Toy test led to laser charge: accused

A man from Lacombe, Alta., says he was only trying to fix his son's laser toy — but has ended up facing charges of endangering aircraft safety and the flight crew of a police helicopter.

Alvin Bautista, 38, is accused of pointing a high-powered laser at the aircraft on Aug. 19, 2009.

He told an Edmonton court Thursday that he pointed the laser at a tree and the empty sky to test it for his boy. He never intended to point it at the helicopter, he said.

"I was surprised when I saw a helicopter arrive," Bautista told the court. "I told him I had no intention of doing that, and I was sorry."

The incident could have had "catastrophic" results, the officer who was piloting the chopper at the time told the court.

Const. Randy Chaulk testified that he was flying the helicopter at about 1,000 feet over Whitemud Drive and 106th Street, when the laser beam struck the cockpit around 10:30 p.m. MT.

'Bathed in a green light'

"I was suddenly struck and bathed in a green light," Chaulk told Provincial Court Judge P.G. Sully. "It took me by surprise. I tried to keep control."

Chaulk has military training and said he was able to maintain control of the aircraft even though it took him about 10 seconds to get his bearings.

But the officer told the court that if he had been blinded by the laser or if it had damaged his eyes, then it "most likely would have been catastrophic."

The outcome of the case is being watched with interest by the Air Canada Pilots Association.

Barry Wiszniowski, the chair of the association's technical and safety division, told CBC Radio's Edmonton AM he planned to sit in the public gallery in his pilot's uniform to support Edmonton police and send a message about the need for stronger penalties for people found guilty of pointing laser beams at aircraft.

198 laser events in two years

In the last two years, there have been 198 events involving lasers and aircraft in Canada, Wiszniowski said.

"We're advocates of flight safety," he said. "This is not a threat to be taken lightly. It's a very significant safety threat to what we deal with day in and day out."

Depending on how the Crown proceeds, the maximum penalty can range from a fine of $25,000 to $100,000 fine and/or 18 months to five years in prison.

In 2008, a 29-year-old man was fined $1,000 for shining a laser beam into the cockpit of an Air Canada plane as it was landing at Calgary International Airport in October 2007.

The trial will continue in March.