EUROCONTROL’s Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre (MUAC) and the French Ecole Nationale de l’Aviation Civile (ENAC) reach agreement on air traffic controller training

As part of a cooperation within FABEC, ENAC, the training institute of Direction des Services de la Navigation Aérienne (DSNA), the French Air Navigation Service Provider, and EUROCONTROL MUAC have signed today a training agreement for a “Solution for Mutual ATCO en-Route Training” - the SMART programme - for a period of 10 years.

As of May 2015, ENAC, based in Toulouse, will welcome the first incoming group of students from the Maastricht-based MUAC.

The signing of the agreement is a logical step in further cooperation and consolidation of the training within FABEC. In June 2010, the FABEC partners ANA Luxembourg, Belgocontrol, DFS, DSNA, LVNL, EUROCONTROL MUAC and skyguide signed a cooperation agreement for the common provision of basic training. The first FABEC basic course took place in autumn 2013 at the DFS Academy in Langen.

The new MUAC students will benefit from the first part of the initial training (basic as well as the en-route ratings), following the same programme as the ENAC student controllers, then completing their curriculum with an intensive phase of customised training with greater practical emphasis. This pre-transition phase will prepare them for their future complex operational environment, working methods and high density traffic, using the advanced Human-Machine Interfaces available at MUAC.

“This training agreement is significant because it prepares MUAC to deliver controller training in the most effective manner to face the challenges of the coming decade. The cooperation with ENAC is very promising. ENAC has demonstrated its excellence in a sound pedagogical approach for controller basic and rating training and the pre-transition phase has been entirely tailored to our needs in an excellent spirit of cooperation” said Jac Jansen, Director MUAC.

Marc Houalla, ENAC Director, added: “I am pleased with this agreement that strengthens our ties with Eurocontrol within the FABEC. ENAC and MUAC teams are very motivated and working hard to deliver a high-quality training”.