Laser beams shot at aircrafts after dark is causing significant inconvenience to pilots during landing at Hazarat Shahjalal International Airport.
Despite repeated complaints to the authorities for the last three months, no action has been taken over the critical issue.
According to Civil Aviation Authority Bangladesh (CAAB) since the laser is pointed from outside the airport premises, often from homes within a 5 kilometre radius, they can’t take any steps.
Laser pointers, when pointed at the cockpit magnify in the Plexiglas windows of the aircrafts, compromising the field of vision of the pilots which may lead to accidents.
Former director at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka, Zakir Hossain said that that the landing time is critical and any kind of vision compromise can be fatal.
“Often people point the laser at aircrafts for fun but this can lead an accident any time,” he tolf Bangla Tribune.
“If the light hits the pilot’s eyes it can confuse him especially during critical times such as landing,” he added.
Hossain said that any slip up not only puts the aircraft at risk but the passengers aboard.
CAAB issued a statement on Jun 17 saying that pointing lasers at aircrafts is a punishable offence and requested everyone to refrain for this for safe take-off and landing.
According to pilots these bright lights, pointed during the night, cause temporary vision impairment and despite informing the air traffic control tower repeatedly no steps have been taken.
They said that CAAB should have been more active in spreading awareness in this regard.
A pilot wishing to remain anonymous said that CAAB cannot just get away with saying that they can’t monitor the situation as it’s outside the airport premises.
“If a foreign airlines refuses to operate in Bangladesh citing risk of landing it’ll only bring negative consequences for Bangladesh,” he said.
He added that even in CAAB can’t monitor, they can at least lead awareness campaigns, something they are yet to do.
Meanwhile, an employee of Air Traffic Service and Aerodromes Division said that they do receive regular complaints and claimed that CAAB has undertaken initiatives for awareness.
Former airport director Hossain said that if law enforcers patrol the area at night maybe people will refrain from pointing lasers but there is no alternative to spreading awareness.
Civil Aviation and Tourism Secretary Md Mohibul Haque said that they have already delegated the task of carrying out a probe to a government agency.
“Anyone can point the laser and while it’s extremely difficult to identify them, it’s not totally impossible,” he said.