--- description: Douglas Hughes flew an aircraft onto the U.S. Capitol lawn on Wednesday title: Copter Pilot to Be Charged With Violating Restricted Airspace image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfba3f2d7d3674d78/6987eb372dce01b0f49e1520/dc-gyrocopter-white-house.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Copter Pilot to Be Charged With Violating Restricted Airspace by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 16, 2015 10:21 PM CUT  A man was arrested after landing a gyrocopter on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol on April 15, 2015. A man was arrested after landing a gyrocopter on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol on April 15, 2015.Bill Clark—AP by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 16, 2015 10:21 PM CUT Douglas Hughes, the pilot who flew an aircraft onto the U.S. Capitol lawn, will be charged with operating an unregistered aircraft and violating restricted airspace, federal authorities said Thursday. The first charge carries up to three years in prison, the second charge up to one year. Hughes was released on bond and ordered back to court May 8. Hughes, a mail carrier who wanted to protest money in politics, flew the aircraft, an open-cockpit contraption known as a gyro-copter, onto the West Lawn of the Capitol on Wednesday afternoon… [Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/copter-pilot-be-charged-violating-restricted-airspace-n343016 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3825985/gyro-copter-pilot-charges-washington/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3825985/gyro-copter-pilot-charges-washington/"},"headline":"Copter Pilot to Be Charged With Violating Restricted Airspace","datePublished":"2015-04-16T22:21:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T06:27:58.603Z","description":"Douglas Hughes flew an aircraft onto the U.S. Capitol lawn on Wednesday","url":"https://time.com/3825985/gyro-copter-pilot-charges-washington/","keywords":["Crime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfba3f2d7d3674d78/6987eb372dce01b0f49e1520/dc-gyrocopter-white-house.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"NBC News","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nbc-news/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfba3f2d7d3674d78/6987eb372dce01b0f49e1520/dc-gyrocopter-white-house.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Gyrocopter lands at US Capitol","caption":"Gyrocopter lands at US Capitol","creditText":"Bill Clark—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3825985/gyro-copter-pilot-charges-washington/","name":"Copter Pilot to Be Charged With Violating Restricted Airspace"}}]}] ```