Man who landed gyrocopter on Capitol lawn gets 4 months

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Florida man who landed a one-person gyrocopter on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol in Washington in 2015 as a stunt to protest the influence of money in politics was sentenced today to spend four months in jail.

In sentencing 62-year-old Douglas Hughes, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said he displayed a total lack of concern for his safety or that of others. She said he knowingly violated airspace restrictions around the nation's capital, some of the most-restricted U.S. airspace, and didn't seem to appreciate how dangerous his actions were. It was only by chance that no one was harmed, she said at a hearing, which lasted hours.

Hughes has said his April 15, 2015, flight in the bare-bones aircraft was a way to call attention to the influence of big money in politics and protest government corruption. The former mail carrier from Ruskin, Fla., was carrying letters for each member of Congress on the topic of campaign finance and the tail of his aircraft displayed a postal service logo.

Hughes pleaded guilty in November to a felony of operating a gyrocopter without a license.