Senator James Inhofe (R, Ok.) has remained the world’s most staunch critic of global warming — refusing even minor concessions on curbing pollution to reduce the danger. He appears to follow the same blind approach to flying. New released documents from the Federal Aviation Administration revealed that Inhofe intentionally landed landed his Cessna on a closed runway at a south Texas airport. The move reportedly endangered construction workers who had to scatter from his path as he “hopped” over them and at least six vehicles.

None of this was made public and no criminal charges were brought. That seems highly irregular since the FAA concluded that Inhofe, 76, did it intentionally and saw the giant X painted on the runway.

Inhofe was allowed to “complete a program of remedial training.” Lesson One, do not try to land aircraft on construction sites by hopping over workers and vehicles.

The supervisor at the scene, Sidney Boyd, is recorded as saying the pilot “scared the crap out of” workers and “damn near hit” a red truck. He added, “I think [the truck driver] actually wet his britches, he was scared to death. I mean, hell, he started trying to head for the side of the runway. The pilot could see him, or he should have been able to, he was right on him.” What is also most striking is that Boyd describes Inhofe as showing no sense of guilt. Instead, he seemed angry that his path was not cleared: “He come over here and started being like, ‘What the hell is this? I was supposed to have unlimited airspace.’” In a second call, he added “He was determined to land on that runway come hell or high water evidently.” He added, “I’m still shaking…I was in the middle of the runway, I headed for high country.”

A later report from an air traffic controller put it succinctly: “N115 Echo Alpha landed right in the middle of them doing their work on runway 1331 and damn near killed somebody out there.”

Inhofe is quoted as dismissing the matter as “an old story.”

You can listen to the taped recordings on The Smoking Gun.

There was no public apology. No charge. He did not even get a nickname like “Get Off” Inhofe to warn future workers of his tendency have workers flee from his path.

For environmentalists, the temptation is a bit too great to argue that Inhofe flys the way he legislates: expecting God to make the controls. After calling global warming the “greatest hoax” in history, Inhofe added:

INHOFE: I think I was right on that, and I do believe — first off, let’s keep in mind, though, what the issue is. It’s not whether or not we’re going into a global warming period. We were. We’re not now. . . . You know, God’s still up there. We’re now going through a cooling spell. And the whole issue there was is it man-made gases, anthropogenic gases, CO2, methane. I don’t think so.

It appears you can also close your eyes as a pilot and just hop around obstacles.

Source: Smoking Gun as first seen on Reddit