Would Landing On A Wyoming Indian Reservation Be A Problem?

Late summer of 2025, I was flying a small plane (Cessna 172) along with my friend and my flight instructor, Mark, from Cody, Wyoming, to Casper. A massive fire had erupted along the Owl Creek Range, just east of the Wind River Canyon. Since the smoke was blowing to the east, I chose to fly west of the canyon to avoid it.

Pilots play a very important game while flying. We look for places that might make a good landing spot should we have engine trouble.

"You know we are over an indian reservation," Mark said. "You would have no choice but to trespass if you had to land there."

If the engine quit for some reason, the plane would become a big glider. I would have no choice but to pick the best spot below, even on a reservation.

Would that be bad? In Wyoming, I would think NO, it would be fine. But then this happened.

A Native American tribe seized a Minnesota pilot's plane after he made an emergency landing on their land, citing a decades–old law the tribe claimed gave them control of the aircraft.

The pilot was told his plane had violated the tribe's 1978 law banning 'any airplane' from flying over Red Lake lands at less than 20,000 feet.

This pilot's little airplane does not go anywhere near that high.

If he wants his plane back, he will have to suffer through a tribal trial.

'The land is theirs, but they are claiming the air is theirs,' Smedsmo said. 'They don't control the air. That is basically untenable.'

There is nothing marked on any airinotical chart that shows a 20,000 foot regulations. If such a thing had been there this pilot would have flow around the airspace.

There is no specific federal regulation that requires a certain altitude for airplanes over Indian reservations. It is a best practice to fly at least 2,000 feet above ground level (AGL) over noise-sensitive areas like wildlife refuges, which may be located on or near reservations. General FAA minimum safe altitude rules are 1,000 feet over congested areas and 500 feet over non-congested areas, but these are minimums and do not apply to helicopters.

If this pilot does not win in the indian court, the case will probably go to federal court.

There is nothing that shows any such restriction over Wyoming Indian reservations.

Personally, I don't see where the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes would act this way.

While we are on the topic of airplanes, the Federal government shutdown has been going on for over a month.

Employees at many vital positions continue to work without pay.

Wednesday afternoon in Casper, Wyoming, flight instructors from Atlas Flight School walked from the school over to the tower to meet their local air traffic controllers. They came bearing gifts. The flight school owner, Mike McKenna, had arrived with a trunk full of food from Olive Garden

It's a thank you to those tower operators who have stayed on the job, without pay, all this time.

The Casper/Natrona County International Airport can get busy at times with planes, students, and instructors from flight schools, regional airliners, and general aviation flights, an aerial firefighting base, and hospital life flights. It can become a real hornet's nest of activities in the skies above. Add to it all, this tower is a training ground for new air traffic controllers.

Even before that, the tower has been understaffed for over two years, with full-time employees working 10-hour days, six days a week.

Buying the controller's lunch might be a small gesture, but it goes a long way in showing how much Atlas Flight School appreciates the dedication of those in the tower who they hear in their headsets every day, but rarely see.

At least 700,000+ federal employees have been furloughed.

Below, Mike McKenna and his flight instructors from Atlas Flight School are with air traffic controllers and Wyoming radio talk host Glenn Woods.

Bills, including rent and utilities, are coming due as the shutdown continues.

Yet many federal employees have stayed on the job knowing that what they do is important and that, sooner or later, the government will reopen and they will be paid.

The photo below is a mix of air traffic controllers and flight school instructors out in front of the tower at the Casper airport. 

Atlas Flight School trains for general aviation and those interested in making a career as a professional pilot. If you've ever been curious about aviation for your own personal adventures or as a profession, book a discovery flight. It's worth it.

Atlas Aero Service provides Certified Aircraft Inspection, Maintenance, and Repair in Casper, Wyoming, also located at the Casper-Natrona County International Airport.