Laser scare

last updated 8 January 2015

Nashville

Federal agents are investigating several incidents in which laser beams were apparently aimed at jetliners and other aircraft in Tennessee, Ohio, Colorado, Oregon, and New Jersey. The pilots of a United Airlines flight reported seeing a green laser shortly after they took off from Nashville for Chicago. FBI investigators said that lasers could conceivably blind pilots and cause a plane to crash, and Homeland Security officials believe terrorists have considered using lasers. But most of the incidents appear to have been pranks. Police hauled in a New Jersey man, David Banach, for questioning after pilots spotted a green beam coming from his backyard. Banach had been entertaining his 7-year-old daughter with a laser pointer. “They were pointing it at houses, and up at the stars,” his lawyer said. “It’s not terrorist activity.”