Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) is probably about as good a pilot as he is a senator. That’s not a compliment.
Last year, Inhofe saw a closed runway at his South Texas destination — it was marked with a giant X — but decided to land on it anyway. He touched down and then “sky hopped” over six vehicles and personnel working on the runway, before landing for good. Inhofe, among other things, also didn’t feel the need to check the Notices to Airmen (NOTAM) indicating the runway closure prior to flying.
The man supervising the runway repairs said the right-wing senator “scared the crap out of us” and nearly hit a truck with a person inside. “He was determined to land on that runway come hell or high water, evidently,” the supervisor said.
The airport manager, himself a pilot for more than 50 years, said he’d “never seen such a reckless disregard for human life.”
Inhofe agreed to a “program of remedial training” as a substitute for legal action. With that done, the far-right Oklahoman has decided to go after the FAA for bothering him.
Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) is pushing a bill that would protect pilots from “agency overreach” by the Federal Aviation Administration, in response to his own experience at the mercy of the FAA after he “scared the crap out of” airport workers last year when he landed his Cessna on a closed runway.
“I was never fully appreciative of the feeling of desperation until it happened to me,” he said.
The bill is expected to be introduced Wednesday and called the “Pilot’s Bill Of Rights.”
Apparently, Inhofe is mad at the FAA, just because the agency held him responsible for nearly causing a runway disaster due entirely to his personal negligence. In turn, the Oklahoman feels justified punishing the FAA with new restrictions.
He’s quite a senator, isn’t he?
