A congressional hearing is taking place to determine how a Ruskin man flew his small gyrocopter through miles of restricted airspace before landing on the U.S. Capitol.
The pilot, Doug Hughes, watched the hearing from his home. He called it "a lot of smoke and mirrors."
"Because if there was a breach in national security it got fixed 15 minutes after my flight," said Hughes.
At the hearing, government officials claimed they had little warning.
"Regarding events leading up to the April 15 incident, I want to be clear, at no time did the Secret Service receive actionable advanced notice or any information that this was event was taking place," said Joseph Clancy, U.S. Secret Service Director.
Hughes insists he did send an email to a website he thought was associated with President Obama right before he took off.
He said he wanted the government to know what he was doing to protect himself.
"I wanted them to have time to establish for a fact that I wasn't a threat," Hughes said.
Hughes is also disturbed by questions at the hearing about why he wasn't shot down.
"I did everything I could in the preparation of this flight to make sure nobody would get hurt. Unfortunately, if they shot me with a missile over the Washington Mall, I have no control over where the debris would fall," he said.
Hughes said he does understand concerns about public safety but he claims this was a non-violent act of civil disobedience aimed at starting a debate on campaign finance reform.
"I am not disappointed that the issues of campaign finance reform and honesty in government have come to the forefront," he said.
Hughes has been charged with violating restricted airspace and operating an unregistered aircraft.
His next court appearance is May 8.
Hughes said he does not plan to do anything like this again.