Sen. Inhofe shows true colors - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

cmac2012 · #1 07-07-2011, 05:01 AM

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/

t walgamuth · #2 07-07-2011, 05:33 AM

A hole.

engatwork · #3 07-07-2011, 07:38 AM

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.

lutzTD · #4 07-07-2011, 07:52 AM

they are currently set to prosecute Roger Clemens for lying to congress, if that isn’t the epitome of hypocrisy I don’t know what would take that title. I guess telling us something they know is not true but makes us stop asking them to do something is not really lying.

engatwork · #5 07-07-2011, 07:56 AM

Quote:

if that isn’t the epitome of hypocrisy I don’t know what would take that title.

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

MS Fowler · #6 07-07-2011, 09:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lutzTD

they are currently set to prosecute Roger Clemens for lying to congress, if that isn’t the epitome of hypocrisy I don’t know what would take that title. I guess telling us something they know is not true but makes us stop asking them to do something is not really lying.

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.

WVOtoGO · #7 07-07-2011, 10:12 AM

“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”.

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.”

spdrun · #8 07-08-2011, 12:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by engatwork

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.

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.

Quote:

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

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.

Pooka · #9 07-08-2011, 01:58 PM

I don't think this falls into the Spitzer class of goof up. When Inhofe hopped his aircraft two of the construction workers were injured by rocks thrown up by the prop wash.

But, as Inhofe was quick to point out, there were ditches for the workers to jump into so if they got injured it was their fault for not getting out of the way.

engatwork · #10 07-08-2011, 04:01 PM

Quote:

Nothing like the Spitzer case.

I did not say it was, I was just sharing info about the show while it was fresh on my mind.

cmac2012 · #11 07-09-2011, 01:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spdrun

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.

x 2

Wow. That's quite a story. Never heard that one. And I just now see this was Mayor Daley 2.0.

I did hear Steve Goodman's song "Daley's Gone," about the pa-pa.

'Richard J. Daley, was the mayor of this town, until that cold day in december, when they laid him in the ground. Daley's gone, one more round, Daley's gone.'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp9wc4zuaCM

leathermang · #12 07-07-2011, 12:10 PM

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

retmil46 · #13 07-07-2011, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leathermang

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.

Yak · #14 07-07-2011, 08:34 PM

"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!"

Pooka · #15 07-07-2011, 10:12 PM

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.