| Pilots landing report laser attacks |
Pilots on 12 jetliners landing at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Sunday reported that someone was shining a green laser light into their cockpits.
All the planes were targeted during Sunday night and all landed safely. The incident led to pilots simultaneously trying to avoid being temporarily blinded by the light while trying to help authorities pinpoint its source.
Laser attacks on aircraft have increased in recent years, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. There have been 148 incidents this year, FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said.
A 2004 study by the FAA subjected pilots to "eye-safe levels" of laser light in a simulator. At the highest level of exposure tested, more than half of the 34 pilots reported difficulties, including ducking under a glare shield to hide from the light.
Of those, four executed a "go around maneuver," and five reported that they would have performed a missed approach if it were a "real world" incident or the duration of the laser exposure had been longer.
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