Aviation Week & Space Technology is an important trade magazine for the aviation industry. I have subscribed for a couple years and it is an excellent source for information. It has been virtually silent on Y2K matters. The current issue (March 22) has an interesting story on the FAA/ATC problems. It quotes Willemssen in front of the Congressional subcommittee and is generally straightforward. The article reveals that the FAA is going to use the Denver ATC and Terminal Approach Radar for an "end to end" test on April 10 if the lab tests at the end of March go okay. They intend to use the backup systems at Denver while the main systems handle normal traffic. They intend to "shadow" normal traffic being handled by the main systems. (This has a certain element of risk. If the main systems go down for some extraneous reason and the backups, loaded with Y2K altered software, takeover, things could get interesting.) They are also going to fly an aircraft into the Denver system loaded with post-2000 dates in the onboard systems. I don't know if the Denver system is 3083 based. (It probably is.) That suggests that they are NOT advancing the date by using the system clock. Makes me wonder how they are fudging the code to simulate the post-2000 date (hardcode?). Anyway, a couple other interesting factoids from the article:

• Twelve of twenty ATCs interface with foreign countries.
• Cuba handles flights from southern US to Latin America.
• 21 of 65 (32%) ATC software systems fixed. The remaining 44 are the mostcomplex.
• Fixing the 65 ATC systems requires installation procedures at 3,000 field sites (remote radars, ILS, etc)
• In house FAA systems as of 2/28/99 fixed 41/151 (27%).

Personally, I would not fly into Denver the second 2 weeks of April. It can be tricky to install/uninstall code on these systems.

-- RD. ->H (drherr@erols.com), March 30, 1999

Answers

If these figures are correct and only 21 of the 65 ATC systems have been fixed and more importantly, if the remaining 44 are the most complex, then it's hard to see how the FAA will be compliant by next January. I have felt for well over a year that the FAA y2k situation will be a disaster, regardless of how the rest of the gov't does. And if the FAA is not compliant, there will be no air travel other than military traffic, for a long time.

-- cody varian (cody@y2ksurvive.com), March 30, 1999.

We are in deep shit. If Aviation Week & Space Technology says it, you can take it to the bank. (if you think that's a good idea)

The FAA controllers and technicians and others "in the trenches" are the most dedicated, conscientious and trustworthy civil servants that I have ever encountered, but they can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. . .

-- Hardliner (searcher@internet.com), March 30, 1999.

Simple Cody, FAA will make it because, to them, this is a countDOWN. Remember? Last September they were at 99%, October they were at 98%, sounds like they are ahead of schedule to be 0% by next year! (OK everyone - bookmark this one and compare it to the K-Man's April report.)

-- Brooks (brooksbie@hotmail.com), March 30, 1999.

No problem. According to Norm "China air traffic controls to be Y2K free by June." Don't you feel so much better knowing this? <:)=

Yea, I linked this.

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), March 30, 1999.