MADISON, Wis. — A federal judge in Wisconsin sentenced a Minnesota male on Friday to 2 years in jail for intending a laser at a Delta Air Lines jet in 2021, an act that districtattorneys stated interferedwith the pilots’ efforts to land and putting guests in “incredible risk.”
James Link, 43, of Rochester, Minnesota, pleaded guilty in January.
Laser strikes on aircrafts and helicopters hit a record in the U.S. in2021 Pilots reported 9,723 occurrences, a 41% dive over the year priorto, according to Federal Aviation Administration figures. The FAA stated it handed out $120,000 in fines in2021 Violators like Link can likewise face up to 5 years in jail.
According to the U.S. lawyer’s workplace in Madison, the pilots of the Delta flight from Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, to Minneapolis on Oct. 29, 2021, reported that their cockpit was lit up 3 times by a brilliant blue laser while they were at an elevation of 9,000 feet (2,700 meters) simply west of River Falls, Wisconsin. At the time, air traffic control had simply advised them to