‘Darrin’s Law’ Aims To Limit Tribal Airplane Taking

After Darrin Smedsmo experienced a total engine failure in his 1946 Stinson 108 while flying over the Red Lake Nation reservation in Minnesota on October 15, the tribe confiscated the airplane. The tribe claims that Smedsmo wasn’t allowed to fly over the reservation, based on a 1978 tribal resolution claiming that no aircraft are allowed to fly over tribal land below 20,000 feet (above ground or sea level was not specified).

While he is waiting to see if the tribe will return his airplane, Smedsmo has launched a non-profit organization to fund a lawsuit against the chairman of the Red Lake Nation to clarify and set a precedent acknowledging that the federal government has jurisdiction over all U.S. airspace. “Not only do we want to set legal precedent,” he told AIN, “but my lawyer also wants to approach this legislatively, with ‘Darrin’s law,’ stating that if we have an emergency landing in a reservation, we get to keep our airplane.”

The status of the airspace over tribal lands should not be in dispute, but there has been no action against the Red Lake Nation’s 1978 resolution. According to 49 U.S. Code § 40103 - “Sovereignty and use of airspace: (a) Sovereignty and Public Right of Transit.—(1) The United States Government has exclusive sovereignty of airspace of the United States. (2) A citizen of the United States has a public right of transit through the navigable airspace.”

The Red Lake Nation seems to acknowledge this on its website’s home page, which says: “The tribal government has full sovereignty over the reservation, subject only to the federal government.” Nevertheless, Smedsmo’s Stinson is still being held by the tribe.