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Some Airports Lagging on Y2K Fixes

Story Filed: Saturday, December 04, 1999 11:33 AM EDT

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) -- Finally, technicians have finished work to remove the Year 2000 computer glitch from the radar and instrument landing systems at this country's main air traffic control center.

Due to a supplier backlog, the final software patch didn't arrive until late November.

The rest of the Y2K work at Las Americas airport was done in October, decidedly late by international standards and leaving little time for testing, but typical for a developing country.

Yet the Dominican Republic is ahead of several others -- including Argentina and Pakistan -- in Y2K readiness, thanks in part to help from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and the International Civil Aviation Organization, a U.N. agency.

It is difficult to know how many nations are seriously lagging in ridding their air traffic systems of the potentially crippling millennium bug, the legacy of computer programs that read only the last two digits of a year and mistake ``00'' for 1900 instead of 2000.

ICAO says 82 percent of its 185 member countries claim their air traffic services are Y2K ready or expect to be ready by Jan. 1.

But neither the U.N. body nor the International Air Transport Association, comprised of all major airlines, has made public any details of the Y2K information it gathered from airlines, airports, air traffic service providers and government civil aviation agencies.

``It's not good for business I guess,'' says Ed Smart, the International Federation of Air Line Pilots Associations' representative to ICAO.

Inside the Las Americas' low-tech control tower, the electronics consist only of an altimeter and radios for talking to pilots. The elevator is out of order, so employees hike up four flights of stairs.

Down in the air traffic center, where controllers track 20-25 flights at any one time and more than 150 overflights per day on busy north-south routes, there's considerably more gear.

It has independent generators that power the gear -- a must at an airport where electricity and water outages are a nearly daily nuisance. There are also backup cellular and satellite phones that connect the Dominicans with controllers in Miami and Atlanta.

And, ironically, there is an important legacy of this Caribbean nation's very recent transition to the high-tech world -- a parallel manual tracking system.

Unlike their counterparts in more advanced nations, whose Y2K contingency plans often mandate manual tracking as a backup, these controllers' routine includes keeping tabs on every plane within 200 miles with color-coded placards that they move around on a rack.

``We didn't have an automated system until five years ago,'' when the radar was installed, said Ramon Cruzada, a controller who's been on the job 25 years.

-- Homer Beanfang (Bats@inbellfry.com), December 06, 1999

Answers

http://www.bouldernews.com/opinion/editorials/6edit1.html

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Thoughts on a Monday

The Denver Post reports: Air traffic control at risk; system not Y2K ready.

The Denver Rocky Mountain News reports: Air traffic control will be Y2K ready; House task force says most Fed computers already fixed, tested.

In Boulder, the Daily Camera reports that the biggest Y2K worry to local police is with New Year's Eve partying, which could be more raucous than usual because of the holiday weekend's quintuple impact  end of the week, end of the year, end of the decade, end of the century and end of the millennium.

In Philadelphia, the Associated Press reports that as many as 500 residents received notices instructing them to show up for jury duty in 1900  an obvious Y2K computer glitch by an agency thought to be Y2K compliant.

Down at the state Capitol, broadcasters report that officials, who announce that the state is essentially ready for Y2K, have prepared a bunker for themselves and the governor just in case.

And so the Y2K reporting goes. It remains difficult to know with any certainty what will and won't happen.

So let us again repeat what Kathy Garcia, Boulder County's Y2K director, has calmly advised residents over and over again:

Don't panic. No one with any credibility is predicting a major calamity.

Use your common sense. Think about how you would prepare if you know a tornado is headed our way, one with the striking force to wipe out electrical power for several days. Wouldn't you stock up on canned goods, bread, dry cereal, bottled water, flashlights, warm clothing, prescription drugs, toilet paper (kitty litter if toilets can't be used) and anything essential that would keep your family safe and reasonably comfortable?

Of course you would. So do it for Y2K. And if the Y2K bug doesn't bite, congratulate yourself for being prepared for a devastating winter storm or flood, which  let's face it  is long past due in Colorado.

December 6, 1999

-- Homer Beanfang (Bats@inbellfry.com), December 06, 1999.

Are airport beacon lights still used? I always noticed them as a child, and now I am seeing them again, at a smaller municipal airport locally. Seriously. Could they be part of a contingency plan or were they always there? Hope that didn't sound really, really dumb.

-- not really blond (really@dumb.question), December 06, 1999.

Beacons are located at nearly every airport of any size. I routinely use them to orient myself with the airport layout. The airport chart shows the beacon location. If you see it and know where you are, then you know where all the runways and obstacles are.Since they can be visible 100 miles away, they are handy.

-- FlyByNight (overyourhouse@35000ft.com), December 06, 1999.