There may be a serious problem with the fact that Levi's Stadium sits in the flight path of San Jose Mineta International Airport, and it's about the high-tech scoreboard which shines like a blinding beacon in the South Bay night. At least six commercial airline pilots have filed complaints with the FAA about the lights from the stadium affecting their vision when they're coming in for landings in San Jose, and as NBC Bay Area tells us in an investigative report that's been going on since the stadium first opened, one of them even sought medical attention afterward.

Commercial pilot Christina Kurowicki, whom you can see in the video segment below, was trying to land a Gulfstream 550 at San Jose back on March 26 (i.e. not during football season, but it appears they may have been doing a tech rehearsal for Wrestlemania 31 that night), when she said the cockpit was filled with a "blinding" light that was "incapacitating for sure." Once she and her captain landed, they both quickly filed reports with the FAA describing how the stadium lights "Created a blind spot in my field of vision - had to rely on instruments until about 100 feet [above ground level] because of the distraction."

Another pilot trying to land a 737 in May during what stadium officials said was a night of scoreboard testing, reported a similar problem, writing, "The extremely bright stadium board display lights were on at full illumination and were an extreme visual distraction to us and other pilots on final approach. The condition may create a problem of flicker vertigo for pilots."

A third pilot warned that the stadium lights could even be mistaken for one of the airport's runway beacons under poor visibility conditions.

NPR picked up the story today on Morning Edition, and Fox Sports is all over it too, and so far the FAA has only contacted the stadium to relay "concerns."

The stadium hasn't yet proposed any changes, but they did agree to inform the FAA in advance of any future scoreboard testing, and/or to avoid doing such testing at night.

Local pilot Jim Clarkson, who shot video from his own cockpit that you can see screenshots of above, suggests either reducing the wattage on the scoreboard, "put[ting] a cap over the lights, [or] maybe we even have to limit when we turn them on."