Sen. Inhofe shows true colors
 

I can scarcely believe it, even coming from the perhaps the biggest blowhard in the Senate. Inhofe landed his private plane on a clearly marked closed runway, "scaring the crap" out of construction workers inconveniently in the way, and now he's whining about FAA overreach:

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/07/sen_inhofe_wants_to_ease_desperation_of_pilots_fac.php

Inhofe agreed to and completed a "program of remedial training" in place of legal action in December of 2010, according to an FAA report, after he landed his plane at Cameron County Airport in South Texas last October on a closed runway marked with a large X. According to the report, Inhofe saw the X but "still elected to land avoiding the men and equipment on the runway."

Audiotapes of a call from Sidney Boyd, who was supervising runway construction, to the FAA identify Inhofe, and describe how he "sky hopped" over six vehicles and construction personnel on the runway, before he landed. The landing "scared the crap out of us," Boyd said.

Inhofe said that part of the reason for his legislation was how difficult it was for him to get a hold of the audiotapes. "When I tried to get the voice recording, it took me four months, and I'm a United States senator."

He also maintains his innocence: "I did nothing wrong, but at any time I could have suffered the revocation of a license."

Word is he's done crap like this before. Anybody know?

Oddly enough, I heard about this story first, rather the update, from the demon Maddow woman:

http://newsmobius.com/2011/07/rachel-maddow-sen-james-inhofe%E2%80%99s-war-with-the-faa-is-about-his-horrible-flying/

A hole.

I think the chambers of congress are full of em like him.

I just finished watching one of the most interesting shows I have seen lately - Client 9 - The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer on bioHD tv. I recommend ya'll trying to catch it next time it is on. Well put together show.

All of em too. The earliest one caught in lying that I can remember is Nixon.

Congress is either unable, or unwilling to tackle the real problems we face. But grandstanding on baseball?--well that's free face time defending a great American institution. (wrapped in the American flag, no less)
Obviously the government MUST be involved.
Yet they can't pass a budget, agree on what really is a war, stop illegals from crossing into the country, and they have run the economy into the ditch.

“I did nothing wrong…” ??? He was joking, right?

If any of us here had done that, we probably would have received a letter in the mail about three days later from the FAA containing a copy of our license with a big red “SUSPENDED” stamped on it. That, or at least a phone call from the FSDO/IFO the same evening explaining how our “actions are currently under investigation” and how we’re “not to take command of any aircraft until further notice”. :mad:

I hate to think I’d ever be in the position to do so. But I can’t help but think that if I ever messed up like that I’d be hard pressed not to reply:
“Well, that (senator/congressman/CEO/actor/jock/….) guy got away with it, so I think I’ll just take the slap on the hand and walk away on this one too. Have a nice Mr. FAA man.”

Back in the mid/late 90's in NC we had a guy named Lauch Faircloth as a Senator. The state patrol's nickname for him was "Leadfoot Faircloth" because they were contantly pulling him over for grossly exceeding the speed limit - but as in this case, being a U.S. Senator, he just got all the tickets nullified.

This guy was also infamous for owning several large hog farms, and constantly opposing any regulations regarding the wastewater runoff from these operations.

He ended up getting booted out in the '98 midterms. And by whom may you ask? None other than John Edwards.:rolleyes:

Wonderful - just replaced one dickweed with another dickweed.

And then we ended up with Shrub's hand-picked Senator, Elizabeth Dole - ended up being as useless as tits on a boar hog - only thing I ever saw her do in Senate hearings was read off Shrub's WH press releases verbatim.

And people wonder why I see little difference between R's and D's.

Faircloth to Edwards to Dole - Boy, you guys were on a roll.

I should admit, though, that there was a time when I thought Edwards and Dole were both pretty sharp.

I do not understand why Oklahoma Politicians are allowed to land in Texas...

Perhaps because the triple-A from their constituents is too intense at any Oklahoma airport.

"I did nothing wrong" he said, while landing on a runway that was clearly marked as closed, probably also NOTAM'd as closed (based on his proposed legislation) and endangering the lives of others.

"They were in my way, and it was inconvenient. After all, I'm a frickin' Senator and the rules don't apply to me. I may sponsor a bill that exempts Senators from even having a license requirement. That'll show that overreaching FAA!"

He was landing in Texas because he owns a home in Port Isabel. This was the Port Isabel runway and it was closed for construction so it had big white 'X''s painted on the runways.

Inhofe had been notified of this, but the other airport he could have landed at was not as close to his second home, so he decided to blow off the regulations and land on the closed runway anyway.

The Tulsa World had a lot of information about this. What really steamed him up was having to take a remedial course in flying, so he has decided that the FAA is out of control and needs to be taught a big lesson in how to bow and scrape to a Senator.

He laughed off the FAA at the time, and they told him he could not use the runways to take off. So he used a taxiway.

The FAA was not amused.

IMHO, it's the same attitude that's wrong with ALL of the pols in DC -

"I'm a member of the ruling class. Your laws and regulations are only for the sheeple. How DARE you try to impose them on me, or I'll cut your funding and eliminate your job".:rolleyes:

Nothing like the Spitzer case. Sleeping with a hooker doesn't endanger anyone but yourself and your marriage. Landing on a closed runway endangers everyone working there.

Not only DC, it's local politicians as well:

Chicago, 2003. The fat, corrupt pig known as (ex-)Mayor Daley wanted Meigs Field (lakefront airport) so his developer buddies could build there. FAA didn't permit closing it. Corrupt pig had his bully boys come late at night and CUT X's in the runway with bulldozers, closing the airport. What if someone had to make an emergency landing that night? Not to mention the planes on the ground, trapped there.

FAA eventually fined the city of Chicago $33k(!) for the violation and the government forced them to repay $1 million of airport development grants. Slap on the wrist. Hope the swine strokes out on the site of Meigs Field and that there'll be no place for a medevac aircraft to land.

Guy should have personally been sent to prison for ordering this, not had his employer fined.