Plane returns to London after laser was beamed into cockpit

A Virgin Atlantic flight bound for New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport was forced to turn back to London Sunday night after someone pointed a laser beam at the airplane’s cockpit.

The Virgin Atlantic flight VS025 had just passed the west coast of Ireland when it made a decision to return to London’s Heathrow Airport rather than make the trans-Atlantic crossing.

“Following this incident the First Officer reported feeling unwell”.

Laser pointers are a troubling trend that government officials say can disorient and temporarily blind pilots.

The plane’s emergency call happened around 8PM on 14 February, shortly before the plane, 15 crew, and 252 passengers were granted permission to make the emergency landing.

Passengers were accommodated overnight at the airport and are expected to complete the journey today.

British Airline Pilots Association general secretary Jim McAuslan said: “It is an incredibly unsafe thing to do”.

Given the many incidents of cockpit illuminations by lasers, the potential for an accident definitely exists but the fact that there have been no laser-related accidents to date (October 2015) indicates that the hazard associated with current lasers can be successfully managed.

But the crime continues to be a serious problem, with a total of 414 laser incidents reported to the UK’s aviation authority between January and June past year.

A purported recording of one of the plane’s pilots requesting permission to return to Heathrow was published online. Heathrow had the highest number of incidents involving lasers in the first six months of past year with 48, closely followed by Birmingham with 32.

The London Metropolitan Police Service confirmed that it is investigating the incident, CNN reports. Direct hit have put pilots in the hospital.

It is illegal to shine a light at a plane “so as to dazzle the pilot”, but not an offence to own or carry a laser.

The union wants ministers to classify lasers as offensive weapons which would give the police more power to arrest people for possessing them if they had no good reason to have them.

Patrick Murphy, a U.S. expert on laser safety, told the Guardian that while tightening restrictions on laser sales would be helpful, pilots should also be given additional training to cope with incidents.