A B737-700 first officer reported being targeted by a laser on approach to sjc.

Narrative:

During the approach to landing at sjc airport; we were established on the ILS to 30L. I saw what appeared to be an extremely bright concentration of green light ahead of the aircraft on the ground left of the extended runway centerline about five miles from the airport. The light appeared on for a few seconds; then extinguished; and once again reappeared. I was not sure what I was visualizing until the second laser attack. I promptly lowered my head so as to avoid any further eye contact with the laser. I promptly notified ATC about the laser event. The captain who was the pilot flying continued the approach and stated that he saw another green flashing light in the cockpit when we were approximately over the site where I first observed the laser. This was an extremely distracting event which prohibited me from conducting my pilot not flying duties outside of the aircraft. Data should be compiled for areas where frequent attacks occur so that pilots can be ready to take defensive measures before suffering any permanent vision damage.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B737-700 First Officer reported being targeted by a laser on approach to SJC.

Narrative: During the approach to landing at SJC airport; we were established on the ILS to 30L. I saw what appeared to be an extremely bright concentration of green light ahead of the aircraft on the ground left of the extended runway centerline about five miles from the airport. The light appeared on for a few seconds; then extinguished; and once again reappeared. I was not sure what I was visualizing until the second laser attack. I promptly lowered my head so as to avoid any further eye contact with the laser. I promptly notified ATC about the laser event. The Captain who was the pilot flying continued the approach and stated that he saw another green flashing light in the cockpit when we were approximately over the site where I first observed the laser. This was an extremely distracting event which prohibited me from conducting my pilot not flying duties outside of the aircraft. Data should be compiled for areas where frequent attacks occur so that pilots can be ready to take defensive measures before suffering any permanent vision damage.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	898053
Time
Date	201007
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	SJC.Airport
State Reference	CA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-700
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 166
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural FAR Inflight Event / Encounter Other / Unknown