Man suspected of pointing laser at commercial jet over LA

A 27-year-old man has been arrested here after he pointed a powerful green laser light into the cockpit of a commercial airliner, temporarily impairing a pilot, police said.
The man, identified as Cory Lien, then repeated the same offence by pointing a laser light on a police plane searching for the offending light, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said.
The commercial pilot told authorities his cockpit was illuminated by a light several times on Thursday night while flying over the Lancaster area, the sheriff's office said.
That created a dangerous situation because the pilot's vision was temporarily impaired.
The sheriff's office was notified and sent up a fixed- wing hi-tech airplane to search for the light.

The officers found it and "almost immediately, the cockpit of the ... Airplane was illuminated several times with the powerful light, causing distraction and temporary visual impairment to the pilot," the press release said.

The pilot told deputies on the ground where to search. They arrested Lien at his home in Lancaster on charges of discharging a laser at an aircraft, the sheriff's office said.
Deputies seized a high-power laser pointing device and arrested Lien on suspicion of discharging a laser at an aircraft. He was held in lieu of a USD 25,000 bail.
Sheriff's deputies in the last four years have arrested two dozen people on suspicion of shining lasers into eyes of pilots over the county. The offense is also subject to a federal fine of up to USD 11,000.

Laser lights are a national problem. In August, 12 pilots flying over New Jersey reported laser lights pointed into their cockpits.