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Pope Francis's Plane Reports Laser Incident

posted by martyb on Friday February 19 2016, @11:42AM   Printer-friendly
from the blinded-by-the-light dept.

takyon writes:

In yet another laser beam incident, crew on a flight carrying Pope Francis reported a laser beam sighting to air traffic control in Mexico City:

Alitalia flight AZ4000 was travelling from Havana with the Pope on board, and was preparing to land when the laser was spotted.
No crew or passengers were injured by the beam, the airline added.

[...] "This is yet another incident that shows how serious and widespread the issue of laser attacks on aircraft is," said Jim McAuslan, General Secretary of the British Airline Pilots Association (Balpa), in response to the case involving the Pope's plane. "Modern lasers have the power to blind and the potential to dazzle and distract pilots during critical phases of flight," he told the BBC. "Shining a laser at an aircraft is illegal and dangerous and puts all those on board and on the ground nearby at completely unnecessary risk."

Aboard the plane headed from Rome to Mexico, the Pope said that contraception may be the "lesser evil" for women at risk of catching the Zika virus. In comments made on the ground, he chastised Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump for his plan to build a wall on the Mexican border.

In another story from the UK laser crime beat, Englishman Philip Houghton has been sentenced to 20 weeks in prison for admitting to shining a laser pen at a Humberside Police helicopter that was investigating a shooting.

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  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 19 2016, @12:50PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 19 2016, @12:50PM (#306842)

    A "laser was sighted". Not "a laser shined into the cockpit" or "pilots eye was hit by", but simply a laser was sighted.

    If anyone was previously in doubt that this is not about safety, this should clear it up.

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  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Friday February 19 2016, @12:53PM

    by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Friday February 19 2016, @12:53PM (#306845) Journal

    But if a laser was sighted from the plane, that means photons from the beam SCATTERED and reached THE EYES OF THE CREW!

    This isn't just a laser incident, it's a laser attack!

    --
    [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]

    • (Score: 2) by Gravis on Friday February 19 2016, @01:34PM

      by Gravis (4596) on Friday February 19 2016, @01:34PM (#306872)

      This isn't just a laser incident, it's a laser attack!

      that's not a laser attack. THIS [youtube.com] is a laser attack! [youtube.com]