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Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Senior government bureuacrat assures the public that everyone can put full trust in her agency.
Yes, friends, a government bureaucrat is confident that the FAA will make it. The agency that still uses tube-style radar units at Newark Airport -- whose screens go blank from time to time -- assures us that technologically, the agency is on top of the Year 2000 Problem. "I can assure the subcommittee," [Jane] Garvey testified Tuesday, "that air-traffic safety will not be compromised in the slightest."
Don't you worry one little bit.
This is from the CHICAGO TRIBUNE (March 11).
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WASHINGTON -- After getting off to a late start addressing the Millennium Bug computer problem, the head of the Federal Aviation Administration testified Tuesday that she expects the deadline will be met with at least six months to spare.
In the wake of an independent government audit warning that the year 2000 glitch could disrupt commercial air traffic and threaten safety, FAA Administrator Jane Garvey sought to reassure a congressional panel that the agency is working aggressively to replace its main computer system, parts of which are 25 years old.
"The FAA is taking a two-track approach that includes renovating the computer we have in the event we can't get a new host system by Jan. 1, 2000," Garvey told the House Appropriations transportation subcommittee. . . .
Garvey said an original goal of staving off potential chaos by November 1999, a month before the deadline, had been pushed forward to June 1999. . . .
Transportation Department Inspector General Kenneth Mead has complained that the FAA began urgently attacking the year 2000 problem only about six months ago. . . .
"I can assure the subcommittee," Garvey testified Tuesday, "that air-traffic safety will not be compromised in the slightest."
Rep. John Olver (D-Mass.), saying he had been skeptical of previous FAA claims on the issue, said he was more confident after listening to Garvey describe an agency-wide strategy.
"We are optimistic as well that the FAA, the airlines and their suppliers are making solid progress and will be compliant," said David Fuscus, a spokesman for the Air Transport Association, which represents the airline industry.
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