More reports of lasers at Calgary airport

Transport Canada is investigating a report that someone shone a laser beamat the cockpits of three planes landing at the Calgary airportTuesday night.

One was identified as a WestJet flight, although the airline said none of its pilots reported a problem. Two smaller airplanes were also targeted, according to a report from the control tower on Transport Canada's Civil Aviation Daily Occurrence Reporting System.

Transport Canada warns that these reportscontain preliminary, unconfirmed data.

Transport Canada has received 80 reports of bright lights being shone into cockpits from the ground since 2005.

Spokeswoman Maryse Durette said reports of problems involving lasers is growing and she is worried that media attention is prompting copycats.

Lasers popular among star gazers

Blair Colborne, who sells green lasers through his Calgary business Sky Vue Telescopes, said amateur astronomers sometimes buy the lasers to point out stars and planets, but he doesn't think star gazers would shine a laser at an airplane.

"When we are working with these things, our policy is, if there is a plane anywhere by, we don't turn the thing on," Colborne said Thursday. "They are just way too powerful and they can cause too many problems."

Yvan-Miville Des Chnes, anair safety consultant, said incidents involving lasers are "happening a little bit too frequently these days."

People who enjoy watching airplanes land near the airport might be using lasers to point them out, he said.

"They probably don't mean any harm, but nevertheless it causes some serious health problems to crews being faced with such a device all of the sudden in their eyes and they go blind and they can't see the instruments anymore."

In the worst case scenario, a plane could crash, he warned.

'Just having some fun'

Earlier this month, Transport Canada and police were investigating a complaint that a WestJet pilot was hit in the eye with a green laser beam while his plane was taking off from the Calgary airport on Oct. 3.

David Mackow pleaded guilty earlier this year to breaching the Aeronautics Act after an Air Canada Jazz pilot was distracted by a green laser beam while landing in Calgary on Oct. 15, 2007. The beam came from an apartment in the city's downtown core.

The pilot reported the incident and Calgary police dispatched its HAWCS helicopter to investigate. Mackow, a forklift operator, then pointed the green beam into the helicopter.

Mackow told police he was "just having some fun," but was fined $1,000. Court records show that he later expressed remorse for his actions.