ATLANTA- A federal court has sentenced a New York man to 18 months in prison for aiming a laser pointer at a Delta Air Lines (DL) flight that was on final approach to Buffalo Niagara International Airport (BUF).
The case involved flight DL2334, which was preparing to land at Buffalo (BUF) on the night of March 2, 2024, when the flight crew reported a laser strike from the ground below.
Federal Sentence for Delta Air Lines Laser Strike
Joseph L. Crapsi, a 31-year-old deaf man from Cheektowaga, New York, pleaded guilty to aiming a laser pointer at an aircraft, an offense under 18 U.S. Code § 39A. The charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo handed down the 18-month sentence late last week.
The prosecution was brought by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Charles M. Kruly and Craig R. Gestring. The case followed a joint investigation by the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority Police Department and the FBI.
How Investigators Traced the Laser
The final approach path into Buffalo Niagara International Airport took the Delta jet close to Crapsi’s house in Cheektowaga, located just a few miles from the airport.
After the incident, the pilot reported the laser strike to police. Officers then made enquiries in the area the flight crew had identified as the source of the beam.
One of Crapsi’s neighbors told officers they had seen a laser shining through his window on multiple occasions. According to PYOK, the court ruled that the sighting of a laser shining into the sky was enough to meet the low legal standard of probable cause.
Officers went to Crapsi’s address and were invited inside. They accompanied him to his bedroom, where they noticed a laser pointer in plain sight. The device was seized as evidence, and Crapsi was arrested.
Failed Legal Challenge
Crapsi’s attorneys had fought the case before he entered his guilty plea. They asked the court to suppress the evidence of the laser pointer found in his bedroom and objected to the finding that police had probable cause to arrest him.
The court rejected both arguments. It found that officers acted within their rights when they arrested him, and the laser pointer was admitted as evidence.
Laser Strike Numbers Across the United States
Laser strikes remain a persistent safety problem for pilots across the country. In 2023, there were a record 13,304 laser pointer incidents reported in the United States, an increase of nearly 80% compared to 2016.
The figures have eased slightly since that peak. There were 12,840 reported laser incidents in 2024 and 10,993 in 2025. So far this year, 3,325 incidents have been reported up to the end of June.
Aiming a laser pointer at an aircraft became a federal crime in 2012, after a sharp rise in the number of incidents being reported by pilots.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reports that the vast majority of laser strikes occur on Fridays and Saturdays. Reports also show a noticeable increase during the months of October and November.
Risk to Flight Crews
Laser incidents can temporarily blind and injure pilots at critical stages of flight. In one case involving a Virgin Atlantic (VS) flight from London (LHR) to Tel Aviv (TLV), the crew had to return to London after the pilot’s vision grew progressively worse and he was left able to see out of only one eye.
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