According to the US Federal Aviation Administration, the number of incidents of laser blinding reported by pilots is rapidly increasing – CNN reports. The station associates this increase with the “panic around drones” that has been observed on the US East Coast for several weeks.
CNN even writes about a “dramatic increase” in reported incidents. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) told the station that pilots across the country typically report an average of 30 laser strikes a day. Meanwhile, only last Tuesday, December 17, 123 laser incidents were reported in the USA, including 24 over the state of New Jersey, where Mysterious drone activity has been reported for weeks.
Reports increased by 269%.
In a statement, the FAA reports dozens of new reports from pilots in airspace covering New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. In New Jersey, their number increased by as much as 269% in December. compared to the same period last year.
Meanwhile, suspicious drone activity has been reported over the East Coast of the United States for a month. They appear, among others: near critically important facilities, including military ones. The case is being dealt with by numerous services, which reassure us that there is no evidence of a threat to public safety. As he stated in recent days US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby observed drones are hobby, commercial and police machines that operate fully legally.
Dangerous blinding of pilots
Laser attacks can temporarily blind pilots and, in the worst case, even lead to loss of vision – as the FAA emphasizes – at the most critical moments of the flight, when the plane is close to the ground after takeoff or before landing.
Ophthalmologist, prof. Jerzy Szaflik, he explained two years ago in an interview with tvn24.plthat the laser beam can lead to very serious consequences. – To see clearly, we direct our eyes at the light source. And in the case of a laser, it may even result in blindness, said the professor. He explained that the human eye is like a photographic film – in its center, in the macula, there are retinal cones, the most light-sensitive receptors of the eye. They determine how sharply we see. – The laser beam damages the cones. The intensity of the laser light determines how much damage will be done to the eye and how long it will last – said the expert.
SEE ALSO: Someone blinded an Air Ambulance pilot with a laser. The police are looking for the perpetrator
Main photo source: Shutterstock