Max Hymans was secretary general of civil and commercial aviation between 1945 and 1948.
In 1945, immediately after World War II, the French air-transport industry experienced rapid growth. To ensure safety and compliance with regulations, demand for qualified staff was high; there was a need to harmonise communications among sectors of the aviation industry. ENAC was founded to address this issue.[12] Among its founders was Max Hymans, the secretary general of civil and commercial aviation.
During the postwar years, there was a lack of unity in the civil-aviation industry due to the hasty recruitment of large numbers of people from different backgrounds. To standardize personnel, a number of training centers were created. Airfield commanders were trained in Orly, and navigation staff were trained in Le Bourget. Wireless operators and radiotelegraph technicians were also trained in Orly by the Department of Telecommunications and Signaling. Technical managers were primarily trained in engineering schools, including Arts et Métiers and the National School of Meteorology (École nationale de la météorologie). Designers were trained by the École spéciale des travaux aéronautiques, and aircrew were trained by other public or private institutions.[13] ENAC's mission was to coordinate the training of aviation personnel.
In Decree No. 49-970 (7 June 1948), the rules of French public administration were codified. The regulations applying to civil-aviation officials were overhauled, affecting the technical staff in particular. Several new groups of civil servants were established: air traffic engineers, air navigation operation engineers, aerial telecommunication civil engineers, air traffic controllers, telecommunication controllers and air navigation agents. The creation of these groups was followed by a ministerial decision on 12 August 1948 which paved the way for the first recruitment by competitive examination, which was held in October 1948. On 14 April 1948, the International Civil Aviation Organization established requirements for aircrew licensing, including a minimum number of flight hours for each category of pilot.[14]
Before adopting the name ENAC, the school was called a "service of education and internships" (service des écoles et des stages) and was funded by the general secretariat for civil and commercial aviation. This contrasted with the tradition of French civil-service personnel being trained in grandes écoles. Jules Moch, the Minister of Works, Transport and Tourism, unsuccessfully proposed the name "École nationale de l'aviation marchande".[15]
Aviation-safety university in Paris
Jules Moch in 1957
ENAC was created on 28 August 1949 (Decree 49–1205) in Paris at the initiative of Secretary General of Civil Aviation Max Hymans and Jules Moch[15] to train professionals in civil aeronautics and coordinate all air-transport stakeholders, including aircrew, technicians, and civil servants. The university is in Orly, south of Paris; ENAC's buildings at Orly were an examination center until the early 1990s. René Lemaire considers ENAC "a university of aviation safety".[16]Aviation safety is synonymous with ENAC, since it was the rationale for the training of technicians and airmen at a single school.
As noted in a report of the inspection générale de l'aviation civile, "It was in the minds of the creators of the university to develop between the aircrew and the ground staff a community of ideas, reciprocal knowledge, and esteem, that are essential for the teamwork required by air transport." However, it is doubtful that the report's "community of ideas" could be only expressed by courses at the same university. Other factors were different lengths of training;[17]air navigation civil engineers in the telecommunications branch study for 30 months at the university; operations students are trained in 27 months; air-navigation engineers in two years, and air traffic controllers in nine months.[17] A consistent education was provided to students in different cycles, integrating programs.[18]
First partners
ENAC's F-HCTA at Le Touquet. The aircraft is based at Muret-Lherm
On 13 October 1959, the first major partner of the university was recognised; this enabled the recruitment of pilots with no previous flight experience. The previous year, the university held training sessions on an experimental basis and was responsible for teaching theory for the airline transport pilot licence. Flight training was provided at the Service d'exploitation de la formation aéronautique (SEFA) center at Saint-Yan Airport (opened in 1949) until students received a commercial pilot licence; advanced training was provided at the Air France school. ENAC also provided theoretical training for pilots of a number of airlines, and the question of cost arose.[19] The expensive training, not paid by France, was eventually borne by private airlines.[19]
ENAC buildings and aircraft at Saint-Yan Airport
To give its students a thorough understanding of the air-transport environment, ENAC sought to cooperate with the École nationale de la météorologie; a 29 May 1950 report noted the influence of meteorology on air traffic control and advocated meteorological training for air-traffic controllers.[20] Close links also traditionally existed between civil aviation and the Air Force. After World War II, as civil aviation was developing, members of the armed forces participated in its expansion. Pilots, radio operators, navigators and mechanics came from the military to the airlines, and ENAC sought to convert military aircrews.[20] On 9 June 1951, a memorandum specifying the school's responsibilities in the training of military pilots for civil aviation was signed. The university was the general contractor of operations, and provided theoretical training. In accordance with a of 31 March 1951 decree, the Service de l'aviation légère et sportive (SALS) provided free flight training for pilot candidates coming from the army.[21]
From 1949 to 1959, the number of courses increased from six to 64 and the number of students from 49 to 800.[22] ENAC benefited from the postwar development of aviation, and a number of students came from foreign countries or (in particular) overseas territories which later became independent.[23] During the early 1960s, the university began to accept its first students from foreign civil-aviation authorities.[24] Along with enrollment growth, courses were created to keep pace with new ratings. The navigation-instructor rating was introduced in 1956, and corresponding training began. Courses were sometimes introduced to meet a need, such as a speaking-technique course for instructors that year. The first civilian engineering students were also admitted in 1956. In 1958, the airline-pilot theoretical training course began.[23] Students took an annual trip from ENAC Orly, and were received (in full uniform) by local authorities on their arrival.[25]
Transition
The university underwent significant changes between 1960 and 1975. It moved to Toulouse in 1968,[26] where the main campus is still located. In 1970, the status of the university was changed from a department of the DGAC to a public institution.[27]
The school was originally located on the outskirts of Paris-Orly Airport, France's largest. Its location offered easy access to planes for navigation flights, promotional trips and other activities; leaders of nearby airlines, aircraft manufacturers and other aviation-related businesses could come to the university for lectures and conferences.
However, the rapid growth of traffic at Paris-Orly before the construction of Charles de Gaulle Airport brought new challenges. Requirements for ENAC's aircraft became more stringent, and Aéroports de Paris became increasingly reluctant to renew the university's lease.[27] During the early 1960s, the future of the Orly facilities was uncertain.[28]
Earlier, in the mid-1950s, the possibility of moving ENAC to a new location was considered. Potential locations were cities near Paris airports; between 1954 and 1957, Thiais, Rungis, Issy-les-Moulineaux, Les Mureaux and Le Bourget were considered.[29] Regional decentralization became a priority, even before the publication of Jean-François Gravier's Paris et le désert français (Paris and the French Desert). Plans to keep ENAC near Paris seemed increasingly doubtful, and more-distant locations began to be considered. Within a 150-kilometre-mile (93 mi) radius of the capital, cities under consideration included Melun, Pontoise, Coulommiers, Étampes, Reims, Évreux, Chartres and Orléans. A 20 May 1959 report listed the disadvantages of a location too distant from Paris, however, such as the difficulty of transporting personnel, the possible extension of courses, and increased operating costs.[30]
Building construction on the Rangueil campus began in April 1966,[35] and was completed on 19 August 1968. The academic year began on 16 September of that year. Five hundred students were expected, including 325 who were beginning their training. The new students consisted of 15 air-navigation engineering students drawn largely from École Polytechnique, 70 engineering students in air navigation from classes préparatoires aux grandes écoles, 60 airline-pilot students, 100 air-traffic controller students, 40 electronics students, 20 commercial-pilot students and 20 flight dispatcher students.[36]
Public administrative institution
Plaque commemorating the 1969 opening of the Toulouse campus
The Commission permanente began to examine the university's ambiguous legal status, a problem since it was founded. ENAC was closely monitored by its supervisory authority. Inspection reports (published once every two years or less)[37] were frequently critical of the school, with those published in the mid-1950s beginning to question its existence. The confidential 12 March 1952 Brancourt Controller said that the university had "a lack of curriculum", "there is ... tension with the training center of Air France", and "ENAC is a mistake".[full citation needed]
These difficulties were largely due to incompatibility between ENAC and the civil-aviation industry, which required it to provide courses for students and trainees who were not necessarily officials of the Direction générale de l'aviation civile (DGAC, its supervisory authority) and to use a varied teaching staff.[38] The university budget also presented a challenges after other types of income, such as non-public resources, were reduced (particularly between 1958 and 1964). In 1962, ENAC considered raising tuition, course prices and fees for non-DGAC students. The school's status required a complex approval process, however, and a status of public administrative institution seemed more appropriate.[39] The decision was made in the 13 April 1970 Decree No. 70-347, which took effect on 1 January 1971. ENAC established a board of directors, with René Lemaire its first president.[40]
New missions
ENAC Toulouse entrance
In 1975, the number of non-civil-service engineering students began to increase. ENAC is becoming important in training civilian aerospace personnel; its primary purpose had been to train civil servants. Civilian students are not new; the first were admitted in 1956.[41][42] ENAC's engineering program, focused on electronics and information technology, has made the university a de facto engineering grande école.
Industry-oriented university research appeared in 1984, in accordance with the higher-education law which mandates that "engineering education [...] has a research activity, basic or applied",[43] organized around four areas: electronics, automation, computers and aviation economics. The university instructs future engineers in research methods; deductive reasoning, long favored by teachers in the classes préparatoires aux grandes écoles and grandes écoles, has been inferior to the inductive reasoning characteristic of engineering research.[43] The growing interest in research includes air navigation.[44]
Mastère spécialisé programs emerged during the mid-1980s for the industrial GIFAS (Groupement des industries françaises aéronautiques et spatiales),[45] training foreign executives in a relatively-short time in addition to French students and professionals. Continuing education diversified at the same time[46] in five main areas: air-traffic control, electronics, computers, aeronautics and languages.[47]
The current director of the university is Olivier Chansou, who succeeded former SEFA director Marc Houalla.[60][61] Chansou, the school's eighth director, was elected on 27 November 2017.[62]
The university is managed by an elected president,[75] who oversees three councils; training and research, flight training, and international relations and development.
Budget
ENAC had a 2011 budget of €126 million, a 61-percent increase over the 2010 budget.[76] This was due to the school's merger with SEFA, and included a €102 million EU subsidy.
ENAC Foundation
After several months of consideration,[77] the ENAC Foundation was established in September 2011. It aims to guide the training and research council in reforming the school's engineering program and fostering corporate partnerships. The foundation consists of technical and human resources managers from aerospace companies such as Air France, Airbus, Aéroport de Paris, Rockwell Collins, Thalès and Aéroconseil.[78]
The main campus can provide student accommodation.[91] It has a cafeteria, library, computer rooms, a fitness room, a rugby field, five tennis courts, beach volleyball, and a driving range.
Alumni of the three master's programs (the Ingénieur ENAC program, Corps of Bridges, Waters and Forests officials, and the Mastère spécialisé programs) were represented by IngENAC, an association founded in 1987 in Toulouse which was a member of the Conseil national des ingénieurs et scientifiques de France.[111] On 16 March 2012, IngENAC decided to represent all the alumni of the university and changed its name to ENAC Alumni.[112]
Continuing education
Hosting over 7,500 students in more than 600 courses annually, with revenue of €15 million, ENAC is Europe's largest organization for aeronautical continuing education. Courses are in air traffic, electronics, computer science, aeronautical engineering, and aircraft control (flight instructor), for French and foreign businesses and CGAC personnel.
Students abroad have access to the Erasmus Programme[116] and Pegasus. Eight percents of students in the 2011 Ingénieur ENAC course were foreign students;[117] forty-six percent of all students were foreign students in 2010.[118]
ENAC conducts research in accordance with the 1984 law on higher education which mandates that "la formation des ingénieurs ... comporte une activité de recherche, fondamentale ou appliquée" ("engineer training ... contains a research activity, pure or applied").[124] Research was originally organized around four areas: electronics, automation, computers, and aviation economics. In mid-2009, research teams were in the following laboratories: automatique – recherche opérationnelle (LARA) (automation – operational research),[125]économie – d'économétrie de l'aérien (LÉÉA) (economy – air econometrics),[126]étude – d'optimisation des architectures des réseaux de télécommunications (LÉOPART) (optimization of telecommunications network architecture),[127][128]électromagnétisme pour les télécommunications aéronautiques (LÉTA) (electromagnetism for aeronautical telecommunications),[129]informatique interactive (LII) (interactive computing),[130]mathématiques appliquées (LMA) (applied mathematics), optimisation du trafic aérien (LOTA) (air-traffic optimization), and traitement du signal pour les télécommunications aéronautiques (LTST) (signal processing for aeronautical telecommunications).[131]
Since 2005, ENAC has had a team specializing in UAVs which maintains and develops Paparazzi, an open-source system for automatic control of UAVs.[132] Infrastructure includes a planetarium and an air-traffic control simulator. ENAC is a founding member of the European Academy for Aviation Safety (EAFAS).[133]
During the 2005 Paris Air Show, the university announced a partnership with ONERA[134] in the fields of air traffic management, aviation safety, satellite navigation, sustainable development and aviation economics.[135] At the end of 2011, ENAC established a research organization consisting of six programs (UAVs and air-traffic control, airports, aircraft and air operations, human-computer interaction, air-ground communications and sustainable development) in four laboratories: applied mathematics – optimization – optimal control – control engineering operations research (MAIAA); signal processing – satellite positioning system – electromagnetism – networks (TELECOM); architecture – modeling – engineering of interactive systems (LII), and economics – air transport econometrics (LEEA).[136]
Rankings
National ranking (ranked for its Master of Sciences in Engineering)
Sandrine Banessy, Le rêve d'Icare – Histoire de l'aviation à Toulouse, Labége, éditions TME, 2006, 95 p. (ISBN2-7491-0415-7), p. 80 et 81 « Du rêve à la réalité »
[PDF] Agence d'évaluation de la recherche et de l'enseignement supérieur, « Rapport d'évaluation de l'École nationale de l'aviation civile », September 2010
GIFAS, Ouvrez grand vos ailes : une formation pour un métier dans l'industrie aéronautique et spatiale, Paris, GIFAS, 2011, 62 p., p. 41
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