Man sentenced for lasering plane with 118 passengers aboard

On July 6, 2012, a 22-year-old man named Jarryd Hector was partying at a home in Auckland, New Zealand, when he decided to shine a green laser light at a Boeing 737 from Christchurch that was preparing to land at the Auckland Airport. The plane was carrying 118 passengers, the New Zealand Herald reported.

Today, a judge at Manukau District Court sentenced Hector to four months of community detention and 150 hours of community service work for his laser antics. For the duration of his community detention, Hector will have to obey a curfew or face an 18-month prison sentence. He will also have to attend drug and alcohol counseling, the judge said.

Police told Radio New Zealand News that Hector had shined the light into the cockpit of the landing plane for up to 30 seconds, which illuminated the flight deck and distracted the crew. The pilot notified air traffic control, which notified the police. The police then showed up at the party where Hector was and questioned him. At the time he admitted to using the laser, but said he wasn't shining it at the plane.

Hector should be considered lucky, however. As recently as this summer, a federal judge in Central California sentenced a 26-year-old man to almost two years in prison for a similar crime. And back in March, a 24-year-old Fresno man was given an astounding 14 years in prison for firing a laser pointer at a helicopter that happened to be an emergency medical transport helicopter flying a sick patient from a Children's Hospital in Bakersfield to Fresno. Although no fatalities occurred in any of the laser strikes, the harsh sentences underline the grave danger that comes from blinding pilots mid-flight.

Indeed, the New Zealand Airline Pilots' Association (NZAPA) told Radio New Zealand News that it does not think that Hector's sentence was harsh enough. "Sadly, I think something horrible has to happen,” NZAPA technical officer David Reynolds told the news outlet. “God forbid it ever does but, quite frankly... People are still not getting the message that it is an extremely dangerous and reckless thing to do—pointing a laser at an aircraft.” Reynolds then noted that he didn't think the judiciary were taking the issue seriously enough.