You're right that if you want to illuminate an entire airline cockpit intense enough to blind the crew, then you'd need a sizeable laser, bigger than the garden variety terrorist would likely bother with. If the goal is to shoot down a specific plane, then a sure kill would be necessary. However, if the goal is to take out a plane out of the pattern, then it wouldn't be necessary.

My point is that if the goal is to dazzle the crew, a sure kill wouldn't be necessary. Go to a busy airport and you'll see a stream of airliners on final approach to the active runway. If at first you don't succeed, go for the next one (especially if you're using a nonvisible IR laser). The ones that you miss would be none the wiser.

Like I said about my high school teacher, if a man can hit the canopy of a fighter plane (much smaller than an airline cockpit) going about 3 times as fast as an airliner (and shooting 100 .50 caliber bullets per second at you) with a bolt action rifle, then hitting an airline cockpit with a scope equipped laser would be a piece of cake. That North Korean had to have a big brassy pair. I hope he survived the war.