So one of the things I was surprised to learn during flight school was the amount of work that goes on in a cockpit while flying. It's not even close to driving AND you're in a very unforgiving environment when things go wrong.

Pilots are watching the gauges, checking maps, talking to the tower, watching out for traffic, etc. Watching the gauges might seem like you're just watching your speedometer or tach in a car but it's much more involved in a plane. You have to maintain minimum airspeed or you'll lose life and the atmospheric conditions can impact this. Not only that, you're trying to stay on course but the wind often tries to blow you off course so you have to adjust for that.....and every adjustment has to be countered by another adjustment and on and on.

Flying is a VERY complex activity that most people can't appreciate. Hell I certainly didn't until I started taking classes.

Many things could happen if hit with a laser - they could flinch which could easily upset the flight characteristics, it could hit their eyes blinding them, it could interrupt their concentration causing a "mature moment" where they forget what they were doing and that could lead to any number of bad things, it could divert their attention at a critical moment and any number of other things.

When planes are landing they're in slow flight and this is a delicate balance of maintaining lift yet descending towards the runway and any number of things could happen during this time. The pilots are often quite busy making adjustments and if they get hit with a laser at this critical juncture - it could be catastrophic.

Nothing good can come from pointing a laser at an aircraft and I don't understand why people do it.