Officials say that the light-weight gyrocopter that landed on the west lawn of the United States Capitol Building earlier this month was detected by radar, but that technology rendered the aircraft indistinguishable from birds and balloons.
The US House Oversight and Government Reform Committee grilled
law enforcement officials from the greater Washington, DC area
during a hearing on Wednesday concerning the incident two weeks
earlier in which a Florida man landed a lightweight gyrocopter on
the National Mall.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), the chair of the committee, told
witnesses at the hearing that he has serious concerns about a
communication breakdown that is being blamed for the lack of
coordination that occurred on the afternoon of April 15 when
61-year-old Doug Hughes touched down on Capitol property in his
personal aircraft.
It has subsequently been revealed that federal authorities had
become aware of Hughes’ plan to land a gyrocopter in DC a
year-and-a-half ago, and that a Tampa Bay Times reporter had
reached out to officials on the matter around 24 minutes before
the pilot was apprehended. Nevertheless, law enforcement on the
ground in Washington was forced to scramble to assess the
situation only seconds before it was resolved peacefully.
“At this point ignorance is no longer an excuse when it comes
to drone and small aircraft,” Chaffetz said, echoing
concerns from others in Washington who are still reeling from an
incident earlier this year in which a hobbyist unmanned aerial
vehicle, or drone, landed near the White House.
When Chaffetz inquired of the panel about whose responsibility it
ultimately was to intercept the aircraft, Admiral William
Gortney, a commander with the Pentagon’s NORAD took the blame.
With regards to the Pentagon’s inability to spot the vehicle,
though, Gortney testified that the Defense Dept. is “working
against physics.”
“We now understand is that the gyrocopter was detected by
several of the integrated sensors as it approached and
transited” the restricted airspace, Gortney said.
“However, the aircraft’s flight parameters fell below the
threshold necessary to differentiate aircraft from weather,
terrain, birds and other slow flying objects so as to ensure that
the systems and those operating them focus on that which poses
the greatest threat.”
“This is a question of technology and policy, both of which
are rapidly evolving,” Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland)
acknowledged at the hearing. At the same time, though, Cummings,
a ranking member of the panel, said that the government’s
inability to stay on pace could pose a problem if changes aren’t
made.
“The airspace around our nation’s capital is supposed to be
the most restricted in the world,” Cummings said. “Yet a
postal worker... postal worker from Florida – was able to fly his
gyrocopter through 30 miles of restricted airspace before finally
landing on [the] Capitol lawn.”
Hughes “was only trying to make a peaceful
demonstration,” Cummings said. “But we might not be so
fortunate in the future. It takes almost no effort to imagine
what could have been. What if he had weapons? What if he were
carrying a bomb?”
Witnesses agreed at the hearing that the gyrocopter was incapable
of carrying a heavy payload, but Cummings said Hughes could have
packed 50 pounds of plastic explosives had he wanted to and
likely would have still went undetected by radar. Had he
accomplished as much, Joseph Clancy, the director of the US
Secret Service, said the result would have been “devastating.”
“I have come here to beg you to do whatever you have to do to
get the technology if we don’t have it [and] to speed up the
technology if it’s in the process to more effectively and
efficiently allow you to do the jobs that you were sworn to
do,” Cummings told the witnesses.
Gortney and Clancy were flanked on the floor of the Capitol by
fellow witnesses from the ranks of the US Federal Aviation
Administration, US Park Police, US Capitol Police and the
Pentagon, as well as the House’s sergeant at arms, who testified
that he has since ordered law enforcement on the Capitol grounds
to utilize the House Notification System to more quickly provide
updates in the event of future incidents.
Michael Huerta, the administrator of the FAA, admitted that the
agency learned after the fact that its own radar systems had
detected the gyrocopter, but said that, like NORAD, it appeared
to be minor. The gyrocopter had appeared on radar as a
“small, unidentified” dot, Huerta said, and “all
available information about the slow moving, irregular symbol
made it indistinguishable from other non-aircraft radar
tracks,” including those made by birds and other small
airborne objects.
“Along with our interagency partners, we are engaged in a
detailed review of the event and subsequent actions and responses
to determine lessons learned and ways to improve our response
moving forward,” Gortney testified.
Hughes as charged with operating an unregistered aircraft and
violating restricted airspace. He is free on bond ahead of a
hearing scheduled for May 8 back in DC.