This sounds like a plot summary for the classic 1939 Frank Capra film “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” starring Jimmy Stewart. But it is also the summary of what happened when Mr. Hughes flew to Washington last month in his gyrocopter.

Douglas Hughes is a 61-year-old mailman from a small town in Florida. Like Stewart’s character Jefferson Smith, Hughes felt compelled to tell the America public that change needs to happen in this country.

But without a podium in the Senate, a bill to filibuster or even a large check to produce to a congressional candidate, Hughes had to find another way to get the attention of Congress and the American public. So he flew to the Capitol, hoping to deliver 535 letters to each member of Congress.