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More Step Up To Complain About FAA
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In March 2003, an AirTran 717 made an emergency landing at La Guardia Airport in New York. A flight attendant became confused during the evacuation and could not tell whether the emergency slide in the plane's tail had deployed, according to reports by the NTSB. She had to guide passengers to other exits, and one passenger broke an ankle during the evacuation.
"I have come to realize with this experience that the mock-up we use in training cannot fully equip a flight attendant to the realities of a real-life evacuation," the attendant told investigators, according to an NTSB report.
Farrington told NTSB investigators that she had raised concerns about the training and mock-up with her supervisors over the years, she said in an interview.
After an NTSB investigator interviewed her, Farrington said, she soon found herself in trouble with her bosses. She got extra supervision and her bosses began to nitpick her work, she said. The stress became so great that she went on medical leave and then was released from employment because her bosses said she not available to work, she said.
"By disclosing that information, I had no idea I was digging a deeper and deeper hole for myself," she said
Under pressure from the NTSB, AirTran revised its training and bought a mock-up of a 717, records show.
One FAA supervisor told NTSB investigators that Farrington never raised issues about the mock-up problems with him but did mention other concerns about lesson plans and instruction, according to a transcript of the interview.
AirTran officials say Farrington never told them the mock-ups could cause confusion or about other training problems.
Steve Kolski, the carrier's executive vice president for operations, in an interview read excerpts from a scathing letter that he wrote to FAA officials seeking Farrington's removal from her oversight job. He did not reveal the date of the letter, but an AirTran spokeswoman said it was written after the La Guardia incident. Kolski said Farrington should not be considered a whistle-blower.
"She watched our training for over three years and never said anything until [the NTSB] pointed the finger at her," he said in an interview. "It's revisionist history."
