The FBI is cracking down on people pointing laser pointers toward aircraft — and it wants your help. On Tuesday, the agency announced that it's expanding a program that offers a $10,000 reward to people who offer information leading to arrests for the illegal activity.
Officials are cracking down on a growing threat of "lasing," the act of people pointing handheld lasers toward a plane's cockpit. The beam, which can travel more than a mile, illuminates the cockpit and can temporarily blind the pilots. Although no crashes have been linked to "lasing," some pilots have required medical attention because of it. The number of reports have increased from 384 in 2006 to nearly 4,000 in 2013.
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