WASHINGTON — A small gyrocopter that flew through miles of the nation’s most restricted airspace before landing at the U.S. Capitol was “indistinguishable” on radar from non-aircraft such as a flock of birds, a kite or a balloon, the head of the Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday.
FAA Administrator Michael Huerta told a House committee that the slow-moving gyrocopter appeared as an “irregular symbol” on radar monitored by air traffic controllers. Huerta and other officials said the small, unidentified object did not pose an apparent threat before landing on the Capitol’s West Lawn April 15.
Forensic analysis conducted later identified a slow-moving object that traveled about 70 miles from Gettysburg, Pa., to the U.S. Capitol. Officials now believe that was the gyrocopter. A dot representing the gyrocopter “appeared only intermittently throughout the flight,” Huerta said.
Details about how the copter flight was tracked emerged Wednesday as questions continued two weeks after the open-air copter — described by its pilot as a “flying bicycle” — landed at the Capitol. Law enforcement agencies gave conflicting accounts about whether the copter could have been shot down and offered few answers about how the response was coordinated and what changes, if any, have been made in the aftermath of the incident.
Navy Adm. William Gortney, commander of U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, said Wednesday that officials did not have the ability to shoot down the aircraft before it landed, contradicting testimony from Capitol Police Chef Kim Dine.
Asked directly if the copter could have been shot down, Gortney said no.
“We did not have a detection,” he told the House Oversight Committee.
Dine testified earlier that Capitol police saw the copter “seconds before it landed” on the Capitol lawn and could have shot it down but chose not to do so, in part because of the potential danger to tourists and other bystanders.
Dine called his officers’ actions “heroic” and said police “quickly approached the individual and arrested him” as soon as the copter landed.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the oversight panel, said the contradictory testimony showed a breakdown in communication among the various agencies that protect the nation’s capital and its airspace. Representatives of seven agencies attended Wednesday’s hearing.
“It took them two weeks to try to get their story straight, but it’s still in conflict,” Chaffetz said after the hearing. With so many agencies sharing responsibility, “Who’s going to take the shot if need be?” Chaffetz asked.
Gortney told the committee that small aircraft such as gyrocopters represent a “technical and operational challenge” for NORAD and the military to detect and defend against.
