§2A5.2 Interference with Flight Crew Member or Flight Attendant: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2022
In fiscal year 2022, 14 of the 27 people sentenced under guideline §2A5.2 (52%) received a sentence within the guideline range, and 9 (33%) were below the range without a government request. The median prison term was 10 months. Restitution was ordered for 9 people (33%).
· Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2A5.2 Interference with Flight Crew Member or Flight Attend › §2A5.2: FY2022
In brief: In fiscal year 2022, 14 of the 27 people sentenced under guideline §2A5.2 (52%) received a sentence within the guideline range, and 9 (33%) were below the range without a government request. The median prison term was 10 months. Restitution was ordered for 9 people (33%).
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 27 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2022. 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.
Within the Range or Below It Without a Request
The guideline range is the range a court calculates before it sentences. In fiscal year 2022, 14 of the 27 sentences under §2A5.2 (52%) were within it. Another 9 (33%) were below the range without a government request.
Below the range at the government's request were 2 sentences (7%), and above the range were 2 (7%). The within-range share of 52% is lower than the 59% for all fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under this guideline, and higher than the 42% for everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2022.
Prison Terms and Probation
The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 27 people with §2A5.2 as the primary guideline in fiscal year 2022. Prison went to 16 of them (59%), and 6 (22%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
The median prison term was 10 months. A quarter of those sent to prison received 13.5 months or more, and a quarter received 5.8 months or less. The median for all fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under this guideline was 8 months, and 65% of people were sent to prison.
A Single Trial Conviction
A guilty plea was entered by 26 of the 27 people (96%), and 1 person was convicted after a trial. The median prison term after a guilty plea was 8 months. After a trial, it was 12 months, based on 1 person convicted at trial and sent to prison.
One sentence is not a median for a group, so these figures do not show how a trial affects a sentence. Among the guilty pleas, 85% had a written plea agreement, and 15% were straight pleas with no agreement. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 27 people (0%).
Restitution, Fines, and Supervised Release
Restitution was ordered for 9 people (33%), and a fine for 2 (7%). Supervised release after prison was ordered for 14 people (52%), with a median term of 36 months.
In criminal history, 37% were in the lowest category, Category I, and 7% were in the highest, Category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
About the Guideline
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 2022 ran from October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022. The Commission's data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. Prison terms are the terms imposed, not time served.
Compared With Fiscal Years 2021 and 2023
In fiscal year 2021, 25 people were sentenced under §2A5.2, the median prison term was 8 months, and 68% of sentences were within the range. In fiscal year 2023, 20 people were sentenced, the median prison term was 6 months, and 60% were within the range.
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2022, under every guideline, totaled 64,142 people, with a median prison term of 30 months and 97% guilty pleas. The table lists each year's count, median, and plea rate.
| 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% |
Limits on What the Numbers Show
The records do not show what any case involved or why a court chose a sentence below the range. A year with 27 people is a small count and not a trend.
No close court-martial counterpart for this guideline exists in the approved crosswalk. The post therefore uses federal figures only.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2022 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A5.2 (27), 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 2021 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2A5.2 Interference with Flight Crew Member or Flight Attendant: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2023 (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.