commemorate the Florida man who land his gyrocopter on the lawn of the US Capitol last twelvemonth ? The retired US postal proletarian pulled the stunt to raise awareness about campaign finance reform . Now public prosecutor are enounce that he came dangerously nigh tohitting a Delta flight .
The gyrocopter pilot , Douglas Hughes , will be doom next calendar month and prosecutors are now read that he amount within 1,400 yards of Delta Flight 1639 , an Airbus super acid that departed from Reagan National Airport and was carrying 150 passenger . Hughes denies he was that close .
Douglas Hughes landed on the US Capitol lawn last twelvemonth on April 15th ( taxation day ) after flying through qualified airspace . Hughes said he intended to deliver Congress letters about crusade finance reform . gratuitous to say , he did n’t get to save the letters , but he did raise quite a stir about security around the Capitol building .
Fourteen football fields may not seem that close , but public prosecutor say that aircraft must be separate by 3,000 yards .
“ If the gyrocopter had cast more or less westward , or the airline had taken a slightly more eastern path , a hit could have occurred , ” prosecutors said .
But Hughes insist that he did n’t even come close to the Delta trajectory . And he might be proper . Last May , US Capitol law chief Kim Dine , who submitted a alphabetic character of resignation just five day before the incident , testified that the Delta plane took off at 12:58pm . That would be about 25 minutes before Douglas landed and would mean that his gyrocopter was well out of US Capitol airspace by the time Hughes was there .
“ I was there . It did n’t happen , ” Hughes told theWashington Post . “ They say I flew within 1,500 chiliad . I was n’t within 30 miles of it . ”
prosecutor are enquire for a 10 calendar month prison house prison term . Attorneys for Hughes are expect for time served .
Whether Hughes serves time or not , he has promised to obey the law the next metre he desire to make a political protest . In fact , he assert that he plan to challenge Democratic Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz for her 23rd Congressional District keister in Florida .
[ Washington PostandNBC News ]
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