A Minnesota pilot whose aircraft was impounded after an emergency landing on the Red Lake Reservation last October has declined a settlement proposal offered by Red Lake Nation. According to local PBS Lakeland News, Roseau pilot Darrin Smedsmo said the agreement would have required a $5,000 donation to the Red Lake Boys & Girls Club along with payment of a $2,750 towing fee in exchange for the release of the airplane.
“Well, I finally, finally, received a proposed settlement, and it was—it wasn’t acceptable,” Smedsmo told Lakeland News. “It wasn’t even a place to start with.”
Smedsmo was flying from Roseau to Bemidji, Minnesota, on Oct. 15 when the engine of his 1946 Stinson 108 failed at roughly 3,500 feet, forcing him to land on a road near the western edge of Lower Red Lake within the reservation. Tribal authorities responded to the scene and later impounded the aircraft, citing a 1978 tribal resolution that they argue prohibits aircraft from flying below 20,000 feet over Red Lake Nation lands.
In a statement issued Nov. 3, Red Lake Nation said the aircraft seizure occurred after it landed on reservation land “without prior authorization or required coordination with Tribal authorities” and that the situation created “immediate safety, liability, and resource-protection concerns.”
Smedsmo said the proposed agreement also stated that he had been given an opportunity to appear in tribal court, which he disputes.
“The fact was that I didn’t,” he told Lakeland News. “They called the court off. So, you can’t even start with a document like that. And then I was supposed to pay a fee, and I’m just not going to do that.”
The aircraft has remained impounded since the October landing.
AOPA asked federal officials in December to assist with resolving the aircraft seizure situation, citing federal authority over navigable airspace and requesting discussions with tribal leaders regarding procedures for emergency landings.