Laser Pointers at the Airport

Today I read an article in the Star Tribune called, “Charge those who point lasers at planes, pilots say”. If the title of the article isn’t self explanatory it was about many cases of people shooting laser pointers at commercial and private airliners. This has been a problem that has not been addressed or taken seriously until now. Shooting the laser directly in your eye can impair your vision for a couple of minutes, this is called flash blindness. In 2005safety chairman Terry McVenes took the stand testifying "there have been hundreds of these kinds of events over the past several years." He also testified about a man from New Jersey who shoot the pilots with the laser pointer on there approach to Teterboro Airport. Why is this happening? Bob Hesselbein stated “The people who do this are doing it out of curiosity, never being aware of the problems they are causing for pilots flying the airplane." Because of the fact that there is no way to completely protect the cockpit the airport is upping the consequences and keeping a closer watch around the landing and take off zones.