Computer Experts Uneasy About Flying Jan. 1 - Poll

Updated 5:07 PM ET August 25, 1999WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Although most U.S. computer scientists expect the Year 2000 glitch to be a non-event in the United States, nearly half say they would not fly on New Year's Day, a poll released Wednesday showed.

Asked about flying on Jan. 1, when computer clocks could balk and cause systems to crash, 41 percent of respondents said they would not and 13 percent said they were unsure.

"It's one thing to have confidence; it's another thing to aviate," said Thomas Kelly, co-director of the Sienna College Research Institute of Loudonville, New York, which conducted the survey of expert opinion.

The poll of 209 computer science professors at U.S. colleges and universities did not carry a margin of error because it reflected professional judgements rather than inferring public opinion.

The Federal Aviation Administration has certified that all of its systems, including air traffic control, were prepared for the millennium computer bug -- known as Y2K -- as of last month.

Of the computer scientists predicting Y2K hitches, only eight percent forecast a major problem. Fifty-five percent said they expected nothing more than an inconvenience.

The remaining 37 percent predicted only a "minor" inconvenience.

Kelly said only a bit more than 10 percent of those surveyed predicted serious disruptions in countries perceived as ill-prepared, among them Russia.

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-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), August 25, 1999

Answers

Got a link please?

-- Super (slfsl@yahoo.com), August 25, 1999.

here's the link:

Link Ray

-- Ray (ray@tottacc.com), August 25, 1999.

Don't listen to what they say, watch what they do (or, in this case, won't do).

-- Sandmann (Sandmann@alabab.com), August 25, 1999.

only the Brits have any sense, Virgin will not be flying, anecdotal evidence also suggest that BA pilots will also be "indisposed"... :)

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), August 25, 1999.

>>The poll of 209 computer science professors at U.S. colleges and universities <<

How many of these guys have worked on a Y2K remediation project? I would imagine it is not that many. I would place more weight on this survey had it involved people actually doing Y2K work (and a larger sample size).

-- Johnny Canuck (j_canuck@hotmail.com), August 25, 1999.

"It's one thing to have confidence; it's another thing to aviate,"

Pathetically not even funny.

-- Mumsie (Shezdremn@aol.com), August 27, 1999.