§2A5.2 Interference with Flight Crew Member or Flight Attendant: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2024
In fiscal year 2024, 30 people were sentenced in federal court under guideline §2A5.2 as the primary guideline. 22 of them (73%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 10.5 months. 28 of the 30 (93%) pleaded guilty.
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In brief: In fiscal year 2024, 30 people were sentenced in federal court under guideline §2A5.2 as the primary guideline. 22 of them (73%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 10.5 months. 28 of the 30 (93%) pleaded guilty.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 30 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2024. 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.
What Happened to the 30 People Sentenced in Fiscal Year 2024
Guideline §2A5.2 is titled "Interference with Flight Crew Member or Flight Attendant; Interference with Dispatch, Navigation, Operation, or Maintenance of Mass Transportation Vehicle; Unsafe Operation of Unmanned Aircraft" in the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual. The count here is people sentenced in fiscal year 2024 whose primary guideline was §2A5.2. The primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count.
Of the 30 people, 22 (73%) received a prison term and 7 (23%) received probation only. The median prison term among those sent to prison was 10.5 months. A quarter received 17.2 months or more, and a quarter received 4.2 months or less.
The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2024. The U.S. Sentencing Commission classifies all 30 cases under the offense type "Other."
Pleas and Trials
28 of the 30 people (93%) pleaded guilty, and 2 were convicted after a trial. Among those who pleaded guilty, 86% had a written plea agreement and 14% were straight pleas with no agreement.
The median prison term after a guilty plea was 9 months. After a trial it was 24 months, but that figure rests on 1 person convicted at trial and sent to prison. One case cannot show how trial sentences compare with plea sentences in general.
How the Sentences Compared With the Guideline Range
The guideline range is the sentencing range the Guidelines Manual produces for a case. Of the 30 people, 14 (47%) were sentenced within the range. 7 (23%) were sentenced below the range at the government's request, and 8 (27%) below the range without a government request. 1 (3%) was sentenced above the range.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 30 people, so the prison terms were set by the guideline range and the court's discretion rather than by a statutory floor.
Supervised Release, Fines, and Restitution
20 people (67%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, and the median term was 36 months. A fine was ordered for 1 person (3%). Restitution was ordered for 11 (37%).
The Commission data also records criminal history. 50% of the group were in the lowest criminal history category I and 13% were in the highest category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Context From Other Years and Other Guidelines
For fiscal years 2016 to 2025 together, §2A5.2 covers 244 people. 65% were sent to prison, the median prison term was 8 months, 95% pleaded guilty, and 59% were sentenced within the guideline range. The 2024 median prison term was higher than the all-years median, and the share sentenced within the range was lower.
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2024, under every guideline, totals 61,678 people. Their median prison term was 30 months, 97% pleaded guilty, and 46% were sentenced within the range. The §2A5.2 median prison term was lower than the all-guidelines median.
The year before, fiscal year 2023, had 20 people, a median prison term of 6 months, and 60% within the range. The next year, fiscal year 2025, had 29 people, a median of 8.4 months, and 59% within the range. The table lists every year.
| 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 Numbers Cannot Show
A group of 30 people is small, and one year is not a trend. The median can move a good deal when a few cases are different, as the yearly table shows.
The data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not in it, and the prison terms are the terms imposed, not time served. The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so this post reports the federal numbers on their own.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2024 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A5.2 (30), 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 2023 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2A5.2 Interference with Flight Crew Member or Flight Attendant: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2025 (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.