All the planes had taken off from New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport and the laser came from Bethpage State Park when the aircrafts were flying at an altitude of about 8,000 feet northwest of Farmingdale. The Federal Aviation Administration and New York State Park Police are searching to find who did this. Pointing a laser into the cockpit of a plane carries a maximum of five years in federal prison and a quarter of a million dollars fine. A bright visible laser light causes distraction or temporary flash blindness to a pilot and this may occur in a critical phase of flight. The Critical Flight Zone defined by the U.S. FAA covers 10 nautical miles (NM) around the airport. In October 2008, a California man was sentenced to two years in prison for aiming a 3 milliwatt laser pointer at an aircraft. n January 2009, a Cleveland Ohio man was sentenced to three years in prison for hitting two airplanes and two helicopters. In January 2011, a Massachusetts man received a 3-year prison sentence for aiming at a helicopter.
