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Does anyone above the mental age of 12 still think aiming a laser at a passing aircraft is good, harmless fun?
What's the object of this exercise? The only thing I can assume is the person doing the pointing hopes for a reaction, for something to happen. What exactly? Forcing the aircraft to veer out of control, to crash maybe? I suspect if you asked, you'd get a smirking shrug for an answer.
Another judgment-challenged young man was arrested in Calgary this week for allegedly targeting a police helicopter with a powerful Type 3 laser, The Canadian Press reports.
The pilot was blinded momentarily while the chopper was on a routine patrol, police said.
"This caused extreme anxiety of our pilot," Insp. Guy Baker told CP on Thursday. "The potential for eye injury was great.
"And you can imagine, if you're temporarily blinded and you're operating a helicopter, what kind of precarious position that would put ... the pilot, the people inside the helicopter and of course people living on the ground."
A 19-year-old man faces a charge of mischief, as well as a charge under aviation legislation, Baker said.