But laser strikes reported in Illinois went up even more sharply last year – a steep 164 percent from 2020, when 162 strikes were reported, to 2021, which saw 428 reported strikes in all.
That’s the second-highest jump among the nation’s more populous states, with Illinois just behind Florida. And those 428 laser strikes are nearly as many as the previous three years, combined.And here in the greater Chicago area, those strikes increased even more, going up 230 percent from 2020 to 2021, with 119 laser strikes reported locally in 2020 and 393 reported in 2021. That means the region had more than three times as many laser strikes on aircraft in 2021, as in 2020.
That step was taken by an outraged Congress in 2012, passing a law providing for five years in prison and $250,000 in fines for a conviction associated with a laser strike on an aircraft. The FAA can also levy civil penalties up to $11,000.In 2021 a pilot reported a laser strike while approaching O’Hare: “About five minutes later I experienced an intense nauseous feeling. I thought I was going to be sick.
In 2011: As a pilot took off from O’Hare, “just as we were starting [a] turn...I saw a blossoming brilliant green flash that startled me at first and I reflexively looked away...I am convinced it was a laser illumination. We were late in our duty day but afterward my eyes felt more fatigue and irritated than normal...In summary, the incident was startling because the green flash was so bright. and I had more of a concern afterward that even a brief exposure may have caused a change to my eyes.
A third pilot from 2010, flying an MD-80 passenger jet: “[I] looked out to see a very bright green focused dot on the ground immediately below cockpit offset slightly right...Luckily the beam did not strike my eye directly when it panned up….”
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