Small helicopter lands on U.S. Capitol lawn, raising security alarm

Police arrested a man who steered his tiny, one-person helicopter onto the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol Wednesday, astonishing tourists and prompting a temporary lockdown of the Capitol Visitor Center.

Capitol police didn't immediately identify the pilot or comment on his motive, but a Florida postal carrier named Doug Hughes took responsibility for the stunt on a website where he said he was delivering letters to all 535 members of Congress in order to draw attention to campaign finance corruption.

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"As I have informed the authorities, I have no violent inclinations or intent," Hughes wrote on his website, thedemocracyclub.org. "An ultralight aircraft poses no major physical threat — it may present a political threat to graft. I hope so. There's no need to worry — I'm just delivering the mail."

His plans were also reported on yesterday in the Tampa Bay Times. In a four-minute video segment, Hughes, 61, stressed his non-violent intentions, while conceding that his plan was "crazy." 

"No sane person would do what I'm doing," Hughes told the Times. 

Hughes said he planned to tell the authorities he was coming, and that he was confident no one would shoot down his "flying bicycle." 

A U.S. Postal Service spokeswoman told the Reuters news agency the person in custody was a rural letter carrier but did not give a name.

House Homeland Security panel chairman Michael McCaul said the pilot landed on his own, but officials were prepared to shoot him down. "Had it gotten any closer to the Speaker's balcony, they have long guns to take it down, but it didn't. It landed right in front," McCaul said.

The incident occurred as some members of Congress were meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, according to the CBC's Lindsay Duncombe, reporting from the scene. 

The landing "caused quite a stir," Duncombe said. 

Shortly after 3 p.m. ET police said the bomb squad had found nothing hazardous in the chopper and that they were preparing to move the craft to a secure location. Normal operations had resumed in the area by late afternoon. 

Video shot by an eyewitness captured the flight's final moments. The chopper is seen descending quickly, passing over the heads of a group of children — who appear to be part of a tour group — gathered around the statue of Ulysses S. Grant to the west of the Capitol building. 

"This is not good, people," a woman says off camera, apparently alarmed. 

The chopper appears to have remained on the lawn for some time before it was approached by figures coming from the direction of the Capitol. 

Landed hard, bounced

Witnesses said the craft approached the Capitol from the west, flying low over the National Mall and the Capitol reflecting pool across the street from the building. It barely cleared a row of trees.

John Jewell, 72, a tourist, said the craft landed hard and bounced. An officer was already there with a gun drawn. "He didn't get out until police officers told him to get out. He had his hands up"' and was quickly led away by the police, Jewell said. "They snatched him pretty fast."

Downtown Washington is blanketed by restrictions on air traffic that generally prohibit aircraft from flying over the White House, the Capitol, the National Mall and key buildings without special permission.

The security scare comes after a man shot himself dead in front of the Capitol on Saturday and sparked a temporary lockdown.

In January, a small "quadcopter" drone crashed onto the White House lawn. The man who was operating it was not charged.