State Troopers Were Onboard Plane

We admit, this is the kind of story that appeals to our sense of schadenfreude... though as pilots, perhaps we may be forgiven for feeling some "shameful joy" upon hearing about a man who apparently 'tagged' the wrong low-flying aircraft with a handheld laser beam.

The Olympian newspaper reports a Washington State Patrol Cessna was flying at about 2,000 feet AGL Saturday evening, when tactical flight officer Jonathan Ames noticed a green light flicker off the plane's left side.

Both he and the plane's pilot, Trooper Scott Sweeney, quickly realized what they were seeing was a laser beam... and the men took steps to avoid being blinded. Ames then used the plane's camera system to look for the source of the beam, and determined the laser flashed the plane intermittently for about 10 minutes.

In that time, Ames was also able to narrow down the source of the beam... to a neighborhood near Maytown. The laser stopped flashing when the plane started orbiting the area.

Sheriff's deputies later knocked on the door of a 31-year-old Tenino man, who admitted he was one shining the laser. He also maintained he waved the light at random, and never targeted the plane specifically. Furthermore, the man added, the beam is "not very powerful."

Ames replies handheld lasers -- the kind used to make board room presentations, for example -- don't need to be especially powerful to cause damage to a pilot's eyesight. He also doubts the man's explanation of things, that he didn't deliberately target the troopers' plane.

"[F]or that beam to show up in my camera view means they were directly pointing it at us," Ames said.

The suspect wasn't arrested, but his case was forwarded to the State Patrol for investigation. It's possible Thurston County prosecutors may charge the man with first degree unlawful discharge of a laser, which is a federal crime.

The FAA has roughly 900 documented cases of lasers aimed at aircraft since 2004. Ames says this is the first time anyone's shone a laser beam on a plane he was flying... though he did add that people have shone bright spotlights at his plane twice in as many weeks.

Sigh...

FMI: www.wsp.wa.gov