More Step up to Complain About FAA

Kim Farrington says she was only doing her job as a Federal Aviation Administration inspector when she raised concerns about problems involving an airline's training program. But her bosses, who she thought were too cozy with the carrier, punished her for her warnings, she said. Her workplace became unbearable, and Farrington said she was essentially fired in 2004. Last month, Farrington came forward as a whistle-blower, filing a complaint about her treatment with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel after she read news reports about how FAA inspectors blew the whistle last year on lax oversight of Southwest Airlines. She was not alone. Like Farrington, other former and current FAA employees have filed complaints about how the agency treated them and responded to their safety concerns. The special counsel has received complaints from at least six other FAA whistle-blowers in the weeks since Congress held hearings into the Southwest debacle, according to some of the whistle-blowers and sources familiar with the investigations.
More