Eight of the nine women interviewed acknowledge having been cited for operational errors or deviations from procedures. Most controllers' mistakes are usually not dire cases in which two aircraft are in danger of colliding, but are still considered serious enough by the FAA that they can require retraining. They stay on a controller's record for 30 months, then disappear. Ariz. Owens, on leave without pay, denies a near mid-air collision occurred. Owens and the other women say they are often singled out for errors that are overlooked when they happen to men.
Every woman is considered an aviation hazard.
All of the women say they have had to take medical leave recently, some related to their complaints and others apparently due to the pressures of the job. Most have worked at several FAA facilities during their careers and say that not every FAA tower is a hostile environment for women. The difference, they say, usually involves the degree to which supervisors allow problems to fester. She says a supervisor was sitting beside the men as they engaged in their horseplay, yet didn't step in. The internal FAA complaint in which she is a plaintiff was sent to the San Francisco office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, then transferred to the Phoenix office, for assignment to an administrative judge.