As FAA Investigates, Most Laugh Off Gyrocopter Stunt

Stephen Pope

Thursday, April 16, 2015 at 07:49 PM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Mailman Doug Hughes landed a gyrocopter on the Capitol lawn to deliver protest letters to Congress, aiming to draw attention to campaign finance reform.
The unauthorized flight, planned for over two years, prompted an FAA investigation and condemnation from aviation groups, but the public largely reacted with amusement.
The incident raised concerns among pundits about the ease of penetrating Washington D.C.'s protected airspace, though it did not, unlike similar past events, reflect negatively on general aviation.

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With his harebrained landing of a gyrocopter on the Capitol lawn to hand deliver hundreds of protest letters to Congress, mailman Doug Hughes has put a new twist on the expression “going postal.”

The FAA says it’s launching a full-scale investigation of the unauthorized flight. AOPA quickly labeled the stunt “unacceptable.” Most everybody else, meanwhile, seems to be laughing off Hughes’ impromptu arrival on the Washington, D.C. Mall in his self-described “flying bicycle.”