7NEWS Australia published this video item, entitled “Toongabbie tradie points laser at police helicopter | 7NEWS” – below is their description.
Police are cracking down on people pointing laser lights at aircraft after one officer was temporarily blinded. Police say their helicopters, and other aircraft, have been targeted by laser pointers on 12 occasions over the past month. In one incident, an officer’s vision was temporarily impaired. They’ve seen a spike in recent incidents and this has prompted the aviation command to release this vision from their Polair helicopters. The bright shine of a laser beam is the last thing a pilot needs to see and it can be incredibly dangerous to the crew board as well as the public. Last month Wayne Wiggins pointed a laser at PolAir 8 as it patrolled near his home in Toongabbie.
Today he faced court and pleaded guilty saying the chopper was irritating him when he was trying to sleep.
7NEWS Australia YouTube Channel
Wayne Wiggins in this video is repeatedly questioned by news reporters, having been woken up in the night by PolAir 8. He corrected reporters – apparently accurately – that PolAir 8 is not a helicopter, and in fact, is a plane. He pleaded guilty to pointing a laser pointer at the aircraft, accepted it was a dangerous thing to do, apologized publicly to the crew and others, and said he would “never do it again.”
The photograph below shows PolAir 8 – which is a NSW Police Force Aviation Command aircraft – a Carenado C208B Grand Caravan EX series aircraft.
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