On Wednesday, 61-year-old mailman Doug Hughes landed a gyrocopter on the Capitol lawn to draw attention to campaign finance reform, and was subsequently taken into custody.
MORE: Police arrest Florida man who landed small helicopter on U.S. Capitol lawn http://t.co/9wYB28jTOo pic.twitter.com/lBBCyztUqJ
— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 15, 2015
Gyrocopter man is a mailman, so of course the vertical stabilizer on his gyrocopter has the USPS logo on it pic.twitter.com/QYsftj2lic
— Ethan Klapper (@ethanklapper) April 15, 2015
Before taking off, Hughes gave an extensive interview to the Tampa Bay Times, where he explained his plans. You can watch the Times's excellent video feature below:
And here are two looks at the gyrocopter in action, from the video:
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"I’m going to violate the no-fly zone, nonviolently; I intend for nobody to get hurt. And I’m going to land on the Capitol lawn in front of the Capitol building," Hughes says in the interview with the Times. He said he'd have 535 letters with him, addressed to every member of Congress. "I'm trying to galvanize millions of people to do a relatively simple thing: change the government to build a wall of separation between the government and big money, so that the government will represent the people."
"No sane person would do what I'm doing," Hughes continues in the video. But he says he's "carefully planned it so nobody will get hurt," and would give authorities "plenty of warning" of his arrival. "I don't believe that the authorities are going to shoot down a 60-year-old mailman in a flying bicycle," he says.
He was correct about that — but upon landing he was taken into custody. A robot then inspected his copter to make sure it wasn't a bomb.
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