Police and airport officials confirmed that a Virgin Airways jetliner headed to NY returned to London’s Heathrow Airport Sunday night after it was hit by a laser strike.
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Passengers were grounded overnight and due to board an alternative flight at 13:00 GMT on Monday but some complained about the length of the delay. Affected pilots can also be temporarily disoriented and blinded when struck by the laser beams.
Unions warned lasers were a growing problem, with 9,000 incidents reported to UK Civil Aviation Authority between 2009 and 2015.
“Modern lasers have the power to blind, and certainly to act as a huge distraction and to dazzle the pilots”.
Topping the list for the number of most frequent laser incidents for the first six months of past year was London Heathrow with 48, followed by Birmingham with 32, Leeds Bradford with 24 and Manchester with 23.
In 2012, Belfast man Michael Jackson (26) received a six-month suspended jail sentence and had to pay £30 to cover the cost of an eye test for the pilot after admitting shining a green laser at a police helicopter in August 2010. “This incident shows why this is becoming more and more urgent”, said McAuslan.
Only miles from Heathrow the flight’s pilot alerted members of air traffic control to the laser beam.
But the aircraft, which was flying to New York’s JFK airport, had to turn back after the co-pilot fell ill. In the United Kingdom, it is illegal to sell devices more powerful than 1mW, but it falls to local trading standards officers to enforce the regulations and remove items deemed unsafe.
Two pieces of legislation deal with laser pens, the most serious offence being a charge of recklessly endangering an aircraft, which can carry a three-year custodial sentence.
Mr Tyrer added: “If the laser is bought from reputable United Kingdom supply sources there are power density limits placed on these devices so that they can’t cause any damage to the eye”.
Laser expert John Tyrer, of Loughborough University, is a professor of optical instrumentation and has designed laser safety equipment for the police.
He said that it was possible to buy powerful lasers with a range of kilometres – rather than a few metres – particularly if the atmospheric conditions are right. Lasers can potentially burn a pilot’s cornea, and use of these beams regularly puts pilots in the hospital. And pilots are the last chain in the event.
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A decision was made to return to London after the crew said one of the pilots had “a medical issue”.
