Enid Fire Captain Fired For Firing Laser into UPS plane

12:05 PM EST on December 16, 2015

Watch out where you shine that laser pointer you got at a trade show a few years ago!

Recently, a long time Enid Fire Captain was terminated for allegedly shining lasers into airplane cockpits. Here are the details via News 9:

A longtime Enid fire captain has been fired after he was accused of shining a laser into the cockpit of an airplane.
Now, the former captain's lawyer plans to appeal the firing.
He said his client is being targeted for other reasons.
Captain Denton Morgan served with the Enid Fire department for 17 years. His career came to an abrupt end Monday night.
It's all after Morgan was accused of pointing a laser sighted veterinary dart from his home near the Enid Woodward Regional Airport into the cockpit of a UPS Plane. The airport director said that's extremely dangerous.

First of all, do all laser pointers have a range of 30,000? Isn't that a bit excessive? Also, how exactly is it "extremely dangerous" to shoot a laser pointer into a cockpit? Are airplanes now being flown by cats?

Haha! Zing! You knew that was coming.

Actually, it is dangerous. We've all seen T2 and Predator enough times to know what happens when you see a red light shining on your body. Also, lasers can make pilots go blind. That begs the questions, why was a fireman doing this?

Here's more:

Monday, the Fire Civil Service Commission decided to fire Morgan, not because the board believed it had enough evidence that Morgan had used the laser, but because the board believed he lied about using it.
Morgan's attorney said his client is a scapegoat for the city.
A spokesman for the Enid Fire Department refused to answer our questions on camera.
Morgan's attorney said his client is being targeted by the city for complaining about additional noise caused by the airport's recent expansion, and that's what cost him his career.

Oh, so he's upset by the noise caused by the Enid Airport? Uhm, okay. The Enid Airport would probably be considered a quite zone in Oklahoma City, but whatever, I bet the three or four planes that come in and out of the airport each day get really annoying.

(p.s. - I couldn't think of a good pic for this story, so I just went with Enid model Bre Marie Woolf. I hope that works.)