The former postal carrier who landed his gyrocopter at the U.S. Capitol a year ago was sentenced to 120 days in prison on Thursday. Doug Hughes, 62, walked out of federal court after a lengthy hearing and told reporters he still doesn’t regret his flight, as reported by the Tampa Bay Times. Hughes, a Florida resident, had planned the flight for months as a public protest. On April 15, 2015, he drove to the Washington area with his gyrocopter, then took off in it with letters addressed to each member of Congress in hopes of drawing their attention to money’s impact on the political process. Police arrested him upon his landing on the Capitol lawn. “I haven’t apologized in the past and I’m not apologizing now,” he told reporters Thursday.
Hughes also maintains his flight did not pose a hazard to other aircraft or people on the ground, but a federal judge thought otherwise. “I don’t think you appreciate how dangerous your conduct was and how you could have injured yourself and others,” the judge told him, according to the Times report. Hughes pleaded guilty in November to flying without a pilot certificate after negotiating a deal with prosecutors, who agreed to ask for a maximum of ten months in prison instead of three years. Hughes had pleaded not guilty to a battery of felony andmisdemeanor charges including illegally operating an aircraft and flying into Washington, D.C.’s restricted airspace. He would have faced nearly ten years in jail for all of the charges originally lodged against him.
