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	Air Travel Terror By Declan McCullagh March 8, 1999 One of the most cherished goals of every bureaucrat is to avoid public scrutiny. Sure, adulatory press-release-driven media coverage is OK. But any whiff of criticism? Time to head for the hills. So it was with relish that we watched FAA bureaucrats sweat last Friday before a hearing of Rep. Connie Morella's House Science subcommittee. They came to talk about R&D budgets. But in the last few minutes, Morella grabbed the opportunity to quiz them about Y2K. What kind of "Y2K remediation" progress on air traffic control systems was the Federal Aviation Administration making, asked Morella, a Republican from Maryland. "We got a late start in FAA, a little bit. I'm very optimistic," stuttered Steven Zaidman, apparently unaware of the seeming contradiction. "Our schedule is, unfortunately, three months behind the [White House's Office of Management and Budget's] suggested schedule... We have 630 odd systems, 400 of which are mission critical. We have every expectation that we will meet 100 percent of our verification and testing goal by the end of March and our implementation goal by the end of June," said Zaidman, an associate R&D administrator. He reassured the committee that he had "personally attended" a Y2K air traffic control simulation in January. Another will take place in March in Atlantic City. Hmmm. What did an official in the FAA's inspector general's office -- aka an internal auditor -- think? Alexis Stefani was much less optimistic. Only 31 percent of the agency's computers were completely fixed, she told the committee. "FAA now faces an additional kind of problem. They're shooting for the end of June to have all of their systems done, but it becomes an implementation [problem]," Stefani said, noting that some systems are scattered around dozens or even hundreds of locations. Technicans have to travel to each of them. Another problem? Some systems are customized. "There may have been local adaptations at that facility... that will have to be dealt with when they actually implement the Y2K fix at that location," Stefani said. In other words, even though the planes and computers owned by private companies should be fine, the government-controlled air traffic system may not be. No wonder the airline industry is so spooked.		FEATURES Book Reviews Y2K already has spawned its own genre. We tell you what books are worth buying. Chip 'n Little Cartoons Chip 'n Little goes on TV Chip 'n Little visits John Koskinen Chip 'n Little saves the world Warning: This cartoon has been called "foolish and tasteless." Y2K from A to Z Y2K Haiku Traditionalists may be shocked. Mad Cow Culture What does Y2K have in common with today's Mad Cow Culture? Answer: Everything. Declan McCullagh's Y2K articles Psychology of Y2K LATEST NEWS As of December 31, 1999 Get Your T-Shirt Quick Bill Gates Does Y2K Reader Feedback A Sarcastic Calendar Cooking After the Apocalypse A Real Y2K Disaster Hitchhiker's Guide Meets Y2K