Aircraft Laser Exposure: What to do?

If you read my article here, you know that lasers are fairly dangerous to aircraft operations.  At the least, it irritates a pilot; the worst case scenario, however, is a crash that takes hundreds of lives.  So, what do we do when a green or red light flashes into our eyes on a quiet evening flight?

First, fly the plane.  Just as with any emergency, you want to keep the plane under control and safe.  Your vision may be severely interupted for a while, so be careful.  Notify ATC immediately; whomever you may be talking to at the moment.  Not only can they help keep you away from other aircraft while you recover, they're instrumental in reporting the incident and advising other aircraft in the area of the laser activity.

When you're on the ground, you'll want to officially report the incident.  The form for doing so can be found here.  It's a one page thing you fax in that can potentially help prevent a catastrophe.

Hopefully you'll never have to deal with this, but if you do, you'll have the tools to handle it.