Pilot blindly lands plane after eyes are damaged by laser aimed into cockpit, US feds say

Nearly two-and-a-half hours after the laser left Fay ‘unable to see’ his plane’s instrument panel, Harris aimed the laser pointer at a four-seat plane flown by a student pilot and obscured their vision, prosecutors said. — Photo by Kristopher Allison on Unsplash

A pilot blindly landed a two-person airplane after a bright blue laser beam was aimed into the cockpit, damaging his eyes soon before landing, federal prosecutors said.

Christopher W. Harris is accused of tracking the plane with his laser, illuminating the cockpit for around 12 to 13 seconds before the pilot managed to land at Arlington Airport in Washington the evening of Nov 20, 2022, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington.