[jaybird]

Where we part ways is over how, or more importantly why, you presume he would regain a status of being inbounds,...

I don't recall anyone saying that. What has been said and written in the rule book, is if a player is airborne he is no longer considered out of bounds by definition. By rule, to be out of bounds, a player must be touching something OOB, but since he is not touching, he is not OOB.

Simple, basic, easy to read English. Accept it and quit trying to insist on it conforming to your "logic".