Waltham police searching for person flashing laser on private property along Trapelo Road
WALTHAM - Waltham police are on the lookout for someone flashing a green laser on private property along Trapelo Road. The fear is they may be aiming it at planes.
Since Aug. 31, the police department has been called to the area four times now for reports of the laser. Some neighbors had it flash into their bedrooms, and another person caught it on camera. It's happening at the Walter Fernald Development Center. It's an abandoned mental health institution dating back to the 1800s. People aren't allowed to be there.
So far, Waltham police have yet to catch anyone in that act, and have no indication that the person has aimed it at a plane. However, in the neighbor's video you can hear a plane flying overhead.
Nathan Fancher is a 20-year pilot with Boston MedFlight. He has had a laser shined into his aircraft roughly half a dozen times in his career. He said it can be extremely distracting.
"I've also had it hit the windshield in just a perfect way where it looks like I am sitting inside of a prism. So the whole cockpit went green, and you could see it just, kind of, bouncing all over the place," described Fancher, "If we're at a thousand feet or less coming in to land at a hospital, it's very easy for a laser to reach us. The same goes with an airliner coming in."
So far the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has yet to have any reports of aircrafts being hit by a laser in the Waltham but police are still patrolling. The FAA had 9,500 reports of laser strikes in 2022. Being caught can carry a hefty fine as high as $11,000 per violation.
"The last one was the Coast Guard that got lasered when they were landing at Mass General. That's worst case scenario," said Fancher.