Short, balanced Y2K article

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread

http://websearch.about.com/library/weekly/aa072799a.htm?pid=2825&cob=home

The U.S. Federal Aviation Authority announced that all its computer systems are ready for the Year 2000, including those used for air traffic control. While this is reassuring for fliers, it's only part of the equation. Not all airports or airlines have completed Y2K repairs.

So far, only Virgin Atlantic, LOT Polish Airlines, Vietnam Airlines and a small British regional carrier have said they won't operate on December 31st. Virgin says its no-fly policy is so employees can celebrate a "unique milestone" with their families, not because of any Y2K fears.

Though Japanese airlines and airports will be operational, Japan's largest travel agency, Japan Travel Bureau, has decided to cancel all tours on flights departing, arriving, or in the air around midnight local time in Japan.

Who will be flying? Jane Garvey, the head of the US Federal Aviation Administration, has said she will be in the air over the United States on New Year's Eve, on a regularly scheduled commercial flight. The Chinese government has also ordered all airline executives to be in the air on New Year's Eve as a demonstration of confidence in China's air safety program.

But note well: In a survey of information technology managers in charge of Y2K upgrade programs, only about half say they would be comfortable flying between December 30 and January 2. The percentage is even lower among Y2K IT managers at larger companies.

Forecast: No major aviation disasters. Expect delays at airports and overcrowding of flights as more flights are cancelled.

Utilities Power Up

Power failures are probably going to cause the majority of Y2K problems, though in developed countries they will likely be short-term and localized. Unfortunately, since electricity is so critical to virtually all aspects of modern society, power failures will also be the biggest wild-card in determining how widespread other problems will be.

The U.S. nuclear power industry is confident that there will be no Y2K related problems, despite only 68 of 103 plants currently being compliant.

Outside the U.S., the situation looks less sanguine, particularly in Eastern Europe, Russia, and Africa. For example, the State Department forecasts a 76% chance that electric power will fail in Africa. Without power, airports, hospitals, telephones, and other basic services will have a hard time functioning.

Forecast: Power failures worldwide. Severity will range from mild to severe, but emergency systems in place for natural disasters and unanticipated catastrophes will help mitigate many problems.

Phones Are Fine

Telecommunications systems have consistently passed worldwide Y2K compliance tests, and appear to be one of the major systems we can count on using when the millennium arrives.

Of course, there are exceptions, such as the failure of service in Ontario Canada last week during installation of a Y2K compliant system.

Nonetheless, the global telecommunications grid is probably one of the most Y2K compliant systems on the planet, in part due to the massive investments in new and upgraded equipment during the past decade to support the Internet.

Forecast: Little disruption. We'll be able to call each other, and assuming we have power, will still be able to access the Net.

-- Mr. Decker (kcdecker@worldnet.att.net), July 29, 1999

Answers

Old news.

The Aviation industry will be a shambles worldwide at rollover.

Mark miwurds.

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), July 30, 1999.


There's recent info about the FAA on this thread:

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=0017Oh

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), July 30, 1999.


It should be noted that the Polish airlines are not flying because of Holidays and has nothing to do with y2k.

12 days of Christ's Mass.

-- Heard some polish gal on the radio and she said that (w@s.the reason askhernotmeIdon'tknow), July 30, 1999.


"Polish LOT Cancels Flights On Jan. 1 Due To Y2K"

http://infoseek.go.com/Content?arn=a1465reuff-19990712&qt=%2Bpoland+% 2By2k&sv=IS&lk=noframes&col=NX&kt=A&ak=news1486

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), July 30, 1999.


[Fair Use: For Educational/Research Purposes Only]

Polish LOT Cancels Flights On Jan. 1 Due To Y2K

01:49 a.m. Jul 13, 1999 Eastern

WARSAW, Poland (Reuters) - Poland's national airline LOT Monday said it would ground all its planes on January 1, 2000 to avoid millennium bug problems, in what is thought to be the first mass cancellation in Europe due to Y2K worries.

``The management has decided to cancel all flights on this sensitive day because of the possibility of complications or problems with the airline's infrastructure,'' company spokeswoman Monika Krajczynska told Reuters.

Krajczynska did not identify specific areas of concern and said flights on LOT's fleet of modern Boeing and other jets will resume service on January 2.

``We want to be mistake-free and that's why we are taking this step,'' she said. LOT flies to most major eastern and western European capitals, North America, and has a large charter operation that ferries Poles to holiday destinations.

She estimated the state-owned company's losses from the one-day grounding would be minimal because of the small number of travelers on New Year's Day.

[snip]

The glitch may cause computers to malfunction or shut down, a potentially disastrous occurrence if it hits air traffic management systems or equipment on-board jet aircraft.

Many large European and North American airlines and airports have said they were confident their safety and computer checks made it safe for them to fly to most destinations on New Year's Day.

In Asia national carrier Vietnam Airlines has cancelled all its flights just before the start of the year 2000 to ensure there are no millennium bug complications, while Indonesia's PT Garuda has indicated it might not fly on New Year's Day.

Officials from several major Western airlines have said they will be flying when the clock strikes midnight on December 31 to allay public fears about flying through the date rollover.

Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

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-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), July 30, 1999.



Actually Virgin airlines, despite HoffMeisters protestaions, were the first airline to cancel all flights over rollover - Branson knows...

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), July 30, 1999.

Actually Virgin airlines, despite HoffMeisters protestations, were the first airline to cancel all flights at rollover - Branson knows...

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), July 30, 1999.

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