Blue Laser Attack Nets Two Years

A Minnesota man whose laser attacks distracted and affected the vision of a Delta Air Lines crew was sentenced to two years in jail in a Wisconsin court last week. Nicholas James Link of Rochester, Minnesota, pleaded guilty in January to shining a blue laser into the flight deck of the Delta aircraft and to also lighting up a Minnesota State Patrol aircraft that was involved in the investigation. According to the Associated Press, prosecutors said U.S. District Court Judge William Conley took into account that the laser strike distracted the pilots while they were complying with a change in their approach ordered by air traffic control.

"Judge Conley called aiming a laser at an aircraft incredibly dangerous and reckless, and in this case forced the Delta pilots to focus on their temporary blindness which put everyone on the aircraft in incredible danger," a statement from the prosecutors said. The flight, which was setting up for Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport on a flight from Raleigh-Durham, was hit by the lasers as it descended through 9,000 feet and the pilots were punching data for a runway change. "The laser strikes caused a major distraction in the cockpit as they were not able to look at their iPads to brief the new approach," the prosecutors’ statement said. They landed without incident.

Meanwhile the State Police aircraft was sent to help find the suspect and he made it easy by lighting it up, too. Local police on the ground found Link with the blue laser still on him. Blue laser attacks are relatively rare and potentially more dangerous than the more common green and red incidents. Human eyes are less sensitive to the shorter wavelengths of the blue light so they don't react as quickly to the damaging rays.