Laser warning after helicopter targeted

POLICE are warning about the dangers of shining a laser pen at aircraft after a police helicopter attending an incident in Warrington was targeted.
This follows the sentencing of a 23-year-old man from Warrington who shone a laser pen from the window of his first floor flat in Warrington.
William Sproat admitted shining a light at an aircraft in flight so as to dazzle or distract the pilot.
He was sentenced at North Cheshire Magistrates Court on to four months in prison.
The aircraft was hovering a thousand feet above ground when the intense laser beam filled the cockpit with green light on two occasions, leaving the pilot and observation crew temporarily disoriented.
PC Andy Shaw from the National Police Air Service said: “When the cockpit is flooded with green light, we can’t see properly and the pilot can’t operate the helicopter safely.
“We had to move away from the light and weren’t able to carry on with the original assignment.”
The crew used their equipment to locate exactly where the light had been coming from and an officer was sent to the address.
Captain Scott Broom who was pilot on the night said: “Aiming a laser beam at any type of aircraft is a serious offence. The consequences could be disastrous. With the technology the helicopter carries we can locate the source of any point of light instantly. So anyone who is misguided enough to try this sort of thing should think again.”
Picture: The green laser light which flooded the helicopter’s cockpit.