FAA Investigates Laser Hits Near Newark Airport

The US Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the shining of lasers into the cockpits of 11 commercial planes flying over New Jersey on Wednesday night, a spokesman said.

The beam of light from a hand-held laser can travel for more than a mile and illuminate a cockpit, temporarily blinding the pilots inside. Pointing a laser at an aircraft is a federal crime.

No injuries were reported in the New Jersey incidents, which occurred between 9 pm and 10:30 pm, an FAA spokesman said.

Nine of the flights were believed to be headed for Newark Liberty Airport.

"Aircraft were hit by lasers on the right and left side of the cockpit," the spokesman said.

Nearly all of the pilots reported a green laser beam from the ground, he said.

So far this year, there have been 2,751 laser events reported nationally, he said.

In 2014 a man in California was sentenced to 14 years in prison for aiming a laser at a police helicopter. A man in New York City faces up to five years in prison when he is sentenced on September 9 after pleading guilty to using a laser on commercial planes departing and arriving at LaGuardia Airport.