Posted on 10/06/2006 1:25:44 PM PDT by PDR
U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe and an aide escaped injury Thursday when the small plane the Oklahoma Republican was flying spun out of control after landing at Tulsa's Jones Riverside Airport.
"No scrapes or bruises. No nicks or cuts. No injuries at all," said Danny Finnerty, Inhofe's long-time aide, who was sitting behind the senator in the two-seat aircraft.
"We walked away from the plane."
Finnerty, reached by telephone, said they landed about 8 p.m. and that the plane had slowed down to about taxi speed.
"Everything was fine until the tail wheel hit the runway," he said.
"Jim felt like his rudder control was not what it should have been, so it was mechanical, certainly. As soon as we hit, we fish-tailed and spun around a couple of times. "
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the RV-8 single-engine aircraft "ground-looped," or went out of control, upon landing.
Finnerty said the plane, which he described as an experimental model rated for aerobatics, suffered significant damage.
"The plane looks a lot worse than it was," he said.
Finnerty said the plane, which he described as a "tail dragger," was built for the senator by a
professional a few years ago.
The RV-8 aircraft is known as a "kit-plane." Such planes' manufacturers provide a kit from which to build the aircraft from the ground up, according to the manufacturer, Van's Aircraft.
Inhofe, 71, is a veteran pilot who owns several planes.
Finnerty said the senator was returning from Duncan after a day of campaigning for candidates running for state legislative seats. Earlier in the day, he said, Inhofe had flown to Guthrie and then made several stops by car before flying on to Duncan.
Finnerty said no problems appeared during the flight.
"It was an absolutely perfect flight from Duncan," he said. "The landing was perfectly normal, and then that happened."
Finnerty was unsure whether the National Transportation Safety Board would have to investigate.
"I am certain the FAA will come out and take a look at the plane," he said, adding that the plane was left on the runway until permission was given to move it.
Inhofe did not comment on the incident.
The senator was forced to make an emergency landing in 1999 at the Claremore Municipal Airport after the propeller fell off the Grumman American AA-5B he was flying.
The NTSB investigated that incident, and its report blamed an error on the prop installation.
Inhofe, who was flying alone that day, also escaped that incident without injury.
His plane was cruising at 2,500 feet when it lost the entire propeller assembly.
After the plane began to porpoise, Inhofe made a forced landing on a grassy section between a runway and a taxiway.
if I was him, I'd never set foot (or any other part) into a plane as long as I lived.
Thank goodness. Inhofe must be one heck of a pilot, but maybe he had better stay on the ground for a while.
Of course - payback for Wellstone!
Bah. These things happen, especially to private pilots.
I took a Cessna up last year and blew a tire on the landing.
Hey, man, it worked for Wellstone... (that would be a Arkanacide quote)
No, I am not a conspiracy theorist.
Paging Hillary Clinton...Paging Hillary Clinton!!!
What the hell did Inhofe ever do to Bill Clinton?
John Denver could have used some lessons from this guy.
My first impression was..."Quick someone check Clinton's kill list."
I'm serial!
He has got to be HIGH on the radical left's hitlist because he is the TOP Conservative in the Senate.
-PJ
Hitlery was seen to throw a lamp and scream "Damn!".
This is not the first time. Back in the Xlintoon years, someone messed with the propeller on his plane, but he caught it during his walk around.
Good thing he survived, because Oklahoma's Dem. governor would have appointed a Dem to replace Inhofe.
Obviously the cause of the mishap was global warming. THIS will teach Inhofe to question liberal dogma.
/sarcasm
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