From the Courts - Federal District Court: Woman sentenced to prison for lunging at airplane flight controls during landing at Havre airport

U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Montana

GREAT FALLS — A federal judge Nov. 6 sentenced a Havre woman to 19 months and 24 days in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, for lunging at the controls of a small commercial airplane as the plane was landing, causing it to accelerate and turn on the runway, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said.

The defendant, Tracy Lynn Eagleman, aka Tracy Badmoccasin, 36, pleaded guilty in August to interfering with an aircraft in flight.

Chief U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris presided.

In court documents, the government alleged that on March 21, 2023, Eagleman was a passenger on Cape Air flight 1793, a small passenger plane that departed from Billings and was bound for Havre. On the final approach into Havre, Eagleman stood up and started yelling about the landing. The flight crew — a captain and first officer — were able to calm Eagleman down and get her back into her seat.

However, just as the plane touched down, Eagleman lunged forward from her seat and hit the flight controls. Eagleman hit the throttle for one of the two engines, causing it to accelerate and prompting the plane to “yaw” or turn on the runway. At the time, the plane was traveling at approximately 80 mph. The flight crew regained control of the plane without further incident, stopped on the tarmac and taxied safely to the airport terminal. One of the passengers recorded the incident on a cellphone. While the recording failed to capture the moment, Eagleman lunged at the control deck, other passengers are heard yelling in fear that they could have been killed. In later interviews, the flight crew indicated that yawing at the speed the plane was traveling could have caused it to roll and crash.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case. The FBI and Hill County Sheriff’s Office conducted the investigation.