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Canada: After 461 lasings in 2013, pilots want stricter penalties plus government controls on lasers

The president of Canada’s largest pilots’ group, the Air Canada Pilots’ Association, wants to make aiming a laser at an aircraft a Criminal Code offense. The Aeronautics Act already makes this illegal, with up to five years in prison and a maximum $100,000 fine, but it is not a criminal offense. The group feels their proposal would be a significant deterrence.

In addition, Capt. Craig Blandford said “We’d (also) like to see a control put on them, some kinds of permits or access to these things that’s somehow controlled. I’m not sure to go so far as to say we want them on a prohibited weapons list, but that’s one of the things that we’re pursuing in order to get stricter on control.”

In 2013, there were 461 laser/aircraft incidents reported to Transport Canada, as compared with 357 in 2012. As of February 12, there have been 44 incidents in Canada during 2014.

From the Ottawa Citizen. The story includes additional details on Canada statistics and the pilots’ proposals.