Doug Hughes

Federal authorities announced in October 2016 they would destroy the gyrocopter which Hughes was required to forfeit in the plea agreement.

Hughes finished his prison term in October 2016, then remained under federal probation until October 2017. Retired from the US Postal Service, he is reportedly engaged in writing a book and giving speeches. When probation finished he intended to return to national activism on the corrosive effect of big money in politics and the reform measures he believes are possible and effective.

Douglas Hughes is an American former postal worker and political activist, known for landing a one-man ultralight gyrocopter on the lawn of the United States Capitol on April 15, 2015. Hughes was carrying 535 letters, one to each member of Congress, protesting what he referred to as bipartisan corruption and dysfunctional government. He surrendered peacefully after landing to the Capitol Police.

Hughes was later charged with six crimes. Hughes pleaded guilty in November 2015 to one felony and was sentenced to 120 days plus one year of probation.

Hughes also faced strong criticism for the flight. Representative Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) said that Hughes was "lucky to be alive" and "should have been blown out of the air," while broadcaster Anderson Cooper expressed concern over the tax dollars that would be spent in law enforcement and prosecution for Hughes' 'stunt'. The US Postal Service was unhappy with Hughes' flight. His gyrocopter had carried the US Postal logo, and the Post Office determined that the use of two small corrugated trays to transport mail was misappropriation of government property. Hughes was suspended after the flight and fired in July 2015. He appealed the decision and retired in 2016.

In 2014, Hughes contacted a writer with the Tampa Bay Times to explain his non-violent protest. Interviews and video, including flight video, were arranged in advance with the understanding the story would be posted online at the Times web site as soon as the flight began. The reporter was in Washington DC and saw the take-off on Hughes' web site. At the time Hughes began the flight, an E-mail to the government through barackobama.com was sent automatically which explained the intent of the flight and where it was going. Dozens of emails were sent to the media directing them to the Tampa Bay Times web site for the story and the Hughes web site for the background. A few weeks after the flight, the Chairman of the US House Oversight Committee in an official hearing on the gyrocopter flight said, "The guy in the gyrocopter was livefeeding a stream. I have heard a story from one of the major networks where they were watching it in New York, called down to the Capitol, and had staff reporters and producers go down on the grass to watch it happen."

Seventeen months before the flight, Hughes was interviewed by the US Secret Service. In October 2013, he admitted to the US Secret Service owning a gyrocopter and identified where it was located but did not admit to specific plans for the flight. Hughes claimed this encounter with the federal police validated his non-violent inclination. In the letter to the government sent at the time of take-off and to the media, Hughes declared the investigation by the US Secret Service and lack of action by the authorities was proof that his non-violent political intent had been established in advance of the flight.

Hughes was deeply affected by the suicide of his son, John, in August 2012. Hughes told the Tampa Bay Times that his protest had been a response to this, suggesting that his son had, "paid far too high a price for an unimportant issue, but if you're willing to take a risk, the ultimate risk, to draw attention to something that does have significance, it's worth doing."

Hughes was born in San Mateo County, California, and grew up in Santa Cruz. He graduated from Holy Cross High School in Santa Cruz and enlisted in the U.S. Navy, serving aboard the USS Enterprise as an electrician's mate third class. A U.S. Postal Service official said that Hughes had become a rural letter carrier in 2003.