As I was watching over the left window of the TAM A-320 yesterday in the evening while approching SBCT (Curitiba Afonso Pena) for landing I noticed a very bright green light in a spot that could not be SBBI (Bacacheri) and if it was it would not have anything to do with an aeronautical light pistol (which is meant for giving clearance on radio abscence like when a fail takes place) meant for us since we were bound to land at SBCT.

Then all of a sudden the light got brighter and brighter and it flashed very intensely in my eyes.

No mistake it was a laser beam or sort.

I wonder how long will we have to wait until we have a mechanism like one in a U.S. city (did not manage to find out the link to that article… if you find it please post it here as a comment :)) in which there is a service specific to handle this matter. A user calls in and then a helicopter with special detection equipment traces the criminals, and they get ultimately arrested.

There is one good example where the guy took what he deserved (I think he deserved doing a lot more time in jail): http://www.policehelicopterpilot.com/police-helicopter-journal/2009/9/11/shine-laser-at-aircraft-go-to-federal-prison.html

An article showing a new law in the UK to handle this matter: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/6973449/New-law-bans-shining-laser-beams-at-aircraft.html

Another (older, from BBC) article showing the increase of incidents: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8454318.stm