FLIGHT OPS FLYER JUNE 18, 1999 **************** ************* FOM CHANGES NOW IN EFFECT ------------------------- TO SERVE PILOTS MORE EFFECTIVELY, THE FLIGHT PUBLISHING DEPARTMENT AT THE FLIGHT CENTER HAS IMPLEMENTED THREE SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN THE WAY THE FOM AND APPROACH CHARTS ARE DISTRIBUTED AND MAINTAINED. THE CHANGES BECAME EFFECTIVE IN THE JUNE 11, 1999, REVISION. THE FIRST CHANGE IS A LIST OF EFFECTIVE PAGES (LEP) THAT WILL BE IN THE REVISION FOR ALL COVERAGES. THIS LIST REPLACES THE ANNUAL CHECKLISTS. THE LEP WILL BECOME THE PRIMARY REFERENCE FOR THE FOM AND APPROACH CHARTS TO ENSURE PROPER DISTRIBUTION. THIS COINCIDES WITH THE STRUCTURE OF THE FLIGHT MANUALS. THE SECOND CHANGE IS THAT INTERNATIONAL CREWS THAT CARRY EUROPEAN CHARTS WILL SEE A NEW PROCEDURE FOR DISTRIBUTION. ALL CHARTS, INCLUDING EUROPE, WILL SHIP FROM JEPPESEN'S DENVER OFFICE. THIS TRANSLATES INTO PILOTS RECEIVING SINGLE REVISION PACKAGES THAT INCLUDE DOMESTIC AND EUROPEAN CHARTS. THE THIRD CHANGE IS THE DESIGNATION OF REGIONS. TO ASSIST THE MANY INTERNATIONAL CREWS THAT ARE REQUIRED TO CARRY CHARTS COVERING VARIOUS COUNTRIES, FOUR PRIMARY REGIONS OF THE WORLD HAVE BEEN DESIGNATED: NORTH AMERICA, SOUTH AMERICA, EUROPE, AND PACIFIC AND FAR EAST. THE REVISION WILL INCLUDE INSTRUCTIONS TO REASSEMBLE ALL APPROACH CHARTS TO PUT THEM IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER ACCORDING TO REGION. DOMESTIC FUEL POLICY TRAINING VIDEO IN PRODUCTION ------------------------------------------------- A TRAINING VIDEO FOR PILOTS IS IN THE LAST STAGES OF PRODUCTION IN PREPARATION FOR THE UNVEILING LATER THIS YEAR OF UNITED'S DOMESTIC FUEL POLICY. THE NEW DOMESTIC FUEL POLICY WILL GIVE DISPATCHERS A TOOL FOR STANDARDIZING FUEL PLANNING AND PROVIDE AN IMPROVED FLIGHT PLAN FORMAT FOR PILOTS. DISPATCHERS WERE ONE OF THE FIRST TO VIEW THE INITIAL VIDEO, WHEN IT WAS PRESENTED TO THEM BY PILOTS IN A FULL DAY OF DOMESTIC FUEL POLICY INITIATION DURING SPRING RECURRENT TRAINING. PILOTS WILL LEARN THE DETAILS ABOUT THE POLICY THROUGH THE FINAL VIDEO AND AN ATTACHED BULLETIN. "THE PRODUCTION OF THIS VIDEO EXEMPLIFIES THE ENTIRE PROCESS WE'VE USED TO PUT THE DOMESTIC FUEL POLICY TOGETHER," EXPLAINS CAPTAIN RAUL BOERNER, A MEMBER OF THE DOMESTIC FUEL POLICY COMMITTEE. "WE'VE ENTIRELY USED EMPLOYEE IDEAS, INPUT AND FEEDBACK TO PERFECT BOTH THE POLICY AND THE VIDEO. FOR EXAMPLE, INITIALLY, WE PUT A PROTOTYPE TRAINING VIDEO TOGETHER, THEN ALLOWED DISPATCHERS AND PILOTS TO VIEW IT AND TO OFFER THEIR COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS. BASED ON THAT FEEDBACK, WE MADE CHANGES TO THE POLICY AND FINAL TRAINING VIDEO THAT PILOTS WILL RECEIVE AS THEIR MAIN DOMESTIC FUEL POLICY TRAINING TOOL." THE TIMELINE FOR THE DOMESTIC FUEL POLICY IMPLEMENTATION INCLUDES A TEST OF THE SYSTEM IN EARLY SUMMER, DISTRIBUTION OF THE TRAINING VIDEO TO PILOTS IN LATE SUMMER, AND TURNING THE SYSTEM ON IN EARLY FALL. COUNTDOWN TO Y2K: STORIES OF SUCCESS ------------------------------------- IF YOU FEEL WE HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL THE ROLLOVER FROM NEW YEAR'S EVE UNTIL JAN. 1, 2000, TO KNOW IF UNITED'S Y2K PREPARATION EFFORTS HAVE MET SUCCESS, THINK AGAIN. UNITED CAN CITE SEVERAL EXAMPLES THAT POINT TO SUCCESS IN ITS Y2K EFFORTS SO FAR. THE FOLLOWING DATES AND TESTS, FOR EXAMPLE, SHOW UNITED'S EFFORTS HAVE BEEN AND CONTINUE TO BE ON TRACK FOR MEETING THE NEW MILLENNIUM: ** UNITED SUCCESSFULLY CONDUCTED A B777 ENGINE CONDITION MONITORING TEST THIS SPRING THAT TRACKED EQUIPMENT TRANSMITTAL DATA TO UNITED'S GROUND TEST HOST COMPUTER AT SAN FRANCISCO'S MAINTENANCE OPERATIONS CENTER. THE TEST DEMONSTRATED UNITED'S ABILITY TO MONITOR TWIN ENGINE AIRCRAFT PERFORMANCE ON OVER WATER INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS DURING THE CALENDAR ROLLOVER. ** IN APRIL, UNITED WORKED WITH THE FAA IN THE FIRST TEST DESIGNED TO ENSURE THE FAA'S AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL COMPUTERS WERE READY FOR THE YEAR 2000. UNITED CREATED 15 DIFFERENT SIMULATED FLIGHT PLANS OCCURRING BOTH BEFORE AND AFTER THE ROLLOVER TO 2000. THE TEST MEASURED THE ABILITY TO OPERATE AND PROCESS INFORMATION IN A YEAR 2000 ENVIRONMENT, AND ALL SYSTEMS FUNCTIONED PERFECTLY AS EXPECTED. ** UNITED AND AERONAUTICAL RADIO INC. (ARINC) -- A COMPANY THAT DEVELOPS AND OPERATES AVIATION COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS -- COMPLETED IN MARCH THE FIRST END-TO-END Y2K TEST BETWEEN GROUND-BASED COMPUTERS AND AN AIRCRAFT. WITH THE DATE IN ALL SYSTEMS SET TO TRANSITION TO JAN. 1, 2000, UNITED'S TEST FACILITY IN CHICAGO TRANSMITTED A MESSAGE TO THE COCKPIT AVIONICS SYSTEM ON A UNITED B747-400 PARKED AT ORD THROUGH ARINC'S TEST FACILITY LOCATED IN ANNAPOLIS, MD. ** UNITED'S APOLLO COMPUTER RESERVATIONS SYSTEM PERFORMED PERFECTLY ON FEB. 4, 1999: THE FIRST DAY THAT CUSTOMERS AROUND THE WORLD COULD BOOK RESERVATIONS ON UNITED, UNITED EXPRESS AND CODE-SHARE FLIGHTS SCHEDULED TO DEPART JAN. 1, 2000. TO PREPARE APOLLO FOR THE NEW CENTURY, ISD EMPLOYEES TESTED SYSTEMS, PERFORMED INSPECTIONS AND DEVELOPED A CONTINGENCY PLAN. NEARLY EVERY LINE OF COMPUTER CODE IN THE APPLICATION HAD TO BE EXAMINED MANUALLY. ** ON NOV. 24, 1998, TWO OF UNITED'S CRUCIAL COMPUTER SYSTEMS -- UNIMATIC AND COSMO -- WERE SCHEDULED TO EXCEED THEIR ORIGINAL PROGRAM LIMITS DUE TO THE WAY DATES WERE DEFINED IN THE SYSTEMS 30 YEARS AGO. TWO GROUPS OF ISD EMPLOYEES DEVELOPED AND TESTED AN ACTION PLAN THAT EXTENDED THE LIFE OF THESE SYSTEMS FOR ANOTHER 30 YEARS. THE TEAM CHANGED OR TESTED MORE THAN 300 PROGRAMS IN UNIMATIC AND FIXED MORE THAN 350 COSMO PROGRAMS. THESE EXAMPLES POINT TO UNITED'S SUCCESS IN PREPARING FOR, PLANNING FOR AND MEETING Y2K-RELATED ISSUES. FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THESE SUCCESS STORIES OR OTHER Y2K INFORMATION, VISIT THE YEAR 2000 WEB SITE ON SKYNET UNDER THE "INSIDE THE DIVISIONS" ICON. WELCOME ABOARD -------------- THIS WEEK'S NEW HIRE CLASS HAS 26 NEW FLIGHT OFFICERS, BRINGING THE TOTAL NUMBER OF NEW HIRES FOR 1999 TO 339. THEIR ASSIGNMENTS ARE: 5 B727 F/O 3 TO JFK, 2 TO ORD 9 B727 S/O 5 TO ORD, 2 TO DEN, 2 TO SFO 5 B737 F/O 5 TO ORD 7 U-30 F/O 7 TO SFO FLIGHT OPERATIONS COMMUNICATIONS, WHQVF 847/700-7288 "FLIGHT OPS FLYER" ALSO IS AVAILABLE IN THE UNITED AIRLINES SECTION OF COMPUSERVE UNDER "PILOT INFORMATION." ************************************************************