§2A5.2 Interference with Flight Crew Member or Flight Attendant: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2016
In fiscal year 2016, 32 people were sentenced in federal court under guideline §2A5.2, the highest count for this guideline in the table. Prison went to 23 of them (72%), with a median prison term of 9 months, and 29 (91%) pleaded guilty. The median is higher than the 8 months across fiscal years 20
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2A5.2 Interference with Flight Crew Member or Flight Attend › §2A5.2: FY2016
In brief: In fiscal year 2016, 32 people were sentenced in federal court under guideline §2A5.2, the highest count for this guideline in the table. Prison went to 23 of them (72%), with a median prison term of 9 months, and 29 (91%) pleaded guilty. The median is higher than the 8 months across fiscal years 2016 to 2025.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 32 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2016. Acquittals and dismissals come from a second source, the Federal Judicial Center's records of 753,808 federal defendants whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. It is part of the Federal Prosecution Analysis series, which builds on Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System. How the numbers were built: How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built.
Sentences Under §2A5.2 in Fiscal Year 2016
The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 32 people whose primary guideline in fiscal year 2016 was §2A5.2. The Manual titles it "Interference with Flight Crew Member or Flight Attendant; Interference with Dispatch, Navigation, Operation, or Maintenance of Mass Transportation Vehicle; Unsafe Operation of Unmanned Aircraft."
Prison went to 23 of the 32 people (72%), and 8 (25%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. The median prison term was 9 months. A quarter of those sent to prison received 14 months or more, and a quarter received 3 months or less.
Guilty Pleas and Trial Convictions
A guilty plea was entered by 29 of the 32 people (91%), and 3 were convicted after a trial. Written plea agreements covered 66% of the guilty pleas. The other 34% were straight pleas, which are pleas with no agreement.
The median prison term after a guilty plea was 10 months. After a trial, it was 5.2 months, based on 2 people convicted at trial and sent to prison. A group of 2 is too small to show whether a plea or a trial affects the sentence.
Where Sentences Fell Against the Guideline Range
The Commission had the sentence position for all 32 people. Within the guideline range were 17 sentences (53%). Below the range without a government request were 10 (31%), and 3 (9%) were below the range at the government's request.
Above the range were 2 sentences (6%). The within-range share of 53% is lower than the 59% for all fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under §2A5.2, and higher than the 49% for everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2016.
Supervised Release, Restitution, and Fines
Supervised release after prison was ordered for 22 people (69%), with a median term of 36 months. Restitution was ordered for 6 people (19%), and a fine for 2 (6%).
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 32 people (0%). In criminal history, 47% were in the lowest category, Category I, and 3% were in the highest, Category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
The Full Period and the Federal Total
From fiscal years 2016 to 2025, the Commission counted 244 people under §2A5.2. Of them, 65% were sent to prison, and 95% pleaded guilty. The median prison term was 8 months.
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2016, under every guideline, totaled 67,742 people. Their median prison term was 24 months, and 97% pleaded guilty. The Commission files the 32 cases under the offense type Other. Fiscal year 2016 ran from October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016.
The Next Year in the Table
In fiscal year 2017, 20 people were sentenced under §2A5.2, the median prison term was 6.5 months, and 65% of sentences were within the range. The count of people was lower than in fiscal year 2016, and the median prison term was lower as well.
The table lists each fiscal year from 2016 to 2025.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 32 | 9 months | 91% |
| 2017 | 20 | 6.5 months | 85% |
| 2018 | 18 | 6.1 months | 100% |
| 2019 | 27 | 7 months | 96% |
| 2020 | 16 | 10 months | 100% |
| 2021 | 25 | 8 months | 96% |
| 2022 | 27 | 10 months | 96% |
| 2023 | 20 | 6 months | 100% |
| 2024 | 30 | 10.5 months | 93% |
| 2025 | 29 | 8.4 months | 100% |
What the Data Does Not Show
The records count only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not included, and prison terms are the terms imposed, not time served.
They do not show what any case involved or why a court chose a sentence. The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so this post reports federal numbers on their own.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2016 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A5.2 (32), U.S. Sentencing Commission individual data files. The primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count.
Federal fiscal years run from October 1 to September 30. No person, judge, or lawyer is identified in any of these records.
What to Keep in Mind
No parole in federal prison; credit for good conduct. Federal prison has no parole for crimes committed on or after November 1, 1987. A federal prisoner can earn up to 54 days of good conduct credit for each year of the sentence the judge imposed, which is about 15%. Some federal prisoners can also earn First Step Act time credits, but many offenses make a person ineligible. The numbers in this post are the sentences judges imposed, not the time people actually served.
Federal supervised release. Most federal prison sentences are followed by a term of supervised release that the judge sets as part of the sentence. A person who violates it can be sent back to prison. A court-martial cannot sentence anyone to supervision after release. Military parole and mandatory supervised release are decided later by a board, not by the judge at trial.
Who decides the sentence, and under what rules. Federal judges sentence every federal case. They must calculate the Sentencing Guidelines range, which is advisory, and must impose any mandatory minimum the statute requires unless an exception applies. In courts-martial, the accused could choose sentencing by members until the rules changed. For cases in which every guilty finding is for an offense committed after December 27, 2023, a military judge sentences alone, within sentencing parameters. Courts-martial tried in 2024 and later include both old-rule and new-rule cases, and the data cannot tell them apart.
Time periods. Federal numbers are by federal fiscal year (October 1 to September 30), based on the sentencing date. The military numbers are by trial date. Neither source has the date of the offense, so a change in law shows up in either data set gradually.
How life sentences and "time served" are counted. In the federal numbers, a life sentence is counted as 470 months, and any other sentence longer than 470 months is counted as just under 470 months. A sentence of "time served" is counted as one day (0.03 months). Averages are affected by these rules; medians much less.
Related Analysis
- Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System (the background article)
- Federal Prosecution Analysis (all federal posts)
- How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built (sources and method)
- §2A5.2 Interference with Flight Crew Member or Flight Attendant: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2A5.2 Interference with Flight Crew Member or Flight Attendant: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2017 (previous or next fiscal year)
- How Often Federal Judges Sentence Outside the Guideline Range
- Mandatory Minimums: How Many Federal Sentences Are Set by Congress
- U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles (source)
- Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants) (source)
About the author. Jocelyn C. Stewart is a retired Army JAG with more than 24 years of trying courts-martial and more than 200 jury trials. She hosts Where All The Bodies Are Buried and runs the Law Office of Jocelyn C. Stewart. This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.