Tennessee recorded 431 pilot-reported laser strikes in 2025, a total that places the state among the highest in the country based on the FAA’s 2025 reported-laser-incident data. While the national total fell 14% compared with the prior year, Tennessee’s continued presence near the top of those state-by-state totals signals that laser attacks on aircraft remain a serious and recurring problem in Tennessee airspace.
National Numbers Drop but Stay Elevated
Pilots across the country reported 10,994 laser strikes in 2025, a 14% decline from the 12,840 incidents logged in 2024. That two-year downward trend follows a record-setting 2023, when the FAA tallied 13,304 strikes, the highest annual count ever recorded according to reporting by the Associated Press. Even with the recent decline, the 2025 figure remains far above the levels seen a decade ago, underscoring that the hazard has become a stubborn feature of the modern aviation environment rather than a short-lived spike.
The states with the most incidents in 2025 were California, Texas, Florida, Illinois, Arizona, and Washington, all of which outpaced Tennessee. But Tennessee’s 431 incidents are notable given its smaller population relative to most of those states, which raises questions about whether concentrated flight corridors around Memphis and Nashville may amplify the risk. In 2024, Tennessee ranked even higher at fourth nationally with 649 reported strikes, meaning the state saw a roughly one-third drop year over year yet still could not escape the top ten. That pattern underscores how a state can experience meaningful progress on paper while pilots and regulators still confront a level of risk that remains unacceptably high.
Why a Laser Beam Is an In-Flight Emergency
A handheld laser pointer may seem harmless on the ground, but at altitude its beam can spread to fill an entire cockpit windshield with blinding light. The FBI has explained that laser strikes cause flash blindness, afterimages, and intense glare, effects that can incapacitate a pilot during the most critical phases of flight, including takeoff and landing. That risk is not theoretical: the FBI warns that laser strikes can cause flash blindness, afterimages, and glare that can compromise a pilot’s vision, especially during takeoff and landing, and notes that reported incidents have remained a persistent safety concern. For a flight crew already managing weather, traffic, and complex procedures, an unexpected burst of green or red light can instantly escalate into a safety emergency.
Because of that danger, the FAA classifies every laser illumination as an in-flight emergency until the crew determines otherwise, according to Advisory Circular 70-2B. Flight crews are directed to log details such as altitude, laser color, location, and the direction of the beam so that air traffic control can alert other aircraft and relay information to law enforcement. This reporting protocol feeds the FAA’s incident-level dataset, which tracks strikes by city, airport proximity, and time of day through a publicly available downloadable database for 2025. That granular data is what allows analysts to identify hotspots and trends at the state level, including clusters near particular approach paths or neighborhoods that may warrant targeted outreach or enforcement.
Federal Law and the Memphis Enforcement Case
Aiming a laser at an aircraft has been a federal crime since 2012, when Congress passed the FAA Modernization and Reform Act, Public Law 112-95. That legislation created 18 U.S.C. Section 39A, which makes it illegal to knowingly direct a laser pointer at an aircraft or its flight path, regardless of whether the person claims to be “just playing around.” Violators face up to five years in federal prison and substantial fines, a penalty steep enough to reflect how seriously lawmakers and aviation regulators treat the offense. The law operates alongside other potential charges, such as interfering with the operation of an aircraft, that can carry even stiffer penalties in the most egregious cases…