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posted by takyon on Friday April 17 2015, @12:30AM   Printer-friendly
from the unrestricted-protestspace dept.

A protester landed a one-man gyrocopter on the Capitol lawn in Washington D.C. to deliver letters to Congress urging real campaign finance reform:

A 61-year-old Florida mailman was arrested Wednesday after he landed a gyrocopter on the US Capitol west lawn. The gyrocopter was carrying the pilot and 535 stamped letters for members of Congress urging "real reform" to campaign finance laws.

Doug Hughes told the Tampa Bay Times ahead of the afternoon stunt that he notified authorities "well over an hour in advance of getting to the no-fly zone, so they know who I am and what I'm doing."

Bloomberg has this analysis of the aftermath, and Tampa Bay Times has video of the incident from multiple angles. Hughes live streamed his flight on a blog entitled The Democracy Club. Ben Montgomery, a reporter from the Tampa Bay Times, knew about the planned flight for months and traveled to D.C. to witness it, but only informed the Capitol Police and Secret Service after Hughes was in the air. Hughes contacted Montgomery after Secret Service questioned him in 2014. The FAA is investigating the incident.

How long before copycats start doing the same at the personal addresses of Congressmen, Supreme Court Justices, and others?

Update: Doug Hughes has been charged with knowingly operating an unregistered aircraft (a felony punishable by up to three years in prison) and violating national defense airspace (punishable by up to one year in prison).

Hughes was released after the hearing, on condition that he observe home detention until his next court date in the capital city, on 8 May.

He was ordered to surrender his passport and banned from flying any aircraft, and must report to the authorities once a week. He was also charged with operating an unregistered aircraft.

 
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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Hartree on Friday April 17 2015, @01:15AM

    by Hartree (195) on Friday April 17 2015, @01:15AM (#171822)

    "How long before copycats start doing the same"

    Probably soon. I just hope we don't get unduly heavy restrictions on gyrocopters, ultralights and other similar small radar stealthy private aircraft due to this.

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  • (Score: 2) by jmorris on Friday April 17 2015, @01:40AM

    by jmorris (4844) on Friday April 17 2015, @01:40AM (#171831)

    So long as this one gets seized the message will be received loud and clear, those things ain't exactly cheap. Plus the guy needs to lose his license and be ineligible for a good long time. Pilots really don't want to be grounded, combine with losing the craft and this will be a one off event.

    • (Score: 2) by Hartree on Friday April 17 2015, @02:14AM

      by Hartree (195) on Friday April 17 2015, @02:14AM (#171849)

      Most licensed pilots and owners aren't the big worry. It's someone who uses one for a political message that doesn't really care if they get caught that are problems.

      Just have a couple of these get stolen and landed on the lawns of supreme court justices as mentioned in the intro (As an example: imagine determined protesters wanting to make a point before a Supreme Court test case. Say on a divisive issue like gay marriage or abortion).

      I can think of all kinds of onerous requirements for securing them being put on legitimate owners that are nowhere near any sensitive places.

    • (Score: 2) by frojack on Friday April 17 2015, @02:38AM

      by frojack (1554) on Friday April 17 2015, @02:38AM (#171855) Journal

      FAA has chosen not to promulgate Federal regulations regarding pilot certification, vehiclecertification, and vehicle registration.
      You don't need a pilots licence to fly one. You are expected to complete a basic course, but there is no check that you did so.

      So maybe they will take his driver's license?

      --
      No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 17 2015, @06:03AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 17 2015, @06:03AM (#171906)

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    We are marching into a bright future where almost anyone can 3d-print things like gyrocopters in a garage, along with guns and explosives. And rich people can build sexy and suicidal robot assassins. ~Anonymous 0x9932FE2729B1D963
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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Friday April 17 2015, @06:48AM

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Friday April 17 2015, @06:48AM (#171918) Journal

    There will be. There is already talk about outlawing drones. The state will crack down. People will provoke it further. The state will crack down more. Each time, though, a few more people get the courage to fight, and so things grow.

    The way for the state to prevent that is to return to the Rule of Law, to put the bankers, CIA, NSA, etc in jail for their crimes, but of course we all know they won't do that. There seems to have been no depth of criminality or depravity that would move Obama and his Attorney General to act. Now he wants to give himself authority to conclude a massive international trade treaty without even the rubber stamp of Congress having seen what's in it. The Supreme Court has opened the flood gates to allowing corporations and the wealthy to buy democracy outright, now the Congress is ceding its basic responsibilities to the Executive Branch. Can anyone still be so deceived or dewy-eyed as to believe that "the system works," or that "all we have to do is vote?"

    Yes, the wags will quip, "Well gee that's nice but all people care about is the Kardashians." That might be true of some, but there are millions more who don't know who the fuck they are and couldn't care less; they do, however, care very, very much about the slide this country is taking into the abyss. Whoever the hell the Kardashians are could be taken out in a drone strike and it would not matter one whit to the average guy even one town over. Allowing the NSA to spy on absolutely everything you do with impunity, allowing the CIA to torture you to death with impunity, allowing the police to summarily murder you in the street...those things all have deep and severe impacts on everyone, everywhere. If that doesn't concern you, or make you white-hot mad, then your very life and freedom must mean nothing to you.

    --
    Washington DC delenda est.
    • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Friday April 17 2015, @10:10AM

      by kaszz (4211) on Friday April 17 2015, @10:10AM (#171964) Journal

      Think of the horror if the cameras pointing at Kardashians would fail for some unknown reason and the night of the ants would break out everytime the show went on air ;)