Excellent question - people are talking about it. I wrote a letter to EAA asking them why they chose to reward him with a speaking spot at AirVenture to promote his Pilot's Bill of Rights when he's been largely unapologetic about his egregious and unsafe flying acts.

I did receive a very nice, prompt response that evening from EAA's VP of Government Relations. Boiling down his comments in short, he essentially said: we need to focus on the positive aspects of the bill, and not necessarily on who is pushing it. Many of these reforms are things EAA, AOPA, and other groups have been fighting for for years so we have to jump at the chance even if we disapprove of the Senator's conduct. Sometimes in Washington we don't have the liberty of picking our allies.

I appreciate EAA's candor on this issue, but I still think Senator Inhofe deserves to be held more accountable for his arrogant attitude and unsafe flying practices. I also think it's more than a little hypocritical for Senator Inhofe to be fighting for fair treatment of pilots in enforcement proceedings, when it's clear to any unbiased observer that the "remedial training" was a slap on the wrist for such a hazardous and unapologetic violation of the FAR's.