UK Pilots' Union Calls For Laser Pointers To Be Classed As Offensive Weapons (theguardian.com)

Posted by timothy on Monday February 15, 2016 @09:02AM from the if-awesome-toys-are-outlawed dept.

An anonymous reader writes: The body that represents airline pilots in the UK has called for handheld laser pointers to be classed as offensive weapons, after a Virgin Atlantic flight to the U.S. was forced to return to Heathrow when its co-pilot was dazzled by a laser during takeoff. The British Airline Pilots Association (Balpa) said aircraft were being "attacked" by the devices "at an alarming rate and with lasers with ever-increasing strength." It said the problem was becoming "more and more urgent."

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banned here already by bloodhawk · 2016-02-15 09:31 · Score: 5, Interesting

They banned them here in Australia over a decade ago after a number of incidents of people using them against planes. One such incident was my brother, still remember that night as federal police turned up to our property to find the offender that caused a plane to do an emergency aborted landing, while they let him off with a warning my parents certainly didn't.