Blackrock; You forgot the "landing without clearance" one. ( Don't ask why I thought of that.)

I can see landing on a closed X marked runway at an abandoned field or " unused runway" which woud be safe but still "illegal". but landing on one with construction equipment on it totally floors me.

Of course, to be fair, we're not necesarily getting the whole story here. Maybe he landed on the first 3000' of a 10000' runway, and all the construction was on the last 1000'. That scenario doesn't sound near as bad, now does it? Some things look or sound real dangerous at first blush, then after some thought it turns out that maybe they're not so bad after all.

hotrod150 wrote:Of course, to be fair, we're not necesarily getting the whole story here. Maybe he landed on the first 3000' of a 10000' runway, and all the construction was on the last 1000'. That scenario doesn't sound near as bad, now does it? Some things look or sound real dangerous at first blush, then after some thought it turns out that maybe they're not so bad after all.

Oh come on....... the media is always right , right???

mtv wrote:You get a list of NOTAMs every time you get a standard briefing from FSS or on DUATS. That does NOT take that long, nor is it a huge inconvenience.

Shame on Mr. Inhofe for shining yet another negative light on general aviation.

MTV

Not jumping to conclusions might also be prudent. Here's more info:


It is factual there was no prior Notams informing the runway 13/31 to be
closed.

The Senator was VFR but was communicating with local approach who then
handed him off to contact KPIL.

He called the airport advisory 4 times with no reply.
The local airport office has loud speakers broadcasting the local radio
frequency.

Upon very short final in full flap configuration, he saw the workers had
placed a faded X on the runway but he felt it was safe to land in the
remaining part of the 8000 foot runway.

A check on AirNav shows the other runways at Port Isabel to be in "poor"
condition.

The Senator has landed at this airport over 200 times.
In the past, on one occasion, he took off on one of these "poor" runways
and his plane suffered landing gear damage. His landing in Oklahoma did not
cause incident but the plane did need repair.

Supposedly, the airport manager and Inhofe are not 'friends" and perhaps
the manager took this opportunity to make a number of phone calls.

The FAA did investigate at Port Isabel and has asked the Senator for some
information about his aircraft.

I freely admit I only know what I read here.

I am not saying the Sen is not a fine person and a good friend to aviation.
If he had said whoops, or I screwed up, or the plane was acting funny, or even I had to pee real bad, and I'll go through the process like any other pilot, that would be one thing. If he had said as a PIC, after careful observation I considered it possible to land without endangering anyone as I was unable to establish radio contact, I would even find that defensible.

I'd be cool with it all, and hope for leniency for him the same as I would any other pilot, seeing as no one was hurt.

However, if he is quoted correctly he is essentially saying 'I am a Senator, a powerful man, screw everybody and I'll do it again if I want to. Cross me at your peril.'

This is not an attitude I particularly like in any of my elected officials, or any human being for that matter.

And it surely doesn't do much for GA's image either.

What the heck, even if he hates doing the actual work of getting a brief, he has a large and talented staff. Surely one of these folks could put it all on a 3x5 card for him.

nealkas


SPOT ON

Being a US Senator and all, I am surprised they didn't throw up a TFR clear the runway and have a limo waiting. I guess the bad economy is affecting everybody.

James Mountain "Jim" Inhofe (pronounced /ˈɪnhɒf/; born November 17, 1934) is an American politician from Oklahoma. He is a member of the Republican Party and currently serves as the senior Senator from Oklahoma. A former the State Representative and Senator, Inhofe served eight years in the United States Congress before election to the Senate in 1994.

Inhofe is among the most vocal global warming skeptics in the US Congress. He supports a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage and has proposed the Inhofe Amendment to make English the national language of the United States.

Now I like this guy. Why are they persecuting him??

RobBurson wrote:Being a US Senator and all, I am surprised they didn't throw up a TFR clear the runway and have a limo waiting. I guess the bad economy is affecting everybody.

From my regular observation, not that kind of a guy. When he departs DC he returns to normality pretty quick and hangs around the airport (he hangers just around the corner from me) and the locol cafe without fanfare or marching bands.

nealkas wrote:I freely admit I only know what I read here.

However, if he is quoted correctly he is essentially saying 'I am a Senator, a powerful man, screw everybody and I'll do it again if I want to. Cross me at your peril.'

Never seen that attitude, KRVS where he bases is often quite busy due to several big flight schools on the field (650-700 cycles per day, Class D with radar and parallell runways often with split frequencies) and he waits his turn just like the rest of us on the run up pad.

I heard a story of a Lear life guard flight. The pilot was going 20 or 30 miles to a small field to pick up an organ. Nice day, short flight, flown it a kabillion times so he jumped in and left VFR.

That cost him his ticket for 90 days as this particular day was September 11th, 2001. The towers had fallen, the airspace closed, NOTAMs issued and he didn't know about any of it yet.

I always use fltplan.com for every single flight. IFR or VFR. PA-28 or P-180. EVERY flight. Tells me how much gas and time I need, weather and yes..NOTAMS and TFRs. And it take 3 minutes of my life and 3 sheets of paper. Very small price to pay...

Fly Safe,

GP

We all make mistakes, nobody's immune, even (especially!) politicians. So there's no good reason to be so defensive as he sounds.

What seems a little troubling, judging only by the media reports (they must be telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but ... right?), is that the Senator doesn't seem to be willing to admit that he made a mistake, and instead he is trying to transfer the blame for his mistake to others (somebody hates me).

If it were up to me to judge this, I'd feel better going light on the guy if he just admitted that he effed up. Then at least you can have a little better confidence that he won't make the same or a similar mistake again.

Inhofe takes training program in agreement with FAA

By JIM MYERS World Washington Bureau
Published: 2/2/2011 2:21 AM
Last Modified: 2/2/2011 4:04 AM

The Federal Aviation Administration agreed not to pursue legal action against U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe for landing on a closed runway and instead to allow the Oklahoma Republican to take a remedial training program. Several weeks ago, the FAA issued a letter to Inhofe describing that agreement and the remedial training he completed. Aviation safety inspector Robert O'Keefe wrote that the Jan. 4 letter will be a matter of record for two years and then be expunged. O'Keefe's letter states that the senator was "involved in an incident during a landing on a closed runway at Port Isabel, Texas, and you were advised that such an operation is contrary to ... the Code of Federal Regulations.''

In an interview during which he shared the letter's contents, Inhofe, who remains convinced he did nothing wrong, said he considers the matter closed. He also revealed plans to speak about the incident on the Senate floor Tuesday and introduce legislation later this year to ensure general aviation pilots who are accused of wrongdoing in the future can receive certain information. That includes documentation of any so-called NOTAM (Notice to Airman) on such matters as closed runways and the recordings between pilots and control towers.

"I was treated very courteously,'' Inhofe said of the FAA's review of the Oct. 21 incident. "I often wonder, though, if I had not been a United States senator ... somebody who is just a pilot would have gone through this and if they were not able to get the two documents that I want, they could have ended up losing their license.'' FAA spokeswoman Sasha Johnson said the agency "treated Sen. Inhofe the same way we would treat any other pilot in this situation.''

Inhofe said he was given a choice: either face possible legal action or complete the remedial training program. "I elected the remedial training program because that is something that is very easy to do,'' he said, explaining he took the training in Tulsa from a young man he had trained to fly. A veteran pilot with a commercial rating and more than 50 years of flying experience, Inhofe again spoke of his actions prior to his landing, which included conversations he had with air traffic controllers. "Then, approximately three miles on final approach to Cameron County, they said you are cleared for, that's the words I want to get exact, cleared to approach at Cameron County,'' he said. Inhofe said he did not realize there was work being done on the runway until after he had lowered his gear and flaps on his plane. "There is a point of no return,'' he said, explaining how he ended up landing on the second half of that runway. One eye witness, a job superintendent on the runway project, earlier had described the incident as scary and one that endangered both the workers and passengers on Inhofe's plane

If the Sen did not write that explanation, whoever did should be fired.