Portugal asked to review laser laws after pilot blinded

Irish air accident investigators have called on the Portuguese civil aviation authority to review current legislation regarding the use of dangerous lasers after a Ryanair flight crew was forced to abort a landing because a pilot was ‘temporarily blinded.’

An investigation into the incident, at Porto Airport in Portugal on September 5 2015, has highlighted the lack of legislation in Portugal covering the targeting of aircraft with lasers.

The probe into the incident was delegated by the Portuguese authorities to the Irish Department of Transport’s Air Accident Investigation Unit as Ireland is the ‘state of registry’ for the incident aircraft.