Tampa Bay Tribune Editor and Vice President Neil Brown stressed on Thursday that as media, the paper's role is to observe and not to change the news.

While emphasizing that the Times is not an arm of government, Washington agencies were also aware of the plans of 61-year-old mailman Doug Hughes to fly his gyrocopter, Brown pointed out.

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Hughes was arrested, jailed and charged with operating an unregistered aircraft and breaching national airspace. His aerial adventure on Wednesday, which primarily aimed to deliver letters to congressman in the capitol, proved how easy it is to breach airspace supposed to be secure territory.

Since Tampa Bay Tribune, based in Florida, was aware ahead of time of Hughes' plans, it assigned Ben Montgomery, a reporter, to cover the gyrocopter flight. In summer, Hughes got in touch with Montgomery and shared with him his plan to fly over Washington, reports Associated Press.

The postal worker's intent in performing the risky flight, which could result in him being shot mid-air, is to call the attention of lawmakers to push for campaign finance reform by personally delivering to them letters that he brought with him aboard the flying bicycle.

While Montgomery interviewed and took photos of Hughes and the aircraft in advance, the mailman said that Montgomery did not commit to write the story. He stressed that Tampa Bay is not his partner in his gyrocopter adventure.

He told Montgomery in 2013, "No sane person would do what I'm doing. I have thought about walking away from this whole thing because it's crazy. But I have also thought about being 80 years old and watching the collapse of this country," quotes Cleveland.com.

While he consider his flight a success because he was not shot, Hughes admits the security breach became the focus and not his original intention to call attention for changes in campaign finance.

The U.S. Postal Service also said that Hughes should not have used the agency's logo on the gyrocopter because he was not on official duty and it was not his official delivery route, reports Cleveland.com.

Tagsgyrocopter, Washington DC, Doug Hughes, Department of Homeland Security