Havre woman admits lunging at airplane flight controls during landing at Havre airport

GREAT FALLS — A Havre woman who was a passenger on a small commercial airplane admitted on Thursday to interfering with the flight by lunging at the controls as the plane was landing, causing it to accelerate and turn on the runway, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said today.

The defendant, Tracy Lynn Eagleman, aka Tracy Badmoccasin, 36, pleaded guilty to interfering with an aircraft in flight. Eagleman faces a maximum of 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release.

Chief U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris presided. The court will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. Sentencing was set for Dec. 11. Eagleman was detained pending further proceedings.

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, about 10 miles out, 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 between 70 and 75 knots, which is approximately 80 mph. The flight crew regained control of the plane without further incident, stopped on the tarmac and eventually 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 70 knots in an unbalanced aircraft could cause it to roll and crash.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office is prosecuting the case. The FBI and Hill County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.

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