On the recordFebruary 2, 2011
I rise to speak in support of this amendment I have offered with Senators Kirk, Boxer, Durbin, Casey, Menendez, and Schumer to secure aircraft cockpits against lasers. This commonsense and bipartisan amendment would protect passengers and pilots by making it a Federal criminal offense to knowingly aim the beam of a laser at an aircraft. As explained in a recent article in the New York Times, ``a beam that is 5/25 of an inch wide at its origin can be 2 to 3 feet wide by the time it reaches an airliner approaching or departing an airport.'' As a result, when targeted at aircraft, laser stripes can instantly flash across the cockpit, temporarily blinding the pilot and the crew. One pilot described the feeling of being hit by a laser like this: It immediately lit up the whole cockpit and it hit both of my eyes and burned both of my corneas. Instantly, I was blinded. It felt like I was hit in the face with a baseball bat--just an intense burning pain. FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt similarly recently warned that lasers can ``damage a pilot's eyes or cause temporary blindness.'' Indeed, pilots have described the need to hand control of their aircraft to a copilot as a result of one of these incidents. It goes without saying that such a threat to a pilot's sight, particularly during the critical phases of takeoff and landing, poses an unacceptable risk to the traveling public, to our pilots, and to citizens on the ground.
