Eleven commercial flights reported lasers pointed at them as they flew over New Jersey, prompting the US aviation authority to launch a probe today into the dangerous incident.
The commercial flights reported that lasers were pointed at their aircraft while flying over New Jersey on Wednesday night, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
There was no indication the 11 incidents detailed by the FAA led to any notable injuries or accidents, in the air or on the ground.
About half of the incidents reported by the FAA were close to Newark Liberty International Airport, while the others occurred elsewhere in New Jersey -- from Robbinsville, near the Pennsylvania border, to Ocean City, along the Atlantic Ocean in the southeast corner of the state.
Three American Airlines planes were among those affected, as were two from JetBlue and one each from United, Delta and Republic, CNN reported.
Five planes informed air traffic controllers in the Newark Liberty tower "that lasers were being pointed at them" between 10 and 11 pm on Wednesday, according to Ron Marisco, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the Newark airport as well as Kennedy and LaGuardia airports in New York.
"The incidents are under investigation," Marisco said.
So-called laser attacks are not unprecedented, but they are on the rise, as handheld lasers become more common and affordable. There were 3,894 such strikes reported in 2014, the FAA says. In 2005, there were only 283 such incidents.
US authorities have been trying to stop such attacks, with President Barack Obama signing a law in 2012 making it a federal crime to aim a laser pointer at an aircraft.
"When aimed at an aircraft from the ground, the powerful beam of light from a handheld laser can travel more than a mile and illuminate a cockpit, disorienting and temporarily blinding pilots," the Transportation Security Administration says on its website.
Laser attacks is not just annoying, it can be dangerous, with the potential to burn a pilot's cornea and cause serious injury, the report said.
