Tribe Seized His Plane, Demanded Payment After Emergency Landing On Tribal Land Pilot Darrin Smedsmo was flying from Roseau to Bemidji, Minn., on Oct. 15 when the plane’s engine seized up, forcing him to make an emergency landing on the west side of Lower Red Lake. When Red Lake Reservation tribal authorities arrived to help with the situation, they cited a 1978 resolution prohibiting the flying of airplanes less than 20,000 feet over the Red Lake Reservation, and then seized and impounded the airplane. Smedsmo says he received a settlement offer from the tribe on Jan. 15, but he is rejecting that offer and requesting to be acquitted in tribal court. “I finally, finally, received a proposed settlement, and it was-it wasn’t acceptable,” he told Lakeland News. “It wasn’t even a place to start with.”
