Investigations

On April 10, 2017, Jay Scott Howell of Tulsa, Oklahoma, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court, Tulsa to one count of aiming a laser pointing device at an aircraft. In December 2016, he knowingly aimed the beam of a laser pointing device at a Tulsa Police Department helicopter.

 

The FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 was enacted to modernize the Nation’s aviation system and established a new criminal offense for aiming the beam of a laser pointer at an aircraft or the flight path of an aircraft. The criminal statute was a response to a growing number of safety incidents in which pilots were distracted or temporarily blinded by laser beams.