The FBI on Friday reported an alarming increase in the number of people aiming laser pointers at airplanes — with 22 such incidents recorded around JFK and LaGuardia airports alone in August and September, a source said.
The seemingly harmless pranks — in which culprits on the ground use a flashlight-like device to shine a beacon of high-intensity light at an arriving or departing cockpit — have already caused injuries, law-enforcement sources said.
For example, June 17, a JetBlue pilot arriving at LaGuardia Airport from Ft. Lauderdale was hit with a blinding flash laser that resulted in a burned retina, while his co-pilot was treated for serious eye irritation, sources said.
The two most recent incidents occurred Tuesday, the FBI noted.
The first involved a Shuttle America flight in which the aircraft cockpit was illuminated at about 7:35 a.m. by a green laser on its final approach to LaGuardia Airport, when the jet was 2,000 feet in the air and about 6 miles from touching down.
The laser beam emanated from a spot about a half-mile west of the New York Botanical Garden in The Bronx.
Later that day, at 10:37 p.m., a private aircraft was hit by a powerful green beam while 2 miles southwest of LaGuardia heading eastbound over the Triborough Bridge.
The suspect was believed to be at the intersection of Broadway and Steinway Street, in Astoria, Queens.
The number of incidents so far this year has risen 17 percent, with 75 reports compared to 64 in the same period a year ago, an FBI spokesman said.
“The FBI is asking anyone with information about any of these dangerous laser incidents to pick up the phone and call us,” said Assistant Director in Charge George Venizelos. “Our paramount concern is the safety of aircraft passengers and crew.”
The incidents — which are being probed by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force — carry potential prison time for the suspects, as well as civil penalties by the Federal Aviation Administration, sources said.