Laser illumination of aircraft by geographic location for a 3-year period (2004-2006)

Author / Creator

Nakagawara, Van B

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Online

Physical

Summary

Incident reports of civilian aircraft illuminated by high-intensity lights have been collected from various sources and entered into a database maintained by the Vision Research Team at the Civil A...

Incident reports of civilian aircraft illuminated by high-intensity lights have been collected from various sources and entered into a database maintained by the Vision Research Team at the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute. Reported incidents of laser exposure of civilian aircraft in the United States for a 3-year period (January 1, 2004 to December 31, 2006) were collated and analyzed. A total of 832 incidents during the study period took place within the United States in the nine Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)-designated regions. For the period, total laser incident rates per 100,000 flight operations ranged from zero in the Alaskan region to 0.86 in the Western Pacific Region. Of the 202 airports where laser incidents occurred, there were 20 (9.9%) that reported 10 or more laser incidents during the study period. The majority of airports (52.6%) with 10 or more laser incidents reported a higher number of incidents in 2005 than in 2006. Laser illumination incidents that could compromise aviation safety and threaten flight crew vision performance occur with some regularity within the contiguous United States.--P. i.

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