Pilots Landing at Seattle-Tacoma Airport Report Lasers

Pilots on 12 jetliners landing at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Sunday reported that someone was shining a green laser light into their cockpits, bringing renewed attention to a problem that has plagued pilots since the introduction of cheap laser pointers several years ago.

All the planes were targeted during a 20-minute period Sunday night, and all landed safely. But the incident led to pilots simultaneously trying to avoid being temporarily blinded by the light while trying to help authorities pinpoint its source, believed to be about a mile north of the airport.

Air traffic controllers continuously cautioned pilots about the light during the episode, which lasted from 7:10 to 7:30 p.m. PT.

“All right, I’ll keep an eye out for that,” one pilot responded before correcting himself. “Er, I’ll keep an eye away from that,” he said in radio traffic captured by LiveATC.net.

Another pilot reported the source to be a block and a half west of an interstate. Airport authorities said they conducted two searches of the area but did not find the culprit.

Laser attacks on aircraft have increased in recent years, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. There have been 148 incidents this year, FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said.

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FAA Says Computer Problem Causing Massive Flight Delays

Travelers are facing mass flight delays today as the result of a computer problem at the Federal Aviation Administration.

The Federal Aviation Administration said that one of its two systems that process flight plans is down on Tuesday, Aug. 26. All flight plans are now being handled out of Salt Lake City.

The FAA has two systems that process flight plans one located in Atlanta and the other one in Salt Lake City. But the Atlanta system went down at 1:30pm today, and all flight plans are now being handled out of Salt Lake City.

As a result, delays could pile up at airports across the country. Delays up to 90 minutes are already surfacing at several airports.

According to the FAA, about 6,500 airplanes are in FAA system, though the aviation agency has not said how many were in the sky and how many were on the ground when the problem occurred.

Boston is the currently affected by the problem, while New York City area airports are not feeling its effects. Still, with such a heavy volume of air traffic typically converging on the East Coast, delays could spread depending on how much time it takes to iron out the problem.

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