WASHINGTON – A man who flew across the National Mall and landed a gyrocopter on the front lawn of the U.S. Capitol Wednesday was not detected by the federal authorities charged with enforcing the secure airspace over the District.
“Normally we usually catch these things in the air,” says Mike Kucharek, spokesman for the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which is part of a network of federal agencies that together monitor and take action against airborne security threats.
But something happened in this case to allow the small aircraft to land undetected.
“It could be the time of flight or the composite material the aircraft is made of – we’re not going to speculate,” says Kucharek.
The small aircraft landed on the West Lawn of the Capitol at about 1:25 p.m. And U.S. Capitol Police quickly arrested Doug Hughes of Ruskin, Florida, who was the lone person in the gyrocopter. Hughes will make his first appearance in the U.S. District for the District of Columbia at 1:30 p.m.
A Florida postal carrier with the same name took responsibility for the stunt. On a website posting, he writes that he planned to deliver letters to all 535 members of Congress asking them to reform campaign finance laws. He also claims to have alerted authorities of his plans and he expected to be spotted by federal officials.
A spokesperson for the FAA says the pilot of the gyrocopter was not in contact with FAA air traffic controllers and the FAA had not authorized him to enter restricted airspace.
In a statement, the FAA says that airspace security rules that cover the Capitol and D.C. prohibit private aircraft flights without prior coordination and permission. Violators could face civil and criminal penalties.
The FAA is working with other agencies to investigate.
Along with NORAD and the FAA, other players charged with protecting the secure airspace over D.C. include the Secret Service, Capitol Police, Transportation Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security’s National Operations Center.
It was not clear from where the gyrocopter took off. A man named Doug Hughes told the Tampa Bay Times that he left Florida a week ago to drive his gyrocopter to D.C. and then he planned to fly to the Capitol and deliver his letters to Congress.
“As I see it, campaign finance reform is the cornerstone of building an honest Congress. Erect a wall of separation between our elected officials and big money. This you must do — or your replacement will do. A corporation is not ‘people’ and no individual should be allowed to spend hundreds of millions to ‘influence’ an election. That much money is a megaphone which drowns out the voices of ‘We the People’,” his writes in a letter obtained by the Tampa Bay Times.
The Tampa Bay Times says it called the U.S. Secret Service to see if it was aware of Hughes’ plans. But public information officers with the Secret Service said they had not heard of the protest.
Statement given to WTOP by the Secret Service:
Media reports indicating that the Secret Service Tampa Field Office was alerted earlier today by a citizen to the subject’s intentions are false.
The subject involved in today’s incident had come to the attention of the USSS approximately 1 ½ years ago. On October 4, 2013, the Secret Service obtained information from a concerned citizen about an individual purporting their desire to land a single manned aircraft on the grounds of the United States Capitol or the White House.
That same day, the information was reported to law enforcement partners at the U.S. Capitol Police.
On October 5, 2013, the subject was located and interviewed by USSS Agents in Ruskin, Florida. A complete and thorough investigation was conducted.
In its own statement, the Times says it called Capitol Police and the Secret Service around 1 p.m. Wednesday to ask if they were aware that Hughes was flying toward the Capitol.
Full statement released by the Tampa Bay Times:
Last summer, postal worker Doug Hughes contacted Times reporter Ben Montgomery, who was not previously acquainted with him. He told Montgomery that he was planning an act of civil disobedience to bring attention to campaign finance reform and wanted someone to know his plans and motivations for flying letters to the U.S. Capitol in case something happened during his attempt. By this time, Hughes told us, he had already been interviewed twice by a Secret Service agent.
Earlier this year, as Hughes continued to work toward his flight, we conducted interviews with him and took photographs and video of his gyrocopter. He told us that part of his plan was to be transparent about his intent – he intended to livestream the flight, intended to go live with a website when he took off explaining who he was and what his intentions were, and that he had an email blast set to go out to lots of media outlets and the authorities alerting them to his plans. In reporting on the story, we saw the business card of the Secret Service agent who Hughes said spoke to him, and confirmed with a co-worker of Hughes that both men were interviewed by the Secret Service at their place of work.
Hughes told us last week that he planned to go to Washington this week and attempt his flight. We sent Montgomery and photographer James Borchuck to Washington to see if the flight would occur. This morning, they went to the Capitol to see whether Hughes would make his attempt. Shortly after noon today, when we saw Hughes take off via his livestream feed, we posted a story on tampabay.com that Montgomery had written about Hughes and his plan. We also saw Hughes’ website go live identifying himself and giving details of his plan. We reported extensively and publicly about our story and the flight on social media including Twitter and Facebook. At about 1 p.m. we called the Capitol Police and Secret Service to ask whether they were aware that a man was flying toward the Capitol in a gyrocopter and ask for comment. We posted their response on our website. At approximately 1:30, Hughes landed.
“As I have informed the authorities, I have no violent inclinations or intent. An ultralight aircraft poses no major physical threat – it may present a political threat to graft. I hope so. There’s no need to worry – I’m just delivering the mail,” Hughes writes on the site TheDemocracyClub.org.
He also told the Times that he expected to be noticed and to receive an escort by a government helicopter.
House Homeland Security panel Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, says that had Hughes made it any closer to the Capitol, authorities were prepared to shoot him down. “Had it gotten any closer to the speaker’s balcony they have long guns to take it down, but it didn’t. It landed right in front,” McCaul said.
Emergency vehicles were dispatched to the area and a robot bomb detector was sent over to the craft. No hazardous devices were found and Capitol Police planned to remove the aircraft from the lawn.
New Hampshire resident Eric Czaja was visiting the Capitol when the gyrocopter landed.
“I saw the guy in the helicopter flying down by the park here, no higher than tree-length, come right down the middle of the park right over the water and decided to land right in front of the Capitol. Pretty crazy,” he tells CBS News.
First Street between Independence Avenue SW and Constitution Avenue NW has reopened to traffic. Maryland Avenue between 1st Street and 3rd Street SW plus Pennsylvania Avenue between 1st Street and 3rd Street NW have also reopened.
The Capitol was briefly locked down immediately after Hughes landed. The West Front of the Capitol has reopened.
WTOP’s JJ Green, Dave McConnell and Amanda Iacone plus The Associated Press contributed to this report.
