In United States v. Gardenhire, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a 30-month sentence imposed on Adam Gardenhire, an 18-year-old who aimed a laser pointer at a Cessna Citation on approach to Burbank International Airport and then at a police helicopter searching for the laser's origin. The court imposed a longer sentence than prescribed by the Sentencing Guidelines because (1) Gardenhire was aware of the dangers laser pointers pose to aircraft, (2) there is a "need for deterrence," and (3) it is important to impress upon young people the seriousness of the activity.
The Ninth Circuit found that the length of the sentence constituted clear error, holding that the evidence did not support a finding that Gardenhire knew that a laser pointer could cause damage to occupants of aircraft, or even that he knew the pointer could reach the aircraft. Strangely, the Ninth Circuit also appeared to condone Gardenhire's ignorance of 18 U.S.C. § 39A, which makes it a crime to "knowingly aim[] the beam of a laser pointer at an aircraft" and provides a maximum prison term of 60 months, reasoning that because the statute was only six weeks old at the time of the incident, the average person was not aware of the dangers of pointing a laser beam at an aircraft.
Notwithstanding the Ninth Circuit's opinion, the dangers of laser pointers to aviation have been known for years. The FAA, as far back as December 2004, has required 30-days notice of outdoor laser operations so the FAA can "minimize the potentially hazardous adverse effects of laser operations on aircraft operators." FAA Advisory Circular 70-1. More recently, in February 2013, the FAA released Advisory Circular 70-2A, in which it noted that a "serious response" was needed to the "significant increase of unauthorized laser illumination of aircraft incidents," and that air traffic control has been instructed to treat all in-flight illumination events as emergencies until the aircrew advises them otherwise.
The Ninth Circuit's decision in Gardenhire stands in significant contrast to the seriousness of the danger posed by lasers. While one can understand the Court's reluctance to uphold a lengthy sentence for this young man, who may have had no prior run-ins with the law, the danger of Gardenhire's actions to aviation mandates that they be treated seriously. United States v. Gardenhire, 784 F.3d 1277 (9th Cir. 2015).
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