'Gyrocopter' probably too small for radar to detect

Show Caption Hide Caption Gyrocopter pilot on Secret Service radar before stunt A Florida mailman was arrested after flying a one-man chopper through restricted airspace and landing on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol. He apparently wanted to make a public statement about corruption in Congress.

WASHINGTON — The Florida man who flew his gyrocopter through restricted airspace to land on the U.S. Capitol grounds told federal investigators he feared being "shot down'' but took off anyway to call attention to campaign-finance policy, according to federal court documents.

Doug Hughes, 61, was charged Thursday with operating an unregistered aircraft and violating national airspace restrictions.

He told authorities he sent an advance message of his flight plan to an email account he believed to be associated with President Obama "to avoid being shot down.''

The account, info@barackobama.com, belongs to Organizing for Action, an advocacy organization that grew out of the president's former campaign.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said the copter "apparently literally flew in under the radar" as it passed the Washington Monument and flew above the National Mall before landing on the West Lawn of the Capitol.

Johnson said it's too soon to say whether the incident should prompt changes in security procedures. "I want to know all the facts before I reach an assessment of what can and should be done about gyrocopters in the future," he said.

He defended procedures for dealing with the restricted airspace over Washington's federal buildings and monuments.

"We've got a well-coordinated federal response to dealing with issues of those who penetrate the restricted airspace without permission," he said.

Looking rumpled and wind-burned, the postal worker made his first court appearance Thursday afternoon, wearing a blue U.S. Postal Service jacket. He was released on his own recognizance on conditions that required his return home to Ruskin, Fla., and detention at home. A federal magistrate ordered that he wear a GPS monitoring device. He is prohibited from operating any kind of aircraft and cannot set foot on the grounds of the Capitol or the White House.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tejpal Chawla gave Hughes and his court-appointed attorney maps outlining the perimeters of the prohibited zones.

Hughes will be required to report in person to federal authorities in Florida once a week.

A preliminary hearing was set for May 8 in Washington.

If Hughes is convicted, the maximum punishment for operating an unregistered aircraft is three years in prison and one year for the airspace violation.

Johnson said Hughes, a married father of four, was interviewed by the Secret Service after a tip almost two years ago about his plans to fly his gyrocopter to Washington. Johnson said the Secret Service passed the information from that interview to "all of the appropriate law enforcement agencies."

The Federal Aviation Administration issued a statement saying it is investigating how Hughes breached the no-fly perimeter. The statement said Hughes was not in contact with air-traffic controllers, and he was not authorized to enter the restricted airspace.

"Airspace security rules that cover the Capitol and the District of Columbia prohibit private aircraft flights without prior coordination and permission," the statement said.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) is joining the FAA and other law enforcement and intelligence agencies in reviewing sensor data to understand how the gyrocopter got to the Capitol without being stopped.

NORAD spokesman Michael Kucharek said the incident highlights the inability of radar to detect cruise missiles and low, slow-flying objects. He said the military has begun a three-year test of a radar blimp in the region.

The blimp, formally named the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System, is positioned over Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. It includes a football-field-size airship that floats at about 10,000 feet. A second one is likely to go up soon.

Hughes advertised his plan in advance. He gave an extensive interview to his hometown newspaper, the Tampa Bay Times. He sent a blast email of his intentions to the Secret Service and news organizations. He live-streamed his illegal flight on a website called The Democracy Club.

He carried with him 535 letters, one for each member of Congress, outlining his complaints and his call for an end to the influence of money and lobbyists in Washington politics.

He flew his small, open-air, one-man machine from an airport in Gettysburg, Pa., on Wednesday afternoon straight to the Capitol lawn without interference. According to court documents, he chose Gettysburg because it is an "uncontrolled'' airstrip and in flight range of his copter.

Jeffrey Price, a professor of aviation and aerospace science at Metropolitan State University of Denver, said the aircraft — which weighs an average of 500 pounds, goes no faster than 50 mph and most likely flies no higher than 500 feet — wouldn't be picked up by radar.

To be detected by radar, the aircraft would have had to fly at about 3,000 feet, he said, and even then, it is so small it would have registered as a nondescript fast-moving blip. In this case, it was probably flying so low it would have blended in with birds, trees, buildings and other structures, he said.

"This is a unique case because people had prior knowledge that he was coming," Price said. "But it does raise questions about how safe those areas are."

Ed Clark, a security consultant who has worked with federal agencies to assess threats to their buildings, said that once the gyrocopter was detected, police would have had to assess how big a threat the aircraft posed vs. the damage caused by shooting the aircraft down and having it land in a crowded urban area.

"While it's unnerving that someone could land one of these things on the Capitol lawn, more goes into this than just someone did not do their job," Clark said. "They would have had to determine the intent of the pilot, which was a good thing because in this case, all he had was a box full of letters."

What worries Clark is that apparently no one detected the aircraft until it landed. There has been a pattern of people breaching security perimeters around Washington structures, including the White House, where several people have gotten onto the grounds recently.

"You could do a Ph.D. thesis now on the number of incursions into federally restricted areas," Clark said.

Contributing: Associated Press