US Man Gets Two Years In Prison For Aiming Laser At Plane

Earlier this month, a man in Minnesota, in the United States, was sentenced to two years in jail for shooting a laser at a Delta Air Lines flight. The incident occurred in 2021 and delayed the pilot’s efforts to land, putting passengers in extreme danger.

James Link, 43, directed the laser toward the airliner and pled guilty this year.

The pilots of a Delta Air Lines flight from Raleigh-Durham to Minneapolis reported being hit by a laser three times on October 29, 2021. When they were flying 9,000 feet west of River Falls, Wisconsin, they claimed a blue laser illuminated the cockpit.

They had to map out a new course for the Minneapolis airport at that time because air traffic control had instructed them to switch runways.

“The laser strikes created a significant distraction in the cockpit because they were unable to look at their iPads to brief the new approach”, prosecutors said in a statement.

According to the statement, the pilots were eventually able to choose a different trajectory and land safely.

“The first officer’s vision was not affected, but the captain stated that his vision in his right eye was affected for several hours after this event”, the prosecution mentioned.

Air traffic control ordered a Minnesota State Patrol aircraft to investigate the event, but when it hovered above River Falls that night, its pilots were also blasted by a blue laser.

“Using the aircraft’s surveillance equipment, they were able to identify the suspect, coordinate with local law enforcement, and maintain a visual on the defendant until officers contacted him”, prosecutors wrote in a statement.

Officers approached the suspect and discovered a blue laser on his person.

Mr. Link stated he was firing the laser at a drone and did not believe it was an aircraft due to its lack of motion. He then directed the laser at a Minnesota State Patrol plane.

When they were in a key stage of the flight operations, the aircraft captain commented on the “sheer brightness” of the laser in a statement to the court and compared it to “suddenly turning on all the airplane lights in a dark room”.

The captain told the court, “One small error during this crucial phase could have had catastrophic results”.

US district judge William M. Conley said, “The act of pointing the laser toward the airplane was “incredibly dangerous and reckless and put everyone on the aircraft in incredible danger”.

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