AOPA Asks U.S. Government To Help Recover Seized Airplane

The Red Lake Nation continues to hold possession of a 1946 Stinson 108 that it confiscated after owner Darrin Smedsmo experienced an engine failure and landed on a highway in the tribe’s reservation in Northern Minnesota on October 15. In a letter to Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, AOPA asked for assistance to recover the airplane.

In 1978, the Red Lake Nation issued a resolution claiming that no aircraft were allowed to fly over the reservation below 20,000 feet, without specifying whether that meant above ground or sea level.

“This assertion raises serious concerns, as regulation of navigable airspace is a matter of exclusive federal authority and administered by the [FAA],” wrote AOPA president and CEO Darren Pleasance. “Moreover, a state highway—though it may traverse tribal land—remains a public right-of-way, and the emergency use of that roadway by an aircraft in distress is a permissible and lawful incident of aviation operations.

“The continued detention of the aircraft not only imposes substantial financial harm on the owner but also sets a troubling precedent that could discourage pilots from making necessary emergency landings, thereby jeopardizing public safety,” he added.

On the Red Lake Nation website, a tribal council statement claims: “The tribal government has full sovereignty over the reservation, subject only to the federal government.”