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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: 0, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday April 17 2015, @01:41AM

    by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Friday April 17 2015, @01:41AM (#171833) Homepage

    It was ballsy not because of his breaking the law and possibly being placed in immediate danger, but because (if he is a USPS employee) he could lose that his cushy job and that sweet pension as a result of his committing that heinous crime.

    Hopefully Grand-Dictator-for-Life Baraq Hussein Sotero and his half-melted rubber attack bulldog Hillary Clinton will throw Gyro Gearloose a boney.

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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by takyon on Friday April 17 2015, @02:07AM

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Friday April 17 2015, @02:07AM (#171845) Journal

    Hughes knew there was a risk he could be shot out of the sky, though he hoped it wouldn't come to that.

    "I don't believe that the authorities are going to shoot down a 61-year-old mailman in a flying bicycle," he said. "I don't have any defense, okay, but I don't believe that anybody wants to personally take responsibility for the fallout."

    Before his flight, Hughes said he knew what was at stake. He figured he'll lose his job of 11 years. And he could lose his tidy little house across from a pond with a fountain. He knew he would lose his freedom. That means losing, at least temporarily, his Russian-born wife and his polite 12-year-old daughter who plays the piano and wins awards at the science fair. He kept them in the dark, he said, for fear they'd be implicated.

    Hughes is a slender, soft-spoken, pedantic man, with thinning gray hair and hearing aids. He has no criminal record and it's rare to hear him curse. But he said he needed the show, the very dramatic public act of civil disobedience, to focus the nation's attention on campaign finance reform, a topic that in most quarters makes eyes glaze over. Money, he says, has corrupted the democracy.

    His biggest fear all along, he said, was losing his nerve.

    "I have thought about walking away from this whole thing because it's crazy," he said. "But I have also thought about being 80 years old and watching the collapse of this country and thinking that I had an idea once that might have arrested the fall and I didn't do it.

    "And I will tell you completely honestly: I'd rather die in the flight than live to be 80 years old and see this country fall."

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    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by frojack on Friday April 17 2015, @02:34AM

      by frojack (1554) on Friday April 17 2015, @02:34AM (#171852) Journal

      Meh, he gets acquitted at any jury trial.

      I don't think the flying an unregistered aircraft charge sticks. According to this page [usua.org] there are no requirements to register an ultralight aircraft . Violating a controlled airspace (at the altitude he flew) may be illegal, but its not dangerous, because no regulated aircraft fly below 1200 feet agl.

      So it was a protest, no more unsafe, and a lot less unruly than the occupy movement, which did untold property damage and nobody went to jail.
      I bet he does community service, and keeps his quasi-government job. Nobody wants him to become a campaign issue.

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      • (Score: 2) by takyon on Friday April 17 2015, @02:37AM

        by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Friday April 17 2015, @02:37AM (#171853) Journal

        Honestly I think they are already going light on him. 2 charges and not 20? They can file more though.

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        • (Score: 4, Insightful) by anubi on Friday April 17 2015, @03:39AM

          by anubi (2828) on Friday April 17 2015, @03:39AM (#171874) Journal

          And I sure hope ballsy journalists will keep track of the names of those pressing charges....

          Its high time people see the real faces of the people they vote into public offices.

          --
          "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
      • (Score: 4, Interesting) by urza9814 on Friday April 17 2015, @01:42PM

        by urza9814 (3954) on Friday April 17 2015, @01:42PM (#172016) Journal

        So it was a protest, no more unsafe, and a lot less unruly than the occupy movement, which did untold property damage and nobody went to jail.

        You clearly have no clue what you're talking about. I have friends who were sent to Rikers for merely standing in a public park during Occupy.

  • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Friday April 17 2015, @10:05AM

    by kaszz (4211) on Friday April 17 2015, @10:05AM (#171962) Journal

    If they screw up his life they will have their nice little presidential campaign wrecked. So hey "IT'S RAINING!" ;-)