Chapter 1

“Wow. I don’t know where to begin?” the FAA special agent said to his partner as he sat at the end of the table with his arms framing the seven-page statement I had just been sworn in to sign. 

To gain clarification, I asked, “What do you mean?” 

The FAA special agent said, “I don’t know where to begin my investigation: the EEO system that completely failed you, the union in bed with management, or the misuse of authority by management itself?”

Three days after speaking with the FAA special agents, my Washington-assigned liaison called me on his way to a meeting in Washington, DC, about one of the many things I had brought to light. He said, “Samantha, I am so sorry. We are finding out that you are not alone. We are finding out that what happened to you is rampant at all the facilities nationwide. There are things I can tell you and things I can’t, but I can tell you there are major changes in procedures coming because of what happened to you.”

I thanked him, and big, hot tears began to roll down my face as I hung up the phone.

An article published by abcnews.go.com called “Pushing Boundaries While ‘Pushing Tin’” by Jake Tapper and Avery Miller on February 16, 2006,[1] highlights alleged rampant sexual harassment in the high-pressure, high-stress, and very male environment. A female controller recalled that walking through her facility was like walking a gauntlet of looks and comments, creating an intimidating environment. 

During an interview on “20/20” in 1994, another female controller said, “So I’m sitting there, working very heavy traffic, and suddenly, I feel a hand—not on my thigh, right in my crotch.” Around February 10, 2006, at an airport, a female controller—fed up with a general culture of hostility and supervisors she deemed emotionally abusive—quit her job.

It used to make me laugh every time I saw an FAA spokesperson on the TV saying, “Safety was never compromised.” 

In 2002, three women at an air traffic control center filed complaints. All three women alleged the harassment got worse after they complained. According to an internal survey of women in the FAA in 2003, that number was 14 percent. The FAA stopped asking female employees if they had been sexually harassed in its 2005 survey.