This article: http://www.nationalpost.com/home.asp?f=990113/2178291

says : "Jan. 1, 2000, has already come and gone at one of Canada's largest airports,..."

Man! They should tell others how they did that. I am sure that the U.S. could benefit from this knowledge.

Does anyone know how this is done at an airport?

-- Reporter (foo@foo.bar), January 13, 1999

Answers

Nav Can has been working on the Y2K problem since late 1996. It has spent more than $5-million so far and plans to spend another $5- million. More than three dozen programers devoted months to pouring over 1.5 million lines of code in the company's software. They found 400 potential problems, all of them minor. ...

The glitches are hard to find, but easy to fix, he added.

Thats good to hear! And that theyve been working since 1996 on the problem. Looks like it DOES take a while to clean up the Y2K mess. Whos just starting now?

Mr. Thompson said the real danger for airports, navigation systems, and airlines is with things like reservation systems, or in obtaining supplies from outside contractors.

Got fuel? Gonna be able to GET fuel? Or just rationed fuel.

Good news IS good. Unfortunately, the total global picture does not look as "good."

Diane *Sigh*

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), January 13, 1999.

Here's a link and then a quote on airport services from MSNBC:

http://www.msnbc.com/news/231125.asp#BODY

"The Dallas/Fort Worth airport so far has upgraded the software controlling 20,000 airfield lights and replaced its seven runways' thermal sensors, which detect ice."

-- Kevin (mixesmusic@worldnet.att.net), January 13, 1999.

"Nav Canada, the private company that manages the country's air traffic control system, set its computers and radar at Mirabel Airport north of Montreal to the year 2000 on Dec. 17, held its breath and waited."

How do you set the EMBEDDED CHIPS ahead to 2000??? Since I don't think this can be done, isn't it a bit premature to say everything is OK??

I didn't see any discussion of the embedded chip problem in this news article.

Sheila

-- Sheila (sross@bconnex.net), January 13, 1999.

But how will airports divide scarce resources between bug busters and rat catchers? `:=)

Government To Re-Hire Rat Catchers For Airport

1/13/99 -- 1:02 PM
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Rat catchers will be rehired immediately at Kuala Lumpur's international airport, a top official said Wednesday after a Malaysian Airlines flight to Australia was forced to return when a rat was spotted on board.

Rats are dangerous because, along with posing health risks, they like to nibble on electrical wiring.

Friday's incident in the first class cabin of a flight to Perth demonstrated how rats can disrupt airline operations, Transport Minister Ling Liong Sik was quoted as saying by the national news agency, Bernama.

When work on the Kuala Lumpur International Airport started, local experts were hired to exterminate rats in the area, which was previously an oil palm plantation, Ling said.

``I must check whether the experts have been dismissed or not. We need those experts to get rid of the rats from the airport,'' he said. About 700 to 800 rats were believed to be in the vicinity, he added.
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-- Leska (allaha@earthlink.net), January 13, 1999.

Rats (and bats) in the belfry aside, remember guys it is possible to fix this problem - start early, fund enough people to get enough work done to find as many instances as possible. Then test, check the results, and retest.

That's what they did - and it works.

Now, on to the other 5 million systems everywhere else that need to work equally well for life to be as normal as Time Magazine dreams it will be.........

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), January 13, 1999.