BELGOCONTROL certified as an ATS Training organisation

During the ceremony on the site of Belgocontrol at Steenokkerzeel, on 26 February 2009, Mr Frank Durinckx, Director General a.i. of the Belgian Civil Aviation Authority (DGTA/DGLV) and Colonel Patrick Vanheyste, Director of the Belgian Supervisory Authority for Air Navigation Services (BSA-ANS) presented Mr Jean-Claude Tintin, Chief Executive Officer of Belgocontrol, with the official document certifying Belgocontrol as an ATS training organisation and approving the Basic Training for air traffic controllers. This certification takes place within the framework of the European Directive 2006/23/EC on a Community Air Traffic Controller Licence, transposed into Belgian law by the Royal Decree of 9 May 2008. This certification was the result of an audit carried out by the BSA-ANS on 3 and 4 February 2009, based on an Acceptable Means of Compliance (AMC) provided by the BSA-ANS. All personnel of the Training Centre, the Safety Management Unit, the Total Quality Management Cell, and other services of our company joined forces to prepare this audit. The fact is that Belgocontrol had to present a document explaining the way in which our company complies with the AMC conformity requirements and the on-site audit included various interviews with the Manager of the training centre, as well as with instructors, the secretariat, the quality management and the engineering department (simulators). In view of the European dimension of this procedure, the audit was carried out by a multinational team consisting not only of the experts of the Belgian BSA-NSA, but also of representatives of the Eurocontrol Agency Safety Regulatory Oversight Unit (ASRO) and Inspectie Verkeer en Waterstaat (IVW NL, Transport and Water Management Inspectorate) of the Netherlands. The audit had a double objective:

• 1) To establish the conformity of the organisation of Belgocontrol with the requirements defined in the Directive 2006/23/EC establishing a Community Air Traffic Controller Licence, and with the corresponding Belgian Royal Decree.
• 2) To establish the conformity of the contents of the basic course for air traffic controllers and the way in which it is taught with the requirements defined in the above-mentioned Directive and with the Royal Decree.

After the audit, the Belgocontrol Training Centre was accredited as an ATC training organisation (Air Traffic Control) and the basic training course (first part of the Initial Training Course) was officially recognised. The Chief Executive Officer of Belgocontrol, Mr Jean-Claude Tintin, was delighted that the teamwork led to concrete results: This certification gives a concrete expression to the qualification of our Training Centre and makes it official, so that we can not only offer training to our own future air traffic controllers, but also provide training programmes in conformity with the European regulations for external clients. This corresponds to our objective of diversification of our activities and contributes to a reduction of our costs . In the past, Belgocontrol has already organised courses for external clients. And as from the beginning of March, the Training Centre at Steenokkerzeel organises a first course of the basic training for the air traffic controller candidates of Eurocontrol (MUAC).