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As an additional note the news outlets did this with laser pointers when those started becoming popular, and how many aircraft did those also take down? I am going to guess the same amount, which I am assuming to be zero, unless someone else here tells me differently.

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It's hard to be accidentally dangerous with a laser pointer. People know you're not supposed to point them at others, and the only reason to point them at an airplane is if you're up to no good.

UAVs, on the other hand, have lots of interesting uses which are also potentially dangerous. That means your risk is from normal users who are just ignorant or careless, not just pranksters. Thankfully there are not a lot of people out there willing to deliberately endanger aircraft, but there are a lot of stupid and ignorant people.

It's a lot harder to FOD a jet engine with a laser pointer.

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