Nicholas James Link, a United States citizen based in Minnesota, has been sentenced to 2 years in prison for his laser targeting maneuvers on a Delta Airlines flight, Wien reports. The above incident happened on the night of 29 October 2021. The dangerous act of the 43-year-old man interrupted the pilot’s attempts to land, raising an alarm about the safety of the passengers in the plane. According to reports, the man pleaded guilty to endangering a flight after he was produced in court this year.
At the time of the incident, a Delta Airlines Airbus A319 was flying a commercial flight from Raleigh-Durham to Minneapolis. The aircraft was 9,000 feet west of River Falls, Wisconsin, at an altitude of 9,000 feet when the laser pointed at it. The incident was reported by the airline’s pilot to the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP).
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Everything was as usual until the blue laser light came on in the cockpit. Air traffic control instructed the aircraft to change runways when it was en route to MSP airport. However, due to Link’s laser attacks, which caused a critical turning point for the pilots in the cockpit, they were unable to read this brief on their iPads.
On January 12, 2023, when US District Judge William M. Conley announced his decision to sentence Link to two years in prison, Link pleaded guilty to the offense. The pilots were able to take to the new runway and land the aircraft safely after the laser attack without any untoward incident.
Although vision in the captain’s right eye was apparently impaired for several hours following the incident, the first officer did not experience any disturbance of vision. Air traffic control called in a Minnesota State Patrol plane after the laser attack. The patrol aircraft made their way to River Falls to observe the situation and monitor the location of the link.
In his defence, the accused Link claimed that the risk of laser attacks had not been well recognized. Judge Conley, however, disagreed with him. The danger is well known because, according to Judge Conley, these incidents are regularly covered by the news. He characterized firing a laser at an airplane as “incredibly dangerous and reckless”.