> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.bodiesburied.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # §2A5.2 Interference with Flight Crew Member or Flight Attendant: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2020 - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2a5-2-interference-with-flight-crew-member-or-flight-fy2020/ - Published: 2026-11-04T10:30:34.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-04T10:30:34.000Z - Description: In fiscal year 2020, the U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 16 people sentenced under guideline §2A5.2, and all 16 pleaded guilty. Prison went to 11 of them (69%), and the median prison term was 10 months, higher than the 8 months for fiscal years 2016 to 2025. In criminal history, 44% were in the l - Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart - Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal [Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › [§2A5.2 Interference with Flight Crew Member or Flight Attend](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2a5-2-interference-with-flight-crew-member-or-flight/) › §2A5.2: FY2020 **In brief:** In fiscal year 2020, the U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 16 people sentenced under guideline §2A5.2, and all 16 pleaded guilty. Prison went to 11 of them (69%), and the median prison term was 10 months, higher than the 8 months for fiscal years 2016 to 2025\. In criminal history, 44% were in the lowest category and 19% were in the highest. Updated November 4, 2026 · Sources: U.S. Sentencing Commission and Federal Judicial Center, fiscal years 2016–2025 This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 16 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2020\. 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](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) series, which builds on [Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/). How the numbers were built: [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/). ## Criminal History in a Group of 16 Criminal history is a federal measure that runs from Category I (lowest) to Category VI (highest). In fiscal year 2020, 44% of the 16 people sentenced under §2A5.2 were in Category I, and 19% were in Category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field, so this measure exists only on the federal side. The data does not show how criminal history affected any one sentence. ## Prison Terms in Fiscal Year 2020 Prison went to 11 of the 16 people (69%). Probation only, with no prison or other confinement, went to 4 (25%). The median prison term was 10 months. A quarter of the people sent to prison received 16.5 months or more, and a quarter received 4.7 months or less. For all fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under this guideline, 65% were sent to prison, and the median prison term was 8 months. ## Guilty Pleas for All 16 All 16 people (100%) pleaded guilty, and 0 were convicted after a trial. Written plea agreements covered 81% of the guilty pleas, and 19% were straight pleas with no agreement. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 16 people (0%). The data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. Anyone acquitted, and any case dismissed, is not part of these figures. ## Sentences Compared With the Guideline Range Within the guideline range were 11 of the 16 sentences (69%). Below the range without a government request were 3 (19%), and 1 (6%) was below the range at the government's request. One sentence (6%) was above the range. For all fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under §2A5.2, 59% of sentences were within the range, which is lower than 69%. For everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2020, under every guideline, the figure was 50%. ## Supervised Release, Fines, and Restitution Supervised release after prison was ordered for 10 people (63%), with a median term of 36 months. A fine was ordered for 4 people (25%), and restitution for 1 (6%). ## The Guideline and the Fiscal Year The Manual title of §2A5.2 is "Interference with Flight Crew Member or Flight Attendant; Interference with Dispatch, Navigation, Operation, or Maintenance of Mass Transportation Vehicle; Unsafe Operation of Unmanned Aircraft." The Commission files these cases under the offense type Other. Fiscal year 2020 ran from October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020\. Prison terms are the terms imposed, not time served. ## Fiscal Years 2019 and 2021 In fiscal year 2019, 27 people were sentenced under §2A5.2, the median prison term was 7 months, and 59% of sentences were within the range. In fiscal year 2021, 25 people were sentenced, the median prison term was 8 months, and 68% were within the range. Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2020, under every guideline, totaled 64,565 people, with a median prison term of 18 months and 98% guilty pleas. The table lists the counts for each year. A count of 16 is small, and one year is not a trend. | 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 These Records Cannot Show The records say nothing about the facts of any case or about why a court chose probation or prison. The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so the post reports federal numbers on their own. ### How We Counted Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2020 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A5.2 (16), 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](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/) (the background article) - [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) (all federal posts) - [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/) (sources and method) - [§2A5.2 Interference with Flight Crew Member or Flight Attendant: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2a5-2-interference-with-flight-crew-member-or-flight/) (overview) - [§2A5.2 Interference with Flight Crew Member or Flight Attendant: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2019](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2a5-2-interference-with-flight-crew-member-or-flight-fy2019/) (previous or next fiscal year) - [§2A5.2 Interference with Flight Crew Member or Flight Attendant: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2021](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2a5-2-interference-with-flight-crew-member-or-flight-fy2021/) (previous or next fiscal year) - [How Often Federal Judges Sentence Outside the Guideline Range](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-sentences-outside-guideline-range/) - [Mandatory Minimums: How Many Federal Sentences Are Set by Congress](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-mandatory-minimum-sentences/) - [U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles](https://www.ussc.gov/research/datafiles/commission-datafiles?ref=bodiesburied.com) (source) - [Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants)](https://www.fjc.gov/research/idb?ref=bodiesburied.com) (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](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/?ref=bodiesburied.com). This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.