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.
Fast, but very squirrelly. Fiddly on the maintenance too. Easy enough for a mechanic to botch the prop installation, it's not a Cessna 152.
Never attribute things to malice when simple incompetence will explain them . . .
This will probably turn out to be a stuck tailwheel. If it doesn't swivel, things get weird fast.
I hate flying in small planes. I am glad he is OK.
I fly a -6.
Yes, that was Inhofe and he made more sense in that one program than O'Brien makes in a year.
FYI PING
must be fun! :) I fly rc airplanes. :D I have epilepsy so.. LOL
Its a tail dragger. he lowered his tail too soon
It said that it was a "tail dragger" I expected to see a picture of Clinton!bwhahahahaha...me bad!
"Coincidence means that you weren't paying attention to the other half of what was happening." -Samuel R. Delany
-PJ
Inhofe is evidentally a good flyer.
global warming envirowackos if anybody was after him
Inhofe has been making enemies recently speaking out about the global warming scam being pushed by the MSM.
in these perilous times, nothing can be ruled out. I wouldn't put it past Soros and the Rats.
Are there no pilots among us? Ground loops happen. Embarasing, but not hazardous. Strictly pilot error.
thats a guarantee! :) I can do maneuvers that would destroy a real airplane. :P
oh scoll down a little bit on that page to get to the video. :)
I flew a tail dragger once... didn't care for it. I know there are some pilots who love them, but I like being able to see the runway on takeoff.
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