Florida man arrested after landing small helicopter on US Capitol grounds

A Florida man was arrested after he landed his small helicopter on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol on April 15, police said, violating restricted airspace and causing a security scare.
   
Doug Hughes, 61, a U.S. Postal Service mail carrier from Ruskin, Florida, has been jailed and is facing undisclosed charges after he flew his "gyro copter" over Washington and landed on the Capitol grounds about 1:30 p.m., the U.S. Capitol Police said in a statement.
   
The Tampa Bay Times reported that Hughes planned to make the flight to draw attention to the issue of campaign finance reform. He wrote letters addressed to each member of Congress calling for changes, the paper said.
  
Security rules prohibit aircraft from flying in the area of the Capitol and the White House without permission.
   
A bomb squad investigated the aircraft and found nothing hazardous, the Capitol Police statement said.
   
A U.S. Postal Service spokeswoman confirmed that the person in custody was a rural letter carrier, but did not give a name.
   
Streets near the Capitol were temporarily closed while police investigated and removed the aircraft, which resembled a small open-air helicopter with a single rotor on top.
   
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said it was investigating the incident. It said the pilot of the gyro copter was not authorized to enter restricted airspace.
   
In a bystander video that was obtained by the Associated Press, the copter is shown flying over the reflecting pool west of the Capitol and landing on the lawn.
   
Nora Neus, 21, of Tenafly, New Jersey, told Reuters that after the craft landed, police ordered the man in it not to move. She said he did not resist arrest. ...