Canada's Transport Minister, Marc Garneau, says he may have to engineer a ban on certain types of lasers, because aircraft are still being targeted by people who try to blind the pilots with the intense light.
This month, over the span of two days, six pilots approaching Trudeau Airport in Dorval reported attempts to blind them with a laser pointer. It is not known whether the same culprit was responsible for all six attempts.
Garneau says an education campaign he launched two years ago has cut the number of incidents by 25% but he feels that's not enough. He says the practice is both reckless and criminal, and has to stop.
Penalties upon conviction include a prison term of up to five years and fines up to $100,000. Garneau says, however, that prosecutions are rare because it is very difficult to locate the culprits on the ground.
The Transport Minister says he has instructed his department to look at all possible solutions, including a ban on certain kinds of lasers.