Aiming a laser with sufficient power density at the pilot's position should be harshly punished, I agree.
Pointing an annoying laser, though, that probably is under the fed guidelines for commercial laser shows, though? I don't think so.
Laser beams spread out after a distance. They are pretty parallell out to a certain distance, then spread rapidly. When I run the equatin for a 532nm green laser with a 1mm aperture, I get a beam spread of 12 to 15 feet at 2 miles. 5 mW spread over that big a circle is .5 microwatts/cm2, and at one mile is about twice that, 1 uW.
If he's in a Laser Free Zone the limit is 50 nW/cm2, this is about two miles from an airport and a very low laser power.
The next zone out is the Critical Zone, running out 10 miles, and the laser beam limit is 5 uW/cm2- vey difficult to get with a 5 mW pointer.
Beyond that, is the Sensitive Flight Zone, and the beam limit there is a whopping 100 uW/cm2.
This is from
http://www.faa.gov/atpubs/AIR/chapter_29.htm
the FAA regs on outdoor laser operations. If a laser hits a plane below these levels and out of the designated zones, it's not a crime per se.
Using the Patriot Act for this case is not good and not a good harbinger of things to come. Remember when the Clinton justice department used RICO laws to silence abortion protest?
This is the kind of information that we need to know and I appreciate that you provide your expertise in the matter.
Our govt should take heed before it willy nilly uses Patriot - needed legislation if used properly - for crimes that are not terror related.
Yes, I do remember well, RICO used for pro life protestors...horrible.