Man given a suspended sentence after shining a laser beam at the NPAS Helicopter. Chris Vowles, aged 23, from Sandwell, was with friends drinking in the back garden of a house on Eatesbrook Road in Kitts Green, on Thursday 31st July, when he shone a laser beam at the National Police Air Service (NPAS) Helicopter. The NPAS Helicopter was heading to Birmingham on a thermal imaging surveillance mission when it was struck by the laser beam several times at around 1:15AM. The crew were temporarily disorientated as the green light bounced through the cabin - and when they used powerful thermal imaging cameras to locate the laser source they homed in on Vowles laughing and toasting the laser attack with fellow drinkers. Shortly after, a response team arrived at the house and Vowels was arrested on suspicion of ‘acting reckless in a manner likely to endanger an aircraft. Footage from the on-board camera shows Vowels throwing the laser pen into a neighbour’s garden. It was quickly recovered and when he was shown the footage he was left with little choice but to admit the offence. Vowels was sentenced to seven months suspended for two years and 250 hours of unpaid work at Birmingham Crown Court earlier today (16/10). He was also ordered to pay £100 victims surcharge and £300 costs. NPAS Senior Pilot Andy Shanks said he’d been hit “countless times by laser pens during a 33-year flying career When the light bounces off the screen it’s like a disco-ball strobe effect in the cabin, It’s disorientating, makes it impossible to focus on the instrument panel and is extremely dangerous as even a momentary loss of control can be crucial. In a worst case scenario crew members struck in the eye can suffer eye damage - that happened recently to an observation officer in Ripley who suffered retina damage after being hit with the laser whilst looking through binoculars. West Midlands region NPAS manager Martin Knowles, added: “This was not accidental…it was a deliberate act. The demeanour of the people in the garden illustrates the attitude of many people - laughing and joking and believing their actions were somehow harmless fun. But aiming a laser pen at any aircraft, be it a police helicopter, air ambulance or commercial plane, can have disastrous consequences - it’s certainly no laughing matter. The police take laser pen incidents very seriously - and of course it’s easy for us to identify offenders as the light beam directs us straight to them, whilst high-tech on-board cameras enable us to keep tabs on them should they try to disappear.
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 13:45:10 +0000