Are Lasers Weapons?

Laser pointers should be classed as “offensive weapons”, the British Airline Pilots Association has said.

16:33 16 February 2016

The British Airline Pilots Association said that laser pointers should be classified as “offensive weapons.”

 

The call comes after a Virgin Atlantic flight VS025 bound for New York was forced to return to London Heathrow Airport after it was struck by a laser causing “medical issue” for one of the pilots.

 

Although it is not an offence to own or carry a laser, the union said that they are “incredibly dangerous” and could blind pilots.

 

British Airline Pilots Association's (Balpa's) general secretary Jim McAuslan said: "This is not an isolated incident. Aircraft are attacked with lasers at an alarming rate and with lasers with ever-increasing strength."

 

"Modern lasers have the power to blind and certainly to act as a huge distraction and to dazzle the pilots during critical phases of flight."

 

Meanwhile, Dave Smith, a former pilot and fellow member of the union said that laws on lasers should be much tougher.

 

"The law from 2010 is just an offence of shining the laser into the cockpit, but of course that is very difficult to prove," he said.