FBI focus on laser threats to aircraft

A new FBI national campaign is aimed at stopping people from pointing lasers at aircraft. It’s a federal violation that presents danger to the pilots, passengers and those on the ground. The FBI offers a reward of up to $10 thousand for information that leads to the arrest of any individual who aims a laser at aircraft. The reward is available for 90 days in all 56 FBI field offices. Since the FBI and the Federal Aviation Administration began tracking laser strikes in 2005, data show a more than 11-hundred percent increase in the deliberate targeting of aircraft by people with handheld lasers. Some of the laser pointing has taken place in South Carolina.