Flight attendants scared of Latin America

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from today's Associated Press. Sorry no link.... -------BODY: The flight attendants on this American Airlines jet, who share about a century of combined in-flight experience, all agree: They don't want to be flying in Latin America around New Year's.

''I've never missed a trip. Not in 17 years. And I've never refused to work a holiday,'' says one veteran as she serves drinks at 30,000 feet. ''But this time I'm going to do it. I'm going to skip that trip.''

The attendant asked not to be named. But another, Tim Johnson, gave it straight: ''People are going to try to do everything that they can not to work the Caribbean and Latin America for that period, come hell or high water.''

Jitters over the Y2K readiness of air traffic control, navigation and airport systems especially in parts of Latin America, Africa and Asia are one reason for the low demand that has prompted airlines to cancel hundreds of flights over the Dec. 31-Jan. 1 period.

In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration says that all its systems are fully Y2K-compliant and that all federally regulated airports have reported meeting government Year 2000 safety requirements.

From Argentina to Pakistan, however, some countries still have not finished purging their air traffic guidance centers of the millennium computer bug missing by more than two months a Sept. 30 deadline set by the International Civil Aviation Organization, a U.N. body.

With the crucial clock rollover less than a month away, late modifications to critical systems leave inadequate time for testing, Y2K experts say.

And while government and industry officials around the globe plan to be aloft at midnight Dec. 31 seeking to assure the public _ Chinese airline executives will actually be at the cockpit controls the industry will be in emergency mode.

Controllers in potential trouble regions such as Asia and South America plan to allow more air space between flights, jetliners are being advised to carry extra fuel, and ICAO is setting up regional command centers that will report to a central nerve center at its Montreal headquarters.

Major international carriers have worked hard and spent more than $2 billion to rid flight computers and reservation systems of the millennium bug. But nobody knows exactly what might go wrong, or where or when.

''The safety issue isn't airplanes falling out of the sky,'' says Robin Guenier, director of the British private industry group Taskforce 2000. ''Our view is that if there is any threat to safety, airlines won't fly.''

Jetliners may well be fine. But what if they can't communicate with the airport where they want to land? Or if it's foggy and failures occur in ground-based instrument landing systems that guide planes onto runways in poor visibility?

Taskforce 2000 is recommending Britons don't fly for the five weeks from Christmas through late January. ''If you don't have to travel, don't go,'' urged Guenier. ''It's best to be at home in times of extreme uncertainty.''

Only a fraction of any Y2K-related failures in the private and public sector alike are expected to be felt on Jan. 1, with the bulk occurring in the days and weeks afterward.

A few carriers, including Virgin Atlantic Airways and LOT Polish Airlines, are observing New Year's by not flying at all. Others have significantly cut back service.

The Dutch carrier KLM had 35 flights en route at midnight last Dec. 31. This year, it has canceled all but two or three for that night, spokesman Hugo Baas said.

Baas said more flights could be scratched as trouble regions are identified. ''People should prepare for the possibility that there will be diverted or maybe even closed routes come January.''

Due to a drop in demand, American Airlines normally cancels 10-12 percent of its New Year's flights, said company spokesman John Hotard. ''This year, that has increased to 20 percent,'' he said.

American will have 17 flights aloft at midnight Dec. 31, all but one on trans-Atlantic or trans-Pacific routes, and all landing in the daylight, when any failure of runway lights would not be an issue.

Caution is also being observed by Japan Airlines, which has canceled 21 flights over the witching-hour period and will avoid takeoffs and landings for an hour before and after midnight.

British Airways, whose long-haul flights for the rollover are down 53 percent from last year, will have 20 jets in the air at midnight Greenwich Mean Time, when air traffic systems' clocks register the new year.

None of those flights are bound for the Indian subcontinent, an airline spokeswoman said.

''Most of the airlines I've talked to are going to avoid India,'' said Ed Smart, a top official of the International Federation of Air Line Pilot Associations. ''India says everything is peachy-keen. But most of the major airlines are going to fly around it or avoid the area.''

That includes neighboring Pakistan, whose Y2K coordinator said Nov. 29 that the country's airports may have to shut down during the rollover because its air traffic systems may not be ready in time, and the former Soviet republics to its north.

Citing safety concerns, Thai Airways canceled 19 flights over New Year's, all of which would have traversed that questionable route to Europe and the Middle East. Singapore Airlines, although flying to Australia and New Zealand, scratched or rescheduled other flights.

One U.S. congressman who has closely followed Y2K issues, Rep. Stephen Horn, R-Calif., has expressed concern that Russia, Japan and Italy were behind in aviation readiness, though without providing details.

On Friday, the ITAR-Tass news agency quoted Russia's civil aviation chief, Vladimir Andreyev, as saying the agency has fixed or replaced only about 50 percent of 2,470 computers involved in flight control and identified as having Y2K problems.

Andreyev made it clear that many would not be fixed by Jan. 1.

Also among laggards in South America are Colombia, where the clocks on its five radars were being turned ahead to 2028 as a stopgap measure, and Argentina, which says it won't have a Y2K-compliant radar system installed until mid-December at its main air traffic center.

As one contigency, Smart at the international pilots group has urged that military airports be authorized to handle commercial traffic during the uncertain period.

In western Europe, extensive contingency plans include handing off flight-monitoring to neighboring air traffic control centers should one installation lose radar, ground-to-air communications, access to flight plans and/or weather information.

''Basically our systems are secure and safe and we will have additional staff'' on duty during the rollover, said Jean-Marie Leboutte, who led Y2K efforts for Eurocontrol, which coordinates the region's air traffic control.

And if air traffic control or airports in one country suffer a major failure?

''The worst case scenario is rather simple. You just close the air space and circumnavigate,'' Leboutte said from Belgium.

His main concern is not Jan. 1, a Saturday, or Jan. 2, however.

''I'm am really not afraid of the millennium rollover as such,'' said Leboutte. ''I am more afraid about the situation on the Monday morning,'' when the normal traffic load resumes and a serious Y2K problem could back up planes in the air.



-- Lara (nprbuff@hotmail.com), December 04, 1999

Answers

Do I detect a different tone to this story?

Why, I do declare, the Little People are beginning to show signs of stress.

This is how you always can read through the BS - the little people will be stomping their feet and making groaning sounds. Believe them, they smell death.

-- paul leblanc (bronyaur@gis.net), December 04, 1999.


Forgot to mention: Don't you think it's really **odd** that the DOW Transports are doing so well in the face of mounting cancellations and dire reports? Weeeeeeee, see, anybody can make a temporary buck by ignoring reality for another few weeks.

Irrational exuberance? How about ASSININE exuberance?

Zen kone: What is the sound of an economy without 100% reliable transports?

-- paul leblanc (bronyaur@gis.net), December 04, 1999.


This appears to be partly a news article and partly a lot of stuff thrown in to look like it's a part of the news article. Is it? Can you give us a link?

ALK

-- Al K. Lloyd (all@ready.now), December 05, 1999.


Funny at how people are getting worked up over a 'fixed' problem. Like they really don't believe their own press? Nah. Can't be that. I nominate the doofs over at debunky to replace the attendants. But we all know about polly gutlessness, don't we?

-- haha (haha@haha.com), December 05, 1999.

Here's cpr's chance to get on that midnight flight. Perhap they will let him be a flight attendent for a day. What you say chuck?

-- y2k dave (xsdaa111@hotmail.com), December 05, 1999.


I'd still like to see a link.

ALK

-- Al K. Lloyd (all@ready.now), December 05, 1999.


ALK

I cut and paste the entire article verbatim (a big no-no I'm sure)

Here's the link......

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/19991204/tc/y2k_world_aviation_1.html

-- Lara (nprbuff@hotmail.com), December 05, 1999.


Lara, thanks much for the link. Sorry if I sounded suspicious. I was, but nothing personal.

ALK

-- Al K. Lloyd (all@ready.now), December 06, 1999.


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