Residents of the nation’s capital may see Air Force-piloted gyrocopters and other small aircraft flying overhead, as federal officials begin testing the government’s ability to identify and intercept unknown aircraft, according to the Washinton Examiner.
The Air Force will fly a gyrocopter above the capital area at between 500 and 2,500 feet off the ground, and will fly Cessna and Sky Arrow aircraft between 500 and 8,000 feet above the ground, according to a Jan. 30 press release cited by the Examiner.
This comes nearly three years after Florida mailman Douglas Hughes successfully flew past the White House undetected in a 350-pound rotorcraft before landing at the U.S. Capitol, seeking to raise attention for campaign finance reform.
In April 2016, Hughes was sentenced to four months in prison by a federal judge. His flight is a small indication of the threat that small aircraft and unmanned aerial systems present In Washington, D.C.
“Using Cessna, Sky Arrow and Gyrocopter aircraft, a variety of flight patterns will be flown five to nine times per week,” the U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command’s public affairs office said in the press release, the Examiner reported.
Hughes believes his flight, which went undetected from radar and the high tech JLENS aerial detection system, pushed NORAD and the Federal Aviation Administration to tighten up their security system, according to the Examiner.
“If a person was to try an unannounced flight today, I wouldn’t bet on their odds of making it,” Hughes told the Examiner.
The flights will occur during both daytime and nighttime hours and will run through the end of March.
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The testing is “intended to assist in calibration of systems and equipment and will serve to refine and improve the ability to respond to unknown and potentially threatening aircraft,” according to the release the Examiner cited.
