A western New York man will serve 18 months in federal prison after aiming a green laser pointer at a Delta Air Lines flight on final approach to Buffalo Niagara International Airport — an attack the flight crew reported lasted between 60 and 90 seconds.
U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced the sentence Friday, confirming that Joseph L. Crapsi, 31, of Cheektowaga, N.Y., was ordered to prison by U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo following a guilty plea entered in December 2025.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York, the incident occurred on March 2, 2024, while the Delta flight was on approach to Buffalo Niagara. Crapsi lives directly beneath the airport’s flight path. Prosecutors said he directed the beam of a green laser pointer at the aircraft, and the flight crew promptly reported the strike to Buffalo Air Traffic Control, noting the illumination had persisted for up to 90 seconds.
Authorities emphasized the danger such acts pose during critical phases of flight. Aiming a laser at a cockpit can temporarily blind or disorient a pilot at the moment precision flying is most essential — during approach and landing.
The Crapsi case is part of a broader and persistent problem. According to FAA data, pilots reported 9,457 laser strikes in 2022, 13,304 in 2023, and 10,942 in 2024 — a combined total of more than 33,700 reported incidents over the three-year span. The 2023 figure represents a record high since the FAA began formally tracking such events. While reports dipped somewhat in 2024, the numbers remain far above historical norms from a decade ago, when annual totals typically ranged between 3,000 and 4,000.
The case was investigated jointly by the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority Police Department, under the direction of Chief Brian Patterson; the Cheektowaga Police Department, under Chief Brian Coons; and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The prosecution was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Charles M. Kruly and Craig R. Gestring, and underscores the federal government’s continued push for custodial sentences in laser-strike cases.
The FAA has previously flagged several New York-area airports as locations where laser incidents occur at elevated rates. Federal law makes it a felony to aim a laser at an aircraft, carrying a maximum sentence of five years in prison per incident.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice / U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of New York; FAA Laser Strike Data; WKBW Buffalo; WIVB News 4 Buffalo; WGRZ Buffalo
