Man charged as laser dazzles pilot

A man charged with temporarily blinding the pilot and co-pilot of an executive jet with a laser beam claims he was simply using the device to look at stars with his seven-year-old daughter.

David Banach, aged 38, has been charged with interfering with the operator of a mass transportation vehicle and making false statements to the FBI.

He is the first person arrested after a recent rash of reports around the US of laser beams hitting aircraft.

The FBI acknowledged the incident had no connection to terrorism but called Banach’s actions “foolhardy and negligent”.

Banach admitted to federal agents that he pointed the light beam at a jet and a helicopter over his home near New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport.

Initially, he claimed his daughter aimed the device at the helicopter, said officials.

The jet, a chartered Cessna Citation, was coming in to land with six people on board when a green light beam struck the windscreen three times at about 3,000 feet, according to court documents.

The pilot and co-pilot were temporarily blinded but were eventually able to land the plane safely.

Two days later, a Port Authority helicopter trying to pinpoint the origin of the original beam was also hit by a laser.

Banach was tracked down and told FBI agents it was his daughter who shone the laser at the helicopter, according to court papers.

Banach’s lawyer, Gina Mendola-Longarzo, said her client was simply using the hand-held device to look at stars with his daughter. She said Banach bought the device on the Internet for his job testing fibre-optic cable.

“He wasn’t trying to harm any person, any aircraft or anything like that,” she said.

Joseph Billy, agent in charge of the FBI’s Newark bureau, said Banach’s actions endangered not only the jet’s crew and passengers but also “countless innocent civilians on the ground in this densely populated area”.

He could face up to 25 years in prison.

Similar incidents have been reported across the US, raising fears light beams could temporarily blind cockpit crews and lead to accidents.

Last month, the FBI and the US Homeland Security Department sent a memo to law enforcement agencies saying there is evidence that terrorists have explored using lasers as weapons.