A man accused of pointing a laser at an incoming plane late last night has appeared in Christchurch District Court this morning.
The 38-year-old faces two charges of endangering safety after allegedly pointing a green laser at a plane and the control tower at Christchurch Airport.
Airways New Zealand says at 12:35am control tower staff saw a laser coming from the Port Hills direction and notified police. The man was found on Summit Rd in the Port Hills.
The man has yet to enter a plea but has been granted bail until April.
The plane was a Virgin Airlines flight with 121 passengers and crew on board.
Large and medium-sized passenger aircraft are the most commonly targeted, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) says, and ''this means that laser strikes have the potential to cause an extremely high level of public harm in the case of an accident''.
Most of the laser strikes occur during approach and landing, take-off and climb-out.
''At these low-level, high-workload flight phases, the consequences of any temporary pilot-impairment or distraction are potentially catastrophic," a CAA spokesperson said.
"Laser strikes could cause temporary flash blindness, which pose a serious risk to pilots."
Last year, police investigated a spate of incidents where lasers were pointed at planes coming into Wellington.
A 27-year-old was sentenced to 12 months' supervision and 100 hours' community service for breaching the Civil Aviation Act at the beginning of last year.
Airline Pilots' Association technical officer David Reynolds said at the time pointing a laser at a plane is "very dangerous" for many reasons, the number one being the risk to the pilot's eyesight, as it can temporarily blind them. There were over 100 incidents in 2014 of laser pointing.
Newshub.
