The Federal Aviation Administration said Friday it has overhauled two-thirds of its mission-critical systems to cope with the Year 2000 computer problem.
FAA Administrator Jane Garvey said that the agency had set an internal deadline of July 31 to fix 60 percent of its most important systems and had exceeded that goal by renovating 67 percent of such systems.
"I'm pleased by the progress we've made, and while we still have a lot of work to do, I'm confident that we have the team and the resources in place to get the job done," she said.
Of the FAA's 433 mission-critical systems, the agency says 159 require renovation to be Y2K- compliant. (Another 50 will simply be replaced with compliant systems, and the remaining 224 will not require modification, according to the FAA.) Currently, 106 of the 159 systems have been modified. Under Office of Management and Budget regulations, the agency has until Sept. 30 to fix all important systems. The FAA is on track to do meet that target, Garvey said.
The FAA and the Transportation Department took criticism from Congress earlier this year for their slow start in dealing with the Y2K problem. In March, Rep. Stephen Horn, R-Calif., gave the Transportation Department an 'F' on its attempt to resolve Y2K difficulties.
In addition, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association said in a June 11 report that FAA's Y2K plans "represent an administrative gesture at best."
"The contingency plans put forth are convoluted and vague in an air traffic operational sense and are nearly worthless," the report concluded.
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