text: In Custody: Doug Hughes was put under arrest for his gyro-copter stunt . Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson has admitted that a gyro-copter flew 80 miles undetected and under the radar from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to the lawn of the US Capitol on Wednesday. Reacting to the latest embarrassing security lapse at the White House and Capitol, Johnson pleaded for calm and resisted calls for sweeping changes. 'I want to know all the facts before I reach an assessment of what can and should be done about gyrocopters in the future,' he said. Johnson confirmed that the pilot, Florida postal worker Doug Hughes, was interviewed by the Secret Service almost two years ago. He said the Secret Service passed along the information from that interview to 'all of the appropriate law enforcement agencies.' Johnson said his first reaction on hearing of the incident was to ask, 'What's a gyrocopter?' The tiny, open-air aircraft landed without injuries to anyone, but the incident raises questions about how someone could be allowed to fly all the way from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, right up to the Capitol. Hughes has said he was making the flight to publicize his concerns about the corrupting influence of money in politics, and deliver letters to all 535 members of Congress on the topic. 'We are a democracy. We don't have fences around our airspace, so we've got to find the right balance between living in a free and open society and security and the protection of federal buildings,' Johnson told reporters on Capitol Hill. 'And so we want to stay one step ahead of every incident like this, but then again, you don't want to overreact, either.' Scroll Down for Video . Approach: The small gyro-copter (circled in red) lands on the West Lawn of the Capitol in Washington as members of the public walk by . Practice run: Doug Hughes flies his gyrocopter near the Wauchula Municipal Airport in Wauchula, Florida prior to his 'insane' stunt on Wednesday . Preparation: Doug Hughes loads his gyro-copter onto a trailer before he flew it from Gettysburg to Washington D.C. Johnson defended existing protocols for dealing with the restricted airspace over Washington, D.C., federal buildings and monuments. 'We've got a well-coordinated federal response to dealing with issues of those who penetrate the restricted airspace without permission,' he said. Just the day before, Hughes caused a major security scare when he landed his gyro-copter on the US Capitol lawn - coming just seconds from being shot out of the sky. House Homeland Security panel Chairman Michael McCaul revealed that Capitol authorities had Doug Hughes, 61, in their sights and were prepared to open fire. 'Had it gotten any closer to the speaker's balcony they have long guns to take it down, but it didn't. It landed right in front,' McCaul said about the flight which was undetected until authorities actually saw the craft approach. Practice: Doug Hughes flys his gyro-copter  near the Wauchula Municipal Airport in Wauchula, Florida in March during a trial-run for his US Capitol stunt . Protest flight: Doug Hughes took off from an undisclosed location in Washington D.C. and landed his gyro-copter on the West Front lawn of the US Capitol building . Rush: A member of a bomb squad checks Doug Hughes' gyro-copter after he had landed on the West Front lawn of the US Capitol building . However, Hughes claims he informed the Secret Service and Capitol police of his potentially lethal stunt into the no-fly zone, which was designed to draw attention to campaign finance reform and government corruption. Speaking prior to the flight and just days after a man shot himself dead in front of the Capitol on Saturday causing panic, Hughes appeared confident he would survive his 'insane' protest. 'I don't believe that the authorities are going to shoot down a 61-year-old mailman in a flying bicycle,' said Hughes of the latest embarrassment for White House and Capitol security. Indeed, NORAD reported that they did not scramble any assets and were not informed of the flight until it had landed. And local Washington D.C. response helicopter units designed to deal with slow moving targets admitted they did not react either. Doug Hughes' close friend Mike Shanahan, said today that the Hughes is not a terrorist and did not mean any harm with his protest. Security breach: The small helicopter sits on the West Lawn of the Capitol in Washington after it landed in front of stunned bystanders on Wednesday afternoon . Furious interest: Members of the media converge near Constitution Avenue on Capitol Hill in Washington . 'I was scared to death they were going to kill him,' Shanahan said to the Tampa Bay Times. 'My thanks goes out to whomever it was who decided not to pull the trigger.' The mailman's flight to raise awareness for campaign finance reform and donation caps caused the Capitol to go into lockdown as stunned members of the public watched him land his single-seat gyro-copter around 2pm and breach the No-Fly 'P56-Zone'. 'He has no weapons or anything else,' said Michael Shanahan to CNN. 'I know him personally. He's like a pitbull when he has an idea. He wants to wake up the country.' Hughes, who has been planning his 'insane' D.C. flight for two years was promptly arrested by police and FBI teams moved in quickly afterwards with bomb disposal robots. Witnesses said the craft approached the Capitol from the west, flying low over the National Mall and the Capitol reflecting pool across the street from the building. It barely cleared a row of trees and a statue of Gen. Ulysses Grant. Evidence: The illegally landed craft  was piloted by Florida mailman Doug Hughes to protest against government corruption and to promote campaign finance reform . Retrieval: People walk past the gyro-copter that was flown onto the grounds of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday . John Jewell, 72, a tourist from Statesville, North Carolina, said the craft landed hard and bounced. An officer was already there with a gun drawn. 'He didn't get out until police officers told him to get out. He had his hands up'' and was quickly led away by the police, Jewell said. 'They snatched him pretty fast.' Elizabeth Bevins, a tourist from Atlanta, said she was standing across the street from the Capitol when the helicopter flew in around 20 or 30 feet high, and it 'just sort of plopped down on the lawn.' Downtown Washington is blanketed by restrictions on air traffic that generally prohibit aircraft from flying over the White House, the Capitol, the national Mall and key buildings without special permission. The Federal Aviation Administration said the pilot hadn't notified it of his plans to enter restricted airspace. Speaking to the Tampa Bay Times prior to his flight, Hughes said that he had phoned the Secret Service to tell them he would land in front of the Capitol and that he had emailed Barack Obama's public email too. He said that he flight would serve as a protest against rampant lobby and interest groups controlling the political process and a wake-up call for security.
target: Florida mailman Doug Hughes landed gyro-copter on Wednesday .
  Flew 80-miles from Gettysburg to Washington D.C. and was not detected .
  NORAD failed to identify the single-seat craft as it flew under the radar .
  Homeland Security chief called for calm and no over-reaction to security breach .