For twelve minutes a local Hawke's Bay pilot had a laser pointed at his plane. Now, he is warning other pilots to be vigilant, and people to understand the consequences of their actions. 

Terry Longley Jr, a commercial pilot and Terry Longley & Son Funeral Director, says a blue light flooded the cockpit while he was flying 2000ft above Marine Parade about 9.15pm Friday evening.

"It was definitely deliberate and targeted because we moved right around in a big giant arch around Napier and they followed us and were hitting us the whole time," he told Hawke's Bay App. 

"We started seeing the flashes in the cockpit and a laser when it goes into a cockpit can light the whole thing up really bright so it can be pretty distracting. And it wasn't like it was a quick flash, they were actually hitting us for quite a long time."

Fortunately, they weren't in a critical phase of flying, so it didn't impact the safety of the flight. But he recalls thinking how "idiotic" the person was being and wanted to capture the incident on his phone "to hopefully try stop them in the future". 

"It is something that has been around for a little while but as laser technology gets better and cheaper, you get these big powerful lasers in the hands of everyday people and when an aircraft is in its critical phase of flight so either take-off or landing, that is the most dangerous point for someone to then take a laser and shine it into a pilot's eyes. 

"Especially when you've only got seconds to a minute before reaching the ground, or off the ground, to dazzle or disorientate a pilot at that phase of flight can not only cause massive damage and harm, it could be a fatal accident." 

He says it is important for people to understand just how dangerous that "simple act can be". While it may seem like a "bit of fun", people need to think about the "serious damage" it can cause.

"People need to know that this isn't something that you can just do and there are consequences to such stupid behaviour." 

In this case, he was able to pinpoint the origin of the laser and has given the address to the Civil Aviation Authority and police.

"They do take it pretty seriously if they can get good evidence." 

Longley has been flying for about 16 years and says this is the second or third time he has had a laser pointed at his aircraft while flying over Hawke's Bay at night.

"Not all the time but it does come up and in different areas around Hawke's Bay. And I know a lot of other pilots that I trained with and fly now still report lasers all the time." 

Apart from following the standard reporting procedure and trying to locate where the laser has come from, Longley says there isn't much more they can do.

"We just have to turn everything over to the CAA and police to follow up." 

The Civil Aviation Authority received 143 reports of laser attack incidents across New Zealand last year, down from the 235 incidents reported in 2019.

However, the 2021 figure already exceeds last year. So far this year, 161 laser attack incidents have been reported across the country.

The CAA's Deputy Chief Executive – Aviation Safety – David Harrison said pointing a laser at a plane could cause temporary blindness and affect the pilot's ability to control the plane and consequentially puts lives at risk.

“Laser attack is happening at a critical stage of the flight, either take-off or landing, where the pilot is in control of the aircraft. At these low-level, high-workload flight phases, the consequences of any temporary pilot-impairment or distraction are potentially catastrophic, endangering those in the air and on the ground."

"People are not aware of the significance of it. It's sort of a lark, or a fun thing to do, not recognising that actually they're causing a real safety issue and creating a danger for pilots and passengers."

“CAA will take enforcement action if it obtains details of anyone who endangers an aircraft with laser attack,” Harrison says.

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