Pilots Landing at Sea-Tac Airport Report Laser Incidents

This past weekend several pilots landing at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport reported someone was shining a green laser light into the cockpits of the aircraft. This annoyance and safety issue is an ongoing issue that has plagued pilots throughout the country.

In the Seattle incidents, all the aircraft landed safely. But according to the Federal Aviation Administration, there have been 148 laser-related incidents this year. Last week a laser incident was reported at San Jose airport.

Aviation officials fear that the laser pointers may one day contribute to a plane accident, as the lights are pointed directly into cockpit windows during take-off or landing phases, the most dangerous part of any flight.

American Airlines Plane Departing SFO Makes Emergency Landing

An American Airlines jet made a safe emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport on Monday after the pilot reported smoke and the smell of fuel in the cockpit, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said.

American Flight 442 was en route from San Francisco to Miami when the pilot declared an emergency, diverted to Los Angeles and landed shortly after 2 p.m., said FAA spokesman Ian Gregor. There was no fire on the plane, which carried 180 passengers, said Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman d'Lisa Davies. Read more from CBS5

United Grounds Flights Today For Safety Checks

United Airlines sent out a press release this morning saying they are pulling all 52 of its Boeing 777 aircraft, mainly used for International flights. About half a dozen international flights destined for SFO were cancelled as of 9am today.

In their statement, United says passengers traveling April 2 may experience flight delays or cancellations for fire-system maintenance checks. United said the checks resulted from a review of maintenance records and discovery that the functional test that checks the firing system on one of the five bottles in the cargo fire suppression system on Boeing 777 was not performed. Not all the aircraft can be checked today, and the company warned of additional flight delays or cancellations over the next 24-36 hours.

In their statement United says it "is currently working to provide additional aircraft where available and is accommodating customers on other flights and other airlines. Customers can check which aircraft they are scheduled to fly on at united.com."

NASA: 'You don't want to know what we know about flying safely'

Anxious to avoid upsetting air travelers, NASA is withholding results from an unprecedented national survey of pilots that found safety problems like near collisions and runway interference occur far more frequently than the government previously recognized.

A senior NASA official, associate administrator Thomas S. Luedtke, said revealing the findings could damage the public's confidence in airlines and affect airline profits.

Among other results, the pilots reported at least twice as many bird strikes, near mid-air collisions and runway incursions as other government monitoring systems show, according to a person familiar with the results who was not authorized to discuss them publicly. CBS NEWS