Roseau pilot still waiting for day in Red Lake tribal court

RED LAKE — A Roseau pilot is still waiting on a court date as of Friday, Feb. 27, months after his plane was impounded following an emergency landing on the Red Lake Nation.

Darrin Smedsmo was flying his vintage airplane to the Bemidji Regional Airport last October when he made an emergency landing on a road within the Red Lake Nation.

His engine seized up while flying over Lower Red Lake at 3,500 feet. No one was injured in the emergency landing. The Red Lake Band impounded Smedsmo’s airplane, stating the landing was without prior authorization or required coordination with tribal authorities.

Smedsmo was previously scheduled to appear in tribal court in November 2025, but the hearing was canceled.

He said that in January, the Band reached out with a settlement offer: making a $5,000 donation to the Red Lake Boys & Girls Club plus paying nearly $3,000 in impound fees, but he still has not had a day in court.

“I did nothing wrong in the air, and I did nothing wrong on the land," he said during a phone interview Friday. “I just want to be proven innocent.”

Local News

Roseau pilot's crash landing prompts legal test of tribal 'no fly zone'

A Roseau man made an emergency landing within Red Lake Nation on Oct. 15, 2025, and tribal authorities impounded his aircraft, citing a 1978 resolution prohibiting low-altitude flights.

Listen • 2:01

Smedsmo was originally accused of violating a 1978 tribal resolution banning aircraft from flying under 20,000 feet, but according to Smedsmo, the prosecution changed tactics, charging that his landing threatened the tribe’s people and resources.

Smedsmo said he and his legal team don’t agree that the tribe’s people or resources were threatened by an emergency landing. An article by General Aviation News describes the limited right of state or local governments to regulate takeoff and landing of aircraft but also the right of distressed pilots to land on a public roadway in an in-flight emergency.

“I've been an open book from the beginning, and I just want my plane back," Smedsmo said.

A request for comment from the Red Lake Nation was not returned Friday afternoon.