At least five pilots attempting to land at airports in the GTA have complained to Transport Canada about someone on the ground shining a laser at their planes, penetrating the cockpit window and flashing the pilots in the eye.

Transport Canada's civil aviation reports indicate the incidents are occurring with an increasingly alarming frequency in the GTA and Ontario. Deborah Baxter, a spokesperson with Transport Canada, says there have been 11 incidents reported in Ontario since last March but expects many more have gone unreported.

The safety risk is obvious. A laser flashing a pilot's eye can distract – or even worse – temporarily blind a pilot, or cause long-term damage to their retinas.

In the GTA incidents, the laser pointers seem to be shining from around the city – most recently on Feb. 21, when a cargo plane and a charter plane both reported a laser had been shone into their cockpits by someone standing near a highway in Vaughan.

A similar incident occurred Jan. 7, when an Air Canada Jazz pilot was beamed from more than 5 kilometres away from Pearson International Airport.

On May 11, another passenger jet reported a green light was being shone into the cockpit from the vicinity of Leslie St. and Lawrence Ave. E. in Toronto. In an October 2007 incident, a police helicopter flying over York Region was targeted while on a routine flight.

In each incident, police were informed and investigations ensued. But as yet, Transport Canada indicates there have been no arrests of individuals in the GTA, although a 16-year-old was caught but not charged.

However, Const. Wayne Patterson of Peel Regional Police, the force responsible for security around Pearson airport, said police could lay a charge of mischief – a criminal offence – against the perpetrators.

Baxter says the risk involved is enough to warrant police involvement. "Transport Canada is very concerned about the increasing frequency of laser-related incidents, whether they are directed at aircraft, cars, trucks, boats or trains," Baxter said.

Capt. Stephen Guetta, a pilot with Air Canada for 20 years, says he can't imagine what kind of person would knowingly try to blind a pilot on a landing approach over a bustling city like Toronto.

He says pilots generally rely on their instruments to navigate a plane toward a runway until they are within sight of the landing strip.

"The threat (from a laser pointer) is probably greatest when that airplane is a quarter to a half-mile from the threshold of the runway – when you're in the final 10 to 12 seconds prior to touchdown," Guetta said. "That's the highest risk, when you're moving from your instruments to looking outside. Trying to get your depth of perception. So you can imagine the danger of blinding a pilot at that point ... The pilot has very little time to react."

The long-term damage to a pilot is also troubling. In cases reported in B.C. and the U.S., pilots have been grounded permanently and had their wings taken away from them after lasers caused irreparable damage to their retinas.

Steve Lott, a spokesperson for the International Air Transport Association, a Montreal-based group representing 240 airlines, suggests the lasers being shone at airplanes involve more powerful lasers than the average laser pointer used in boardroom presentations.

High-powered telescopic lasers, the type used by astronomers to map out stars and by snipers to pinpoint distant targets, are much more powerful than the average handheld laser and would have a greater reach into the cockpit of a far-off plane.

"The most crucial parts of any flight are the takeoff and landing," Lott said.

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"This is certainly not a game, whether it's kids playing a game or anything else."