Virgin Atlantic was forced to return one of its transatlantic flights
to Heathrow shortly after take off, following a "laser-beam incident".
The New York-bound Airbus A340 service was on its way to New York when one of its pilots was apparently "dazzled" by a laser beam pointed at the cockpit.
The BBC news website has published an air traffic control recording of the incident her, in which a crew member reports "a medical issue with one of the pilots after a laser incident after take-off".
The Twitter page for Aviation Policing at Heathrow airport also confirmed that an "Aircraft [has been] forced to return to Heathrow after being hit by a laser strike".
The threat of laser pointers being directed at aircraft has been an issue for some time - back in 2011 Business Traveller reported on the rise of reported incidents in the UK, from just 30 in 2007 to 1,600 in the first nine months of 2011
