British physicians have described what they say may be “the first evidence-based report” of a commercial airline pilot experiencing a medically documented retinal injury caused by a laser strike to an aircraft.1
Publication of their report in the January 2016 issue of Aerospace Medicine and Human Performance came as officials in several countries voiced fears that the number of laser strikes on aircraft is increasing, even as efforts have intensified to prevent strikes by publicizing the dangers that they present for pilots.
The physicians’ report said that the airline pilot was seen at the Department of Ophthalmology at Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield, England, “complaining of a blind spot in the upper left area of his visual field in the right eye,” one day after his airplane was struck by a laser beam during approach to landing at “a busy international airport within the United Kingdom.”
“At around 1,300 ft (396 m), a blue laser beam fr…
