All I can say is that it does and will happen, I have had it happen twice. The first L@ser illumination just lit up the flight deck, we noticed it but didn't get either of us. The second one was much different, it got me in my left eye, it was like looking at a camera flash but much more powerful and with a much longer blinding time. The odd thing was my eye actually hurt and felt weird like the pressure had increased inside it for some time. Both of these events happened when we were low altitude arriving for a landing and where no higher than 1800 feet above the ground and definitely messed up my vision for landing. These idiots who do shine the l@sers at aircraft show be paying heavy penalties. I witnessed it on vacation in 2014 in Thailand, i wanted to knocked the idiot on his ass. I watched as we where waiting for a river dinner cruise. It was a fast progression from shining it at things nearby to shining into the windows of a hotel across the river to then trying to illuminate an aircraft. I really do not think these are incidents related to astronomy, as the areas they come from are mostly in cities near airports with way to much light pollution to be able to see celestial bodies at night other than the moon which a serious astronomer wouldn't do. Serious jail time may slow down the idiots, there will always be idiots. Not only do they endanger lives they also endanger the careers of the crew!