Inhofe's "Sky Hop" Landing: FAA Report Details Politician's Dangerous Landing

The FAA's official report on Sen. Jim Inhofe's dangerous landing on a closed runway in south Texas last year hit the Internet this week. The facts aren't pretty. 

Here are more exciting details of Sen. Inhofe's landing from the official report:

AT ABOUT 1315 [1:15 p.m.] LOCAL TIME, MR. BOYD CALLED…IDENTIFYING HIMSELF AS THE PERSON IN CHARGE OF A RUNWAY CONSTRUCTION PROJECT AT CAMERON COUNTY AIRPORT. HE SAID THE [aircraft] LANDED ON RUNWAY 13, WHICH WAS NOTAMED AND MARKED AS CLOSED. HE SAID THE AIRCRAFT TOUCHED DOWN ON THE RUNWAY, "SKY HOPPED" OVER SIX VEHICLES AND PERSONNEL WORKING THE RUNWAY, AND THEN LANDED. 

Then there's this tidbit:

HE SAID THAT THE PILOT WAS JAMES INHOFE AND THAT THIS WAS NOT THE FIRST TIME THIS KIND OF THING HAD HAPPENED. 

Interesting. Very Interesting. 

Sen. Inhofe says it's old news, but it's also worth noting that, as the report states, "this was not the first time this kind of thing had happened."

The report also notes that the airport manager, Marshall Reece, "confirmed the basic facts." The report adds:

FROM THE CONVERSATION, IT SEEMED CLEAR BOTH BOYD AND REECE WERE FAMILIAR WITH THE AIRCRAFT.

Sen. Inhofe is a long-time pilot and, it seems, and a rather skillful one—he successfully avoided injuring himself or others on this misadventure. But endangering others by landing on a closed runway is no laughing matter.