Martyn Gosling, New Zealand Civil Aviation spokeperson, said today that aircraft in New Zealand will be grounded rather than risk danger with the millennium bug.

Reported by New Zealand Press Association.

Any other airlines fronting up to the uncertainty of the issue elsewhere?

-- Bob Barbour (r.barbour@waikato.ac.nz), August 18, 1998

Answers

Do you have a link for Gosling's comments? Please advise...

-- Pastor Chris (pastorchris@lifetel.com), August 18, 1998.

It is my understanding that KLM, the Dutch airline, has stated that they will ground all flights Dec 31 1999 to avoid any possible Y2K problems.

-- Uncle Deedah (oncebitten@twiceshy.com), August 18, 1998.

I have previously seen the rumor that KLM will ground flights, but I have never seen it officially from the company. Please provide such proof if it is available. Thanks. <<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>...

-- Dan Hunt (dhunt@hostscorp.com), August 18, 1998.

Try this URL for the background. http://www.caa.govt.nz/fulltext/review/rev498.pdf I will check out the attribution and let you know.

-- Bob Barbour (r.barbour@waikato.ac.nz), August 18, 1998.

Hi Folks.. checked out the above story with Martyn Gosling: no surprises.. his words are:

"CAA responded to a Press association query.

CAA is aware of the problem and working closely with manufacturers and suppliers.

Even if assurances are made, it may be necessary to act with caution during and immediately after the two change overs timnes of 0000 1 Jan (NZDT) and 0000 1 Jan (UTC).

We are some distance away from making those decisions."

I guess we draw our own conclusions on the NZPA spin...

-- Bob Barbour (r.barbour@waikato.ac.nz), August 18, 1998.

46 of our 50 states have already passed legislation excluding insurance companies from having to pay off damages caused by y2k. Lloyds of London is also writing such exclusions in their contracts. How many planes will fly? How many ships will sail? How many businesses of all types will continue? Errors and omission insurance, even medical malpractice insurance will have y2k exclusions. Unless something changes, I think it is safe to say that there will be few if any airlines or much else functioning. Lets not even discuss FAA.

-- Bill Solorzano (notaclue@webtv.net), August 18, 1998.

Dan

Can't find one, consider it still a rumor.

-- Uncle Deedah (oncebitten@twiceshy.com), August 18, 1998.

KLM try this old link: http://www2.computerworld.com/home/online9697.nsf/All/971112klm1A262

-- Richard Dale (rdale@figroup.co.uk), August 19, 1998.

Here is the story from re KLM - seems to be only something that is under consideration. This is from the computerworld URL that Richard Dale supplied in the previous post.

Dutch airline company KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has announced that it may ground its aircraft or refuse to fly certain routes if year 2000 software problems pose a safety threat. "If somehow, somewhere, we believe that we cannot be absolutely certain that the whole chain of transport is controlled and protected, we will ground the aircraft for a certain route, or if we don't believe we can get our own systems ready for it. We don't take any risk. There will be no flying until we know," said Hugo Baas, a company spokesman based in Amsterdam. KLM is urging other airline companies to share year 2000 information, problems and solutions with one another. "You have an industry responsibility, and you have a responsibility to society to share the knowledge and not use it competitively and keep it for yourself," said Baas. KLM is spending $50 million to bring its fleet of 100 aircraft and other systems into compliance, Baas said. The company said it intends to conduct computer test simulations of its aircraft -- some of which have more than 160 date-sensitive systems -- next year. KLM, which flies to 80 countries, will also be monitoring year 2000 efforts along all its routes to ensure, for instance, that flight control systems, which track aircraft as they fly overhead, are operating properly.

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-- Dan Hunt (dhunt@hostscorp.com), August 19, 1998.