Lasers - Video - Curt Lewis

 

FAA: Planes flying into Dallas Love Field, D/FW Airport struck with lasers Wednesday night

• FAA reports eight laser strikes on planes approaching Dallas Love Field Sunday night
• Lasers target three more flights near Dallas Love Field

There is much debate over who truly invented the laser - Gordon Gould, perhaps, or Charles H. Townes or, more likely, both men, with input and contributions from several others who pioneered the creation of a device that allowed for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation." One thing is certain, however: Whoever invented the laser beam did not intend for it to be shined into the cockpits of aircraft passing overhead.

And yet, so far in 2015, there have been more than 120 reported laser strikes in Dallas-Fort Worth - a marked jump from the 85 reported in all of 2014. The nationwide number is way up as well. In just the past two weeks, the Federal Aviation Administration says, there have been 14 cases of people aiming laser pointers at planes trying to land at Dallas Love Field - including eight Sunday night alone.

Add two more federal offenses to the growing list.

This is what it looks like when someone shines a laser pointer into a cockpit. Not pleasant.

FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford says that around 6 p.m. Wednesday - only one of the busiest travel days of the year - an inbound Southwest flight reported being "illuminated by a green laser" on its left side while on approach to Love. The incident occurred at 2,000 feet about three miles northwest of the city-owned airport. "No injuries reported," per the FAA's notes.

Lunsford says Grapevine police also spent Wednesday night investigating reports of someone shining a laser at planes flying into Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Wednesday night. Lunsford says via email that the light appeared to be coming "from a car driving on 121 North toward Lewisville."

Used to be the laser strike was a rare occurrence. Now, Lunsford says, "Hardly a week goes by in the Dallas-Fort Worth area that we don't get one or two."

Maybe because people still haven't figured out it's a federal crime - interfering with the operation of an aircraft - punishable by a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.