On October 15, 2025, while on a VFR flight from Roseau to Bemidji, Minnesota, in his 1946 Stinson 108-1 Voyageur aircraft, Darrin Smedsmo of Roseau, Minnesota, made an emergency landing on Minnesota Highway 89 when he experienced engine failure. The “state-owned and operated highway” happens to go through the Red Lake Indian Reservation, so the Red Lake Band of the Chippewa Indians decided it would impound the aircraft as the pilot supposedly violated the reservation’s rule prohibiting flight over its land below 20,000 feet, despite the fact that only the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) controls airspace over the United States.
Response from the aviation community was swift and strong, especially by the Minnesota Pilots Association and Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association, which contacted both the U.S. Departments of Transportation and Interior.
A tribal trial was to be held on November 3, 2025, to determine the fate of the aircraft, but Smedsmo was notified by the chief prosecutor that the hearing had been postponed. Then in January, Smedsmo received a settlement offer from the tribe wanting him to donate $5,000 to the Red Lake Nation Boys & Girls Club to get his aircraft returned. In addition, the tribe wanted Smedsmo to pay them $2,750.00 for towing his plane to their compound. Considering that he may instead be owed damages, Smedsmo has declined the tribe’s offer.
The FAA is now threatening civil enforcement action against the tribe through the U.S. Department of Justice if it does not cease legal proceedings against the pilot and release the aircraft. While tribal government may have full sovereignty over its reservations, reservations are subject to federal law, and being a good neighbor is a tribal value. Furthermore, Minnesota pilots and aircraft owners are “customers” of Indian reservations, including hosting their annual “Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame” banquet at the Mystic Lake Center in Prior Lake, Minnesota. A different tribe perhaps, but one which is united with other tribes through tribal councils.
“The only thing I want everyone to realize is that this could have been anyone, (and) this could be any tribe,” says Smedsmo. “My airplane has been a pawn in this fight.”
Regarding any contributions made in support of the airspace issue, Smedsmo says: “I need to be completely clear… I am paying my own legal fees to recoup my airplane. All contributions and electronic signatures go toward the airspace issue which is a completely separate issue. I have nothing to gain personally from the federal case that everyone who flies won’t gain the same benefit.” Anyone wishing to sign the petition and/or contribute toward the airspace issue may do so here: www.isuegov.com/plane
See a video of Smedsmo’s May 16, 2026, presentation at the Great Minnesota Aviation Gathering in Buffalo, Minnesota, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-gdjLotIKs
NEWS BULLETIN: We just received word that the Red Lake Indian Reservation will release Darrin Smedsmo’s aircraft at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, June 3, 2026, and the tribe will drop all charges! The plan now is to get the tribe’s 1978 resolution over airspace rescinded. Tribal leadership and its legal department now realize they were wrong in taking possession of the aircraft in the first place. Once the aircraft is back flying, Smedsmo plans to return to the Red Lake Indian Reservation and give rides to native American children.
Editors Note: All photos are courtesy of Darrin Smedsmo.