Jet/Long Ranger/206
Flight Crew Rotorcraft; Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Instrument
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 90; Flight Crew Total 10945; Flight Crew Type 7550
Other / Unknown
Other Laser
General Police / Security Involved
Human Factors
I was covering a high school football game for my TV station. I arrived on scene and was sporadically illuminated by a green laser from someone in the stadium bleachers. It continued most of the time I was there; approx. 2+ hrs. My photographer contacted our station and asked them to contact the County Sheriff's Office so they could try to apprehend the person(s). I was unable to contact any County Sheriff's airborne units; so I contacted ATC and asked if they would contact the Sheriff's unit on the airport; and have the Sheriff's contact me on the helicopter air-to-air freq; which they did. The Sheriff's dispatched a helicopter to my location; hoping that they would be illuminated also; which they were. My photographer was lucky enough to capture a laser hit on my aircraft; and told the station. Personnel at the station were able to clean up that image enough; that they sent it to the Sheriff's Office; which then disseminated it to the officers on the ground; who were covering the game. At half-time; officers were able to identify the suspects; and detained them for questioning. Unfortunately; the laser wasn't found on them; so they were released. Not surprisingly; I had no further laser illuminations for the duration of the time I covered the game. As an aside; the Sheriff's told me that players on the field reported being illuminated; also. I love it when the technology of our very powerful camera; microwave transmitted the image to our station; my station cleaning up the image; emailing it to the Sheriff's Office; then the Sheriff's Office emailing it to Officers on the ground all comes together. All done in less than 5 minutes.
News helicopter pilot reports being illuminated by an individual in in a high school football stadium. The Sheriff is notified and with the help of the news crew; the perpetrators are identified and apprehended; however no laser pointer is found on their persons.