U.S. Senator Landed On A Closed Runway, Departed From A Taxiway

The FAA says it will "look into" an incident involving U.S. Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) in which he landed his Cessna 340 on a closed runway at Port Isabel-Cameron County airport last week.

The Oklahoman reports that at least one eyewitness said Inhofe's actions endangered the workers performing runway maintenance. FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford said "we are aware of the incident, and we are looking into it to determine if any further action is warrented."

The 75-year-old Senator has been flying for about 50 of those years. Beyond saying he was not aware of the NOTAM indicating that the runway was closed, and that he took care to land away from the area where work was being performed, Inhofe had no further comment, according to the Tulsa World. Inhofe said he noticed that the runway was marked as closed about 20 seconds before touchdown.

Witnesses interviewed included the supervisor of the maintenance work, who said the workers could feel the propwash from the landing plane, and that one worker was hit by debris from the landing.

FMI: www.faa.gov