Pilots Seeing Red Over Hot New Trend In Holiday Laser Light Displays

BURBANK (CBSLA.com) — Laser light displays, a hot new trend for the holidays, are sold-out at many stores in the Southland, but some say they could pose a danger to pilots and passengers alike.

"Something different. Usually my husband gets out a ladder and goes way high up there," said Angela Joneson of Burbank, who likes to go all out for the holidays.

Like a lot of homeowners, she tried the newest trend: laser lights.

"This year, we decided to do some color lights," she said.

The infomercial for Star Shower promises a hassle-free shortcut, but now some pilots say the lights are akin to laser pointers that are illegal to point at aircraft.

"It's very scary and it's potentially damaging to eyes," Ron Jameson, a pilot, said.

Some pilots say if a laser from a Christmas display hits a chopper's windshield, the entire cockpit can light up.

"So it's going to go through the windscreen. It's going to bounce off everything in there. You're completely engulfed in green light that's flickering all over the place and it's completely blinding," Jameson said.

An American Airlines pilot reported getting beamed with a laser while trying to land in Dallas and it was connected to a Christmas light display 22 miles away.

On the box and their website, Star Shower makes it clear that homeowners need to exercise caution especially around airports.

Joneson said that she made sure to keep an eye on just how far her lights would spread as she lives near Burbank's Bob Hope Airport.

"My husband kinda put it in the tree to aim it so it was aiming on the house and more down and making sure that it wasn't aiming into the sky," she said.

The FAA says that it's up to the consumer to ensure that the display is pointed at the house and not toward the sky.

The agency said it hasn't had any incidents of local complaints about lights, but they say they have the right to cite a home or shut down a display if it poses a problem.