The US Federal Aviation Administration is focusing its year 2000 (Y2K) compliance efforts on the international arena after a live test of its renovated air traffic control (ATC) system revealed no date-related problems.
The test, conducted in the Denver, Colorado area on 10-11 April, involved all the major elements of the US ATC system and covered all phases of flight. These included systems for radar, flightplan and weather processing, the FAA says.
ATC systems in the Denver area were divided, with one side handling aircraft as normal and system clocks on the test side rolled forward to simulate the date transition from 31 December, 1999, to 1 January, 2000. Preliminary results show that the performance of the live and test systems was "virtually identical", says FAA Administrator Jane Garvey.
The FAA hopes by June/July to complete similar end-to-end testing with the six countries handling most of the air traffic entering and leaving the USA.
The organisation estimates that it will have spent $360 million on Y2K compliance by the time testing is complete.
Source: Flight International
