Matt Thurber, editor-in-chief at AIN Media Group, has been flying since 1975 and writing about aviation since 1978 and now has the best job in the world, running editorial operations for Aviation International News, Business Jet Traveler, and FutureFlight.aero. In addition to working as an A&amp;P mechanic on everything from Piper Cubs to turboprops, Matt taught flying at his father’s flight school in Plymouth, Mass., in the early 1980s, flew for an aircraft owner/pilot, and for two summer seasons hunted swordfish near the George’s Banks off the East Coast from a Piper Super Cub. An ATP certificated fixed-wing pilot and CFII and commercial helicopter pilot, Matt is type-rated in the Citation 500 and Gulfstream V/550. Based in the Pacific Northwest, Matt and his team cover the entire aviation scene including business aircraft, helicopters, avionics, safety, manufacturing, charter, fractionals, technology, air transport, advanced air mobility, defense, and other subjects of interest to AIN, BJT, and FutureFlight readers.

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Matt Thurber

The Red Lake Nation continues to hold possession of a 1946 Stinson 108 that it confiscated after owner Darrin Smedsmo experienced an engine failure and landed on a highway in the tribe’s reservation in Northern Minnesota on October 15. In a letter to Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, AOPA asked for assistance to recover the airplane.
In 1978, the Red Lake Nation issued a resolution claiming that no aircraft were allowed to fly over the reservation below 20,000 feet, without specifying whether that meant above ground or sea level.
“This assertion raises serious concerns, as regulation of navigable airspace is a matter of exclusive federal authority and administered by the [FAA],” wrote AOPA president and CEO Darren Pleasance. “Moreover, a state highway—though it may traverse tribal land—remains a public right-of-way, and the emergency use of that roadway by an aircraft in distress is a permissible and lawful incident of aviation operations.
“The continued detention of the aircraft not only imposes substantial financial harm on the owner but also sets a troubling precedent that could discourage pilots from making necessary emergency landings, thereby jeopardizing public safety,” he added.
On the Red Lake Nation website, a tribal council statement claims: “The tribal government has full sovereignty over the reservation, subject only to the federal government.”

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AOPA Asks U.S. Government To Help Recover Airplane Seized by Red Lake Nation

Engine failure over the tribe's land resulted in an emergency landing on a public highway

In 1978, the Red Lake Nation issued a resolution claiming that no aircraft were allowed to fly over the reservation below 20,000 feet (without specifying whether that meant above ground or sea level).

AOPA Asks U.S. Government To Help Recover Seized Airplane

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