> ## 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 2023 - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2a5-2-interference-with-flight-crew-member-or-flight-fy2023/ - Published: 2026-11-04T10:30:38.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-04T10:30:38.000Z - Description: The median prison term under guideline §2A5.2 in fiscal year 2023 was 6 months, which is lower than the 8 months for fiscal years 2016 to 2025. The Commission counted 20 people, and 15 (75%) were sentenced to prison. All 20 pleaded guilty. - 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: FY2023 **In brief:** The median prison term under guideline §2A5.2 in fiscal year 2023 was 6 months, which is lower than the 8 months for fiscal years 2016 to 2025\. The Commission counted 20 people, and 15 (75%) were sentenced to prison. All 20 pleaded guilty. 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 20 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023\. 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/). ## A Median Prison Term of 6 Months In fiscal year 2023, 15 of the 20 people sentenced under §2A5.2 (75%) received a prison term. The other 5 (25%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. The median prison term was 6 months. A quarter of those sent to prison received 10.3 months or more. A quarter received 0.2 months or less. The prison share of 75% is higher than the 65% for all fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under this guideline. ## Sentences Below the Range at the Government's Request Within the guideline range were 12 of the 20 sentences (60%). Below the range at the government's request were 5 (25%), and below it without a government request were 3 (15%). None of the sentences (0%) was above the range. The 60% within-range share is about the same as the 59% for all fiscal years under this guideline, and higher than the 42% for everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023 under every guideline. ## All 20 People Pleaded Guilty All 20 people (100%) pleaded guilty, and 0 were convicted after a trial. Among the guilty pleas, 70% had a written plea agreement, and 30% were straight pleas with no agreement. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 20 people (0%). The Commission's files include only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not in them. ## Restitution, Fines, and Supervised Release Restitution was ordered for 8 people (40%), and a fine for 1 (5%). Supervised release after prison was ordered for 13 people (65%), with a median term of 36 months. In criminal history, 65% were in the lowest category, Category I, and 10% were in the highest, Category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field. ## What the Guideline Covers The Sentencing Guidelines Manual titles §2A5.2 "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 offense type the Commission assigns to the 20 cases is Other. The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2023\. Prison terms are those imposed by the court, not time served. ## The Years Before and After In fiscal year 2022, 27 people were sentenced under §2A5.2, the median prison term was 10 months, and 52% of sentences were within the range. In fiscal year 2024, 30 people were sentenced, the median prison term was 10.5 months, and 47% were within the range. The 6 months in fiscal year 2023 is lower than both neighboring years. Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023, under every guideline, totaled 64,124 people, with a median prison term of 30 months and 97% guilty pleas. The table lists the whole period. | 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 Records Cannot Show With 20 people, a few cases can change a median or a percentage by a large amount, so one year is not a trend. The records do not show what any case involved or why courts made the sentencing choices they did. The approved crosswalk contains no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so only federal numbers are reported. ### How We Counted Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A5.2 (20), 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 2022](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2a5-2-interference-with-flight-crew-member-or-flight-fy2022/) (previous or next fiscal year) - [§2A5.2 Interference with Flight Crew Member or Flight Attendant: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2024](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2a5-2-interference-with-flight-crew-member-or-flight-fy2024/) (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.