Gyrocopter Pilot Pleads Guilty To Flying Without License

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The former postal carrier who landed his gyrocopter at the U.S. Capitol in April struck a bargain with federal prosecutors, pleading guilty on Friday to flying without a pilot’s certificate. Doug Hughes, 62, will be sentenced in April next year. He faces a maximum penalty of three years in prisonand a $250,000 fine, although prosecutors agreed to request no more than ten months, according to a USA Today report.In the weeks after his arrest on the Capitol lawn, the Florida resident pleaded not guilty to six felony andmisdemeanor charges including illegally operating an aircraft and breaching Washington, D.C., restricted airspace. He faced nearly ten years in prison for all of the original charges.

Hughes, who has since been fired by the U.S. Postal Service, had planned his government protest flight for months and made his intentions known online. The Secret Service even personally questioned him at one point, but he was able to take off unhindered on April 15 near Washington. He took with him on the gyrocopter 535 letters addressed to members of Congress and was arrested upon landing. While the gyrocopter he flew might have fallen under the FAA’s ultralight rules, which don’t require an airman certificate, the government determined he had modified the aircraft with a larger gas tank and containers carrying the letters, increasing its weight, according to USA Today.

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