Sep. 8—You would think that directing laser pointers at objects was something we left in 1999, but nope, people still do it. In fact, people point their lasers up at aircraft, and this happens in Houston more often than in any other Texas city.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) revealed last week that Houston leads all Texas cities in laser strikes with 265 so far in 2024. For comparison sake, the FAA recorded 694 laser strikes—incidents of people pointing lasers up at cockpits—in all of Texas between January and July 2024. The Dallas-Fort Worth area has seen nearly as many strikes as Houston with 255, but after that, the numbers drop drastically.
In other words, some Houstonians are really into shining lasers up at airplanes.
It's an illegal habit, too. Those who are caught shining lasers at aircraft can be fined up to $11,000 per violation and up to $30,800 for multiple incidents.
The number of laser-shining incidents has risen consistently since 2018, with a large increase taking place over the last two years. In 2022, the FAA recorded 9,457 of these incidents, but in 2023, that number rose to 13,304 incidents. Already the FAA has recorded 6,958 laser strikes in 2024, meaning we're on pace to outshine last year.
The majority of FAA recorded strikes nationwide reached fewer than 10,000 feet of elevation, but nearly 300 of them went as far as 30,000 feet in distance. A handful strikes reached 40,000 feet. A laser can reach as far as 30,000-40,000 feet.
The FAA says a laser strike can incapacitate pilots. In November 2022, federal prosecutors say a pilot landed a two-person plane in western Washington while blinded as a man tracked the craft's descent for about 12 to 13 seconds.
"I had to figure out how to land," the pilot, Jonathon Fay, said at a sentencing hearing for Christopher Harris, who after his capture was sent to prison for eight months in January 2024.
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