The Florida man who piloted . a small gyrocopter past Washington , DC , landmarks last . week said he fully expected to be intercepted . before landing on the west lawn of the US Capitol . Douglas Mark Hughes , 61 , created a security scare when he violated national airspace and has prompted a full-scale security review in Washington . Hughes , a US Postal Service mail carrier , . described his flight upon arriving home in Ruskin , Florida , . early on Sunday . Scroll down for video . Doug Hughes , 61 , spoke from his home in Ruskin , Florida , afre he arrived for house arrest before his court date . He steered his one-person gyrocopter onto the West Lawn of the US Capitol on Wednesday , April 15 , 2015 . Doug Hughes putting address labels on half of the 535 letters to Congress he tried delivering earlier this month . Hughes told . reporters outside his home : ' I had expected to be intercepted on the way . ' He recalled it being colder than he had expected flying from . Gettysburg , Pennsylvania , to DC , where the sight of the . Washington Monument helped guide him to the Capitol grounds . Some of the people below waved to Hughes , who intended the flight as a protest to highlight the need for campaign-finance reform , as he flew over the National Mall . He said : 'People were not frightened at all . 'That part of it was surreal . ' Hughes hoped to raise awareness about the influence of big money in politics by deliberately breaking the law to deliver 535 letters , one for each member of Congress . Instead , the overwhelming focus of news coverage has been about the gaps he exposed in national security . He told The Associated Press : 'We 've got bigger problems in this country than worrying about whether the security around DC is ironclad . 'We need to be worried about the piles of money that are going into Congress . 'The message was two pages long to Congress that they are going to have to face the issue , OK , of campaign-finance reform and honesty and government so that they work for the people . Hughes flew through restricted airspace carrying 535 letters and landed on the west lawn of the Capitol . His Russian-born wife , Alena Hughes , said she was 'proud ' that her husband acted out of patriotism for the US . Hughes spent a night in jail after Capitol Police arrested him . The ultralight aircraft and its cargo - a US Postal Service bin carrying the letters - were seized . His Russian-born wife , Alena , told the AP that her husband acted out of patriotism for the United States . She said : ' I am very proud of my husband . He is a countryman . ' Hughes faces up to four years in prison on charges of unlawfully operating an unregistered aircraft and violating national defense airspace . He will remain home until he is back in Washington for a preliminary hearing in May . Asked if he too thinks he 's a patriot or simply crazy , Hughes said 'everyone gets to make up their own mind about me , that 's what I 'd say . ' A reporter asked : 'But do you consider yourself a patriot ? ' 'No , I 'm a mailman , ' he said . Hughes faces up to four years in prison on charges of . unlawfully operating an unregistered aircraft and violating . national defense airspace . He was allowed to return to Florida , but ordered to remain . at home in detention until he is due back in Washington for a. preliminary hearing on May 8 .
Doug Hughes landed a gyrocopter on the US Capitol lawn on May 8 . Charged with multiple offenses and is under house arrest until court date . He spent two years planning stunt to protest campaign-finance laws . Will appear in court on Wednesday and is facing up to four years in prison . Hughes thought he 'd make it after leaving Gettysburg , Pennsylvania .