient to use something such as a common photographic camera “hotshoe” flash unit, with a green gel. The light level and number of flashes can be adjusted to simulate a typical laser exposure.
Already, pilots can be exposed to simulated lighting flashes. It should not be too difficult to come up with guidelines or a protocol for simulated laser flashes.
By safely experiencing a flash in the simulator, pilots will gain confidence that they will be able to handle a laser or bright light situation.
Laser Event Recorders
There has been some use of “Laser Event Recorders” in cockpits. One such device is manufactured by Optra Inc. of Topsfield, Mass. A June 2010 press release about the FBI buying LER’s for cockpit use is here.
For more information
To get the FAA’s perspective on the laser pointer issue, read the article “Blinded by the Light: A Look at Cockpit Laser Illumination Events” in the July/August 2009 issue of FAA Aviation News. The link is to an online PDF of the entire magazine; scroll to magazine page 28 to find the article.