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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Plane returns to London after laser was beamed into cockpit | Plane returns to London after laser was beamed into cockpit |
| (about 5 hours later) | |
| LONDON — Virgin Atlantic Airways is working with investigators to identify the source of a laser beam that forced a New York-bound flight to return to London, the airline said Monday. | |
| The crew of flight VS025 decided to return to Heathrow rather than making the trans-Atlantic crossing, the airline said in a statement. Passengers were offered overnight accommodation. | |
| Police said they were contacted Sunday evening and that no arrests have been made. | Police said they were contacted Sunday evening and that no arrests have been made. |
| Lasers can cause a temporary loss of sight that persists even after the light is moved, the British Airline Pilots Association said. They also have the power to blind. | Lasers can cause a temporary loss of sight that persists even after the light is moved, the British Airline Pilots Association said. They also have the power to blind. |
| “This is not an isolated incident,” said Jim McAuslan, the organization’s general secretary. “Aircraft are attacked with lasers at an alarming rate and with lasers with ever-increasing strength.” | “This is not an isolated incident,” said Jim McAuslan, the organization’s general secretary. “Aircraft are attacked with lasers at an alarming rate and with lasers with ever-increasing strength.” |
| According to civil aviation authorities in Britain, there were 414 such incidents in the first half of 2015 and some 1,440 in 2014. | |
| The organization wants British authorities to classify lasers as offensive weapons. | The organization wants British authorities to classify lasers as offensive weapons. |
| John Tyrer, a professor of optical instrumentation at Loughborough University, said it’s not just airline pilots who are targets. He has been working with police officers facing riots in Northern Ireland to develop a strip on visors to counter such attacks. | |
| “Laser attacks present a horrendous problem which is worsening with the easy availability of low-cost, high-power lasers,” he said. | |
| He said that it is possible to buy powerful lasers with a range of kilometers — rather than a few meters — particularly if the atmospheric conditions are right. Tyrer stressed that these more powerful lasers have no practical use. | |
| “There are people that buy these things off the Internet which are shipped in typically from the Far East, which are very, very powerful lasers and have no use as a pointer,” he said. | |
| He said anyone hit with a laser could have watering eyes or a headache, though he cautioned that he had no direct knowledge of what the Virgin pilot might have suffered. | |
| “This is not a prank,” Tyrer said. “There are laws that say you can’t do this.” | |
| ___ | ___ |
| This story has been corrected to show the flight number was VS025, not VS05. | This story has been corrected to show the flight number was VS025, not VS05. |
| Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |