Author: Craig Pieper
Craig Pieper
Craig Pieper is the Editor in Chief and Founder of Aero Crew News, and is responsible for the content, layout design, website, and organization of the material for the magazine. Most recently he founded Pilots Against Laser Strikes, LLC and is the President. He obtained his Bachelors of Science in Aeronautical Science along with a minor in Aviation Weather from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 2001. Since then, he was also the founder of another company called Pieper Training Aids. Pieper Training Aids manufactured two aviation-training devices, they were known as Holding Pattern Aid and Inoperative Instrument Aid. These products can still be found in some stores across the United States. Craig has also worked as a Computer Aided Drafter and Designer in the Architecture industry for over fifteen years and continues to do so to this day. To top all of this off, Craig is also a Captain for a regional airline with a type rating in the Embraer 145 and has logged over 6,000 hours of flying time.
It was a cold crisp night last December; we had just been handed over to the Newark tower controller from New York approach control. It had been a long four-day trip and we just wanted to get on the ground so we could go home. I was working the radios and a few seconds after I had flipped the switch the radio crackled. “Tower, HeavyJet 226 we were just lasered several times in a row.” “HeavyJet 226, roger, can you identify the location?” “It happened approximately niner miles south of Newark, I’m not too familiar with the area, but I…