US Capitol Copter Stunt Raises Security Questions

A Florida postal worker delivered a message about campaign financing by landing a gyrocopter on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol Wednesday, putting the place on lockdown for a few hours.

Doug Hughes, 61, flew and landed the small helicopter on the Capitol lawn undetected.

Hughes had been planning the stunt for a while. Last year, he told his local paper about his plans to deliver letters to members of Congress demanding action on campaign finance.

"I'm going to violate the no fly zone.  Non-violently I intend for nobody to get hurt.  And I'm going to land on the Capitol mall in front of the Capitol building," he said in a Tampa Bay Times video.

"Honestly I didn't think he would make it anywhere close to here. I saw him coming over the top of the building so I thought, 'Holy heaven he made it a long way,'" Ben Montgomery, a Tampa Bay Times reporter, said.
 
The incident is raising concerns about security in the nation's capital.