The aviation community paid tribute to former Sen. James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma), who died yesterday at the age of 89. Known as a passionate pilot who spearheaded two Pilots Bill of Rights measures and maneuvered to help bring the landmark General Aviation Revitalization Act (GARA) of 1994 to the House floor, Inhofe had retired from the Senate in January 2023 after a career spanning 36 years.
“Sen. Inhofe was a master legislator and general aviation’s great champion,” said NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen. “Those two truths are reflected in every aviation bill that has passed Congress and been signed into law over the past 35 years.”
Bolen pointed to his involvement with the discharge petition—largely credited for getting GARA to the floor—as well as the Pilots Bill of Rights, BasicMed, and numerous FAA reauthorization bills as measures that have protected general aviation’s access to airspace and airports and said this is just a fraction of what he had done to promote aviation. “There is no one who has done more to help the United States have the largest, safest, most diverse, and most efficient aviation system in the world,” Bolen concluded. “We will miss him greatly.”
NATA president and CEO Curt Castagna expressed similar sentiments. “Sen. Inhofe’s legislative skill and deep understanding of the importance of general aviation left an indelible mark on our nation’s aviation infrastructure and skilled workforce. We are a stronger, more resilient industry because of the Senator’s wisdom, leadership, and dedication.”
Meanwhile, Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) president and CEO Eric Fanning called Inhofe one of the U.S. Senate’s “greatest champions of American aerospace and defense. A skilled pilot himself, Senator Inhofe leaves behind a remarkable legacy of dedication to the aviation community and steadfast support for our military.”
Inhofe was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1986 and was propelled into the forefront of the general aviation community in 1993 when he brought transparency to the discharge petition, a procedure that had been cloaked in secrecy and thus rarely used to move bills to the House floor that are stuck in committee.
With the shroud of secrecy removed, a discharge petition was filed for GARA and the bill’s 300 sponsors then had to openly declare whether to agree to bypass the committee—and face the wrath of some of their leaders—and bring the bill to the floor.
In 1994, he moved over to the Senate, continuing his support for general aviation, including fighting for airport infrastructure, against user fees and raised taxes, and for aviation workforce initiatives, among many other issues.
In 1999, his love of flying made headlines when he lost a propeller on his Grumman Tiger while en route to an event in Oklahoma City with then-President Bill Clinton. He was forced to make an emergency landing in Claremore, Oklahoma.
In a twist, after the propeller was discovered, a person brought it to the airport to find the owner. That person turned out to be an old high school buddy of Inhofe’s who hadn’t seen him in years. While staff teased Inhofe that he was just trying to get out of an event with Clinton, they didn’t realize he was flying in his single-engine Tiger. They thought he was in the twin Cessna T303 Crusader. When that was raised, Inhofe quipped that he would’ve flown on to the event if in the twin.
Inhofe again made headlines for another mishap, this time when he allegedly landed his Cessna 340 on a closed runway at Port Isabel-Cameron County Airport in Port Isabel, Texas. He ultimately agreed to remedial pilot training in lieu of an enforcement action, but the chain of events surrounding the landing—he claimed there was no notam and it took him four months to get the voice recording—led Inhofe to fight for pilot rights.
Working with his pal—the Senate majority leader at the time, Harry Reid (D-Nevada)—he was able to get the first pilot’s bill of rights through the Senate as a rare stand-alone measure.
However, a third more tragic accident in 2013 involved his son, Perry Inhofe, who died after his Mitsubishi MU-2B crashed near Owasso, Oklahoma.
Nationally, Inhofe had gained a reputation for his stance against climate change measures while he chaired the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee. He also was known for his defense support as a ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.