‘Bloody idiots’ shine laser in helicopter cockpit

Rescue helicopter pilot Shaun Clark tracked and followed a group of what he described as ‘bloody idiots’ who shone a blinding laser into the cockpit of his helicopter near Dunedin, New Zealand, but was unable to call the police due to his mobile phone coverage being out.

After dropping off a patient for the Lakes District Air Rescue Trust, Clark and a paramedic were returning to their base in Queenstown when they were blinded by a ‘really bright flash’ in the cockpit. The light was being shone from about two kilometres (1.2 miles) away.

Clark initially thought one of his colleagues was taking a photo with camera flash: “I turned around to see if that was what it was and as I turned I just got this blinding green light right in my eyes.”

Clack then decided to track the culprits, eventually finding them in a parked car. Fortunately for them, he was unable to call the police as he had no mobile phone signal at the time.