Posted at 3:39 p.m. PDT Tuesday, June 1, 1999

FAA: Air system nearly ready for 2000

BY COX NEWS SERVICE

ATLANTA -- The millennium bug hasn't shut down a single computer at the Federal Aviation Administration, but it has still given the agency that regulates the country's air space a pretty rough ride in the past several months.

For starters, Congress gave the FAA a failing grade for its efforts to prepare its vast network of computer systems for the Y2K bug. And that report generated lots of negative publicity for the agency.

But the FAA and the airlines say the brickbats from Congress and the media are undeserved. Industry and agency officials say the nation's air traffic control systems will be Y2K-compliant by the end of June.

Right now, 92 percent of the air traffic control network is Y2K-compliant. The remaining 8 percent is being fixed now.

In Atlanta, for example, the work at Hartsfield International Airport is 98 percent complete. Only two minor subsystems remain to be fixed, say FAA officials.

``We'll be Y2K-compliant six months ahead of schedule,'' says Dennis Koehler, division manager for air traffic services in the FAA's Southern region, which includes Atlanta.

To demonstrate how safe the air traffic system is, the head of the FAA plans to fly all day long across the country on Jan. 1.

To date, the FAA has spent $340 million on its Y2K project.

If the FAA has done such a good job, why then has it received so much bad press about its Y2K efforts? Koehler attributes it to a difference in perception.

The agency got its failing grade from Congress because it missed a May 1 deadline set by congressmen for federal agencies to be Y2K-compliant.

But the FAA says it missed the deadline on purpose, having decided to take more time in ensuring its 636 computer systems would recognize the year 2000, says Koehler.

On April 10-11, the agency did a test run of Y2K-complaint systems at the Denver airport. The test was completed without a hitch.

But the FAA says it wasn't satisfied. It wanted another month to analyze the data from the test, comparing the findings to current operations at airports nationwide. The agency also hired an independent consultant to verify its Y2K fixes and tests.

Koehler says that analysis is complete and passed the test. Now the FAA is in the final phase of implementing its Y2K fixes across the country.

-- Norm (nwo@hotmail.com), June 02, 1999

Answers

Miracles DO occur, it seems...

NOT!!!

-- Pollyslayer (pollys@FAA.govt), June 02, 1999.

They "missed the deadline on purpose".

Now I've heard everything.

R.

-- Roland (nottelling@nowhere.com), June 02, 1999.

Isn't EVERYONE "nearly" ready. I know I am.

-- br14 (br14@crash.site), June 02, 1999.

Why don't we send a crew of astronauts to the moon to land on 1-1-2000, just to show the world we're ready?

-- Bill Byars (billbyars@softwaresmith.com), June 02, 1999.

Missed the deadline on purpose... Bullcrap

Six months ahead of schedule...? What schedule..? Who's Schedule..? Six months from now is December 99 which was their original deadline...

And didn't they say before that they were 98% complete...? What's happening that they can't seem to go forward...??

This poor fella here things Norm is really STREEEEEEEEETCHING things now... Nice try though...

Even though it won't fly.... no pun intended...

-- STFrancis (STFrancis@heaven.com), June 02, 1999.

Norm, just curious... is this the same FAA that's been delayiong flights around the country because of implementation problems with their new, "Y2K-compliant" navigation system? Just curious...

-s-

-- Scott Johnson (scojo@yahoo.com), June 02, 1999.

Just how many times has the FAA been READY Norm???????

-- FLAME AWAY (BLehman202@aol.com), June 02, 1999.

But the FAA says it missed the deadline on purpose...

Somebody call NBC -- I think the FAA may be a Seinfield replacement!

-- a (a@a.a), June 02, 1999.

Norm,

I just LOVE your posts! Kind of like a Blues Brothers routine. But hey, no need to get too involved with this FAA business. They've been 100% ready since last October. I heard Jane Garvey say it herself. The rest of these reports that now show slipping schedules are surely just attempts to discredit the FAA. Norm, unless you hear Jane Garvey say that they are having problems, don't you believe it! End of story. Now, what else have you got in that Happy Cases Facts Account of yours? Whoops, that would be HCFA and I don't think they are too happy right now. Never mind, just pick out something meaty with relevance please. Just can't wait. Hurry, hurry.

-- Gordon (gpconnolly@aol.com), June 02, 1999.

Norm is Cory in a Polly suit!! Radical reverse psych....

-- RD. ->H (drherr@erols.com), June 02, 1999.

Yea, the miracle workers must have been awful busy the last 10 weeks or so. Not much in the news lately, but here's a few snips from the March 15 Statement by KENNETH M. MEAD, INSPECTOR GENERAL, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION before the U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: <:)=

"Interfaces with foreign air traffic control organizations are not part of these end-to-end tests. FAA knows 12 of its 20 En-route centers interface with foreign countries to handle international flights. FAA plans to test interfaces with seven international countries--Canada, Mexico, Japan, Bahamas, United Kingdom, Dominican Republic, and Cuba--which account for 60 percent of international flights. These plans are not yet finalized.

With less than 300 days to the Year 2000, DOT still has significant challenges ahead. FAA is facing a unique implementation challenge. The ATC system fixes, after being operated in test-center environments, have to be installed at multiple sites throughout the system... Implementing repairs into the real operational environment has risk due to potential complications resulting from local adaptations to ATC systems (changes made by local technicians). In the past, FAA has encountered problems installing test-center solutions at locations throughout the ATC system due to local changes.

FAA has 21 of the 65 ATC systems that have been fixed, tested, and installed at field sites. The remaining 44 systems are the most complex, and have to be installed at about 3,000 field sites"

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), June 02, 1999.

Why is it that I am bothered by this press release masquarading as a new article?

(1) Wasn't the original deadline (March 31) set by the administration, not congress?

(2) Have any of you seen systems that had not been debugged be installed in order to meet deadlines? 'Tis not a pretty sight...but meets the contractual (or mandated) deadline! Install and then fix the bugs as you find them (in production, not a test environment).

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), June 02, 1999.

Mad Monk,

I have a sneaky feeling that is *exactly* what the FAA is doing right now. And they're getting some pretty hairy results, close calls, shutdowns, and pull the new stuff out and put the old stuff back in. If there wasn't such a safety issue involved, it would be funny.

-- Gordon (gpconnolly@aol.com), June 02, 1999.

Funny you should bring that up... A snip from an article posted here by Mr. Shannon @ Sangers, dated 1999-05-07... <:)=

"They rushed this system into service, against our wishes, because they want to say we've got another 40 percent of our equipment Y2K compliant," he said..."

Link

PS - Thanks ps...

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), June 03, 1999.

In late March, the FAA had one count that indicated they had 4500 "individual activities" that had to be accomplished to become compliant.

Good to know they have a count - that's fundamental is making a plan of action. It also indicates the magnitude of the job, and the number of places that AFTER the one computer + one plane + one flight "test gimmick" in Denver still needed to be replaced, upgraded, repaired, or re-programmed nationally.

They aren't done yet. My only hope is that the airline pilots realize that if flight safety isn't maintaned perfectly, its the pilots who will hit the ground first.

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), June 03, 1999.

Robert,

I'm trying this again because my first response didn't seem to work. Anyway, I can tell you from personal experience that pilots have no more power with the FAA than a radio personality has with the FCC. You have to play the hand they deal you. It's a huge bureaucracy. The only help the pilot will get is from the Air Traffic Controllers union keeping the pressure on the "bosses" in DeeCee. The controllers are exceptionally skilled folks and can pull a lot of chestnuts out of the fire even with the antiquated equipment they have been given.

-- Gordon (gpconnolly@aol.com), June 03, 1999.

Norm-

I got quite a laugh out of this piece, especially the lines about "We'll be compliant 6 months ahead of schedule" and "we missed the deadline on purpose."

As Dad used to say, "gotta put on my hip boots, it's getting a little deep in here." Linda

-- newbiebutnodummy (Linda@home.com), June 03, 1999.