First Officer Affected When A Laser Was Shone Into The Cockpit

A Virgin Atlantic Flight that had just crossed over the coast of Ireland en route to New York's JFK Airport returned to Heathrow Sunday after the crew reported a laser incident.

Fox News reports that in a recording of the crew's conversation with ATC, one of the pilots said "pan, pan, pan. We have a medical issue with one of the pilots after a laser incident after take off and we are going to return to Heathrow."

Authorities are still trying to determine exactly where the incident took place, according to the report. In the recording, the pilot says the plane was targeted by the laser "around six or seven miles west of London."

The airliner, an Airbus A340-600 landed safely back at Heathrow, but the passengers were unable to get another flight. Their luggage was reportedly left on board, and the plane flew to New York Monday.

British civil aviation authorities say that there had been 414 laser incidents reported in the first half of 2015, and about 1,440 in 2014.

Jim McAuslan, the general secretary of BALPA, said that airplanes are being targeted more and more frequently with more powerful lasers which can temporarily, or in some cases permanently, blind a pilot. BALPA has said in the past that it would like to see the devices classified as an offensive weapon.

(FAA image from file)

FMI: www.balpa.org