Political Quotes

“Madam President, I too object, along with Senator Rockefeller. I have been on the National Transportation Safety Board, and I know well the kinds of cases that are pilots' license revocations and the NTSB process for appeals of those. I understand Senator Inhofe's explanation for what happened with him and that he is in somewhat of a disagreement with some of the reporting of that incident. I also understand the Senator from Oklahoma's long-time record of being a pilot, and I respect that very much, but I am afraid that what he is not taking into consideration is most certainly a safety issue. We have tasked the FAA with air safety, and we have given them the responsibility for revoking pilots' licenses when there is a need to do that in their opinion, whether it be for a violation of landing on a runway that has an X, which pilots know means that runway cannot be used at that time. As happened with Senator Inhofe's case, he is saying that he had a clearance, but the X was there and the FAA cited him for that. They did not revoke his pilot's license at all, yet he is coming forward with a bill that not only addresses some of his legitimate concerns, which I agree with. The FAA's expertise and its mission, which is given to it by Congress, is to provide for safety and to revoke a private pilot's license or commercial pilot's license or aviation mechanic's license.…”