Topeka ? A Clay County man was sentenced to 20 years in prison Tuesday for shooting and wounding an airplane pilot, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

Michael J. Michaud, 29, pleaded guilty in August to one count of endangering the safety of an aircraft by an act of violence and one count of discharging a firearm in a crime of violence. U.S. District Judge Richard Rogers sentenced Michaud on Tuesday to 20 years in prison in federal court in Topeka.

Prosecutors said Michaud fled from sheriff’s deputies near Clay Center on April 29, 2005, after they tried to pull over his pickup truck. When he escaped from officers on the ground, they asked pilot Michael W. Spicer and local fire chief Arnold Knoettgen to take a plane up and help with the search.

Spicer spotted Michaud in a field and Michaud fired at the aircraft, wounding Spicer in the forehead.

Spicer landed the plane safely and went to a hospital.

Michaud was arrested the next day.

“The bullet shattered the window of the cockpit, sending shards of Plexiglas into the pilot’s face. The bullet also struck the pilot above his left eye, leaving a six-inch gash across his forehead,” U.S. Atty. Eric Melgren said in a written statement. “It was a remarkable feat that the pilot was able to save himself and his spotter by landing the plane safely despite his injuries.”