Laser Beams
This is disturbing.
CLEVELAND – Authorities are investigating a mysterious laser beam that was directed into the cockpit of a commercial jet traveling at more than 8,500 feet.
The beam appeared Monday when the plane was about 15 miles from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, the FBI said.
“It was in there for several seconds like (the plane) was being tracked,” FBI agent Robert Hawk said.
The pilot was able to land the plane, and air traffic controllers used radar to determine the laser came from a residential area in suburban Warrensville Heights.
Hawk said the laser had to have been fairly sophisticated to track a plane traveling at that altitude. Authorities had no other leads.
Michelle Malkin points out that this isn’t the first instance of commercial jet being “shot at” with a laser beam. She also notes that the FBI has issued a terror warning concerning just just sort of thing.
It seems to me that several years ago I read a Tom Clancy novel which contained a sequence where two of the characters brought down a jet by blinding the pilots with an intense beam of light. I don’t remember which book though.
Anyone else remember?
