Gyrocopter lands on Capital lawn

he is a postman....at least he didn't have guns on the copter.
 
Unpossible. I distinctly recall reading that any aircraft not complying with the DC SFRA and FRZ rules would simply be shot down. No way did he get all the way to the Capitol. Must be made up. Security theater works, dammit.
 
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Relying on the BBC to tell you what the Tampa Bay Times says happened in Washington DC? No...
 
This guy messed up. If he wanted to make a point about campaign financing and break a TFR, he should have landed on Main Street USA in Disneyworld, and asked the press to find out who takes money from the Mouse to maintain Disney's TFRs.
 
Jeff Oslick said:
This guy messed up. If he wanted to make a point about campaign financing and break a TFR, he should have landed on Main Street USA in Disneyworld, and asked the press to find out who takes money from the Mouse to maintain Disney's TFRs.
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I don't think it was about the FR. It was about taking the message to Congress. Literally. If you land at Disneyworld, the TFR violation would probably get lost in the litany of other charges levied against you.
 
That's exactly the kind of person who would fly a gyrocopter. LMAO. :loco: :rofl:
 
Love the official US mail logo on the tail. Security is tight,right. It's a good thing he wasn't armed. With all the technology in the capital,you have to wonder how secure we really are.
 
That guy will get in LESS trouble for doing that on purpose compared to an accidental off-course by the average GA
 
Jeff Oslick said:
This guy messed up. If he wanted to make a point about campaign financing and break a TFR, he should have landed on Main Street USA in Disneyworld, and asked the press to find out who takes money from the Mouse to maintain Disney's TFRs.
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Why? Who cares? The Disney TFR sees low level traffic through it all day long. If you are talking to ATC, it does not exist.
 
Datadriver said:
That guy will get in LESS trouble for doing that on purpose compared to an accidental off-course by the average GA
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Probably. Busting regular guys is security theatre this story needs to die... Lest the Empire's illusions flicker.
 
I bet he didn't file a flight plan! :hairraise:

Man we need more stringent airspace control like the Chinese! :rolleyes:
 
Russian/Iranian spy? Any bets on what lands there next week?
 
MotoFlier said:
So what was the message?
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US Post Office now uses gyrocopters deliver snail-mail; no paved roads required.

Funny thing is how much attention the little gyrocopter's getting - more so than the postman's message (campain funding stuff)

(It's all on the mail man's web page, in a short video).
 
bnt83 said:
The mental health crisis in America continues?
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:lol: That's about the extent of it, and people are getting fed up with expensive and ineffective security theater. He managed to high light both quite well.:lol:
 
He delivered a letter for campaign finance reform. He is sick of how people pretty much buy politicians. Can't say I blame him.

I am fully supportive of his actions. He peacefully delivered an important message that will hopefully get a lot of attention.

He also showed how friggin lax our capital's security is. You would think after 9/11, they would be able to defend against another airliner, etc. But a slow moving gyrocopter, that's a real challenge! Our government fails spectacularly again!
 
PilotRPI said:
He delivered a letter for campaign finance reform. He is sick of how people pretty much buy politicians. Can't say I blame him.

I am fully supportive of his actions. He peacefully delivered an important message that will hopefully get a lot of attention.

He also showed how friggin lax our capital's security is. You would think after 9/11, they would be able to defend against another airliner, etc. But a slow moving gyrocopter, that's a real challenge! Our government fails spectacularly again!
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I wonder how close they came to blowing him out of the sky. Actually, I wonder if they even noticed him.
 
Anthony said:
I wonder how close they came to blowing him out of the sky. Actually, I wonder if they even noticed him.
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When I toured the local TRACON I was shown how cluttered their radar could be. They said freeway traffic and birds would drive them and the system insane.

It could very well be possible that no one noticed a slow moving, low altitude, low reflective gryocopter.
 
Anthony said:
I wonder how close they came to blowing him out of the sky. Actually, I wonder if they even noticed him.
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I was thinking the same. Though I wonder whether the SAM's radar is sensitive enough to pick out the signature of a small flock of birds. Did no SS agent try to shoot him down with their personal weapons?

I wonder if they show the security cam footage on the news tonight. I will make a point to watch. :)
 
Anthony said:
I wonder how close they came to blowing him out of the sky. Actually, I wonder if they even noticed him.
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Or, they knew he was coming and was harmless and not a threat.....

Now all the alphabet soup agencies in DC will want BILLIONS more funding to hire 50,000 more guvmint security workers...:mad2::mad2::mad2:...:mad:..
 
BigBadLou said:
I was thinking the same. Though I wonder whether the SAM's radar is sensitive enough to pick out the signature of a small flock of birds. Did no SS agent try to shoot him down with their personal weapons?

I wonder if they show the security cam footage on the news tonight. I will make a point to watch. :)
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One of the articles I read indicated the SS would have shot him down if he had gotten any closer to the "Speakers Balcony" whatever that is, but he landed just short. The Gestapo is now interrogating him.
 
BigBadLou said:
I was thinking the same. Though I wonder whether the SAM's radar is sensitive enough to pick out the signature of a small flock of birds. Did no SS agent try to shoot him down with their personal weapons?

I wonder if they show the security cam footage on the news tonight. I will make a point to watch. :)
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I'll be surprised when the Gov finally goes through with their shoot down plan. They've been saying it for years with multiple intrusions a year.
 
This guy is lucky he didn't get the "beep" shot out of him...

Was there with my son last week and the security is unbelievable and the cops are a little twitchy...

My question is, how did he get as far as he did.. we saw a few well armed helicopters flying around while there...
 
This guy is a moron, this will not be good for General Aviation.
 
bnt83 said:
The mental health crisis in America continues?
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Hahaha, thats about all I got from it.

That article kind of made it sound like he told them (Emailed) he was coming and not a threat. Wonder if that played a part in not getting shot down. That dude had to have anticipated about a 90% chance of taking on heavy fire LOL.
 
PilotRPI said:
He delivered a letter for campaign finance reform. He is sick of how people pretty much buy politicians. Can't say I blame him.

I am fully supportive of his actions. He peacefully delivered an important message that will hopefully get a lot of attention.
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I agree.
 
Shoot them down? LOL....

There's about 1.5 million tourists today in the mall looking at cherry blossoms. A lot of damage if ordinance starts flying around. Way more damage than a gyro-copter can do.

Hard to imagine the scenario that allows that to happen in the real world.
 
Maybe they watched him and said "it's a gyrocopter...how much damage can it actually do to anything?"
 
We need more people with his courage. Looks like he announced what he was doing pretty publicly and did everything he could to make it clear he was no threat. His message is an important one too- probably the most important one in the entire political landscape.
 
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