Welcome message by the Executive Director

Dear Visitor,

Thank you for visiting the website of the European Aviation Safety Agency.

The Agency has been growing rapidly since it started operations in 2003. Some 500 experts and administrators from all over Europe currently work at our headquarters in Cologne, Germany.

Together with the Agency, the requirements of our website have grown significantly. An increasing volume of information needs to be published while at the same time remaining clear and visible.

The Agency’s enhanced website is designed to better serve the needs of our different partners in industry and the public sector. We also aim to provide relevant information for European citizens about our work in the context of the European Union’s aviation policy.

A special effort has been made to simplify the website’s navigation and to offer information in all Community languages, as far as possible. Further improvements will be added in the course of the migration process to match the growing demands of our users in the fast-developing aviation sector.

We hope you will visit our enhanced website frequently and find the information you require.

Should you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Yours sincerely,

Patrick Goudou
Executive Director

Patrick Goudou

Patrick Goudou was born in 1950 in Paris, France. After graduating from the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris, he went on to train at the Ecole Supérieure de l’Aéronautique et de l’ Espace in Toulouse with a specialization in aero-engines.

In 1975 he started his professional career at the French General Delegation for Armaments (Délégation Générale pour l’Armement – DGA), where he worked primarily in the aeronautical sector. For ten years he was responsible for testing civil and military aero-engines at the DGA Engines Test Centre at Saclay. He was then appointed to a series of management posts in economic control and industrial strategy, with particular emphasis on the aerospace industry and the question of its restructuring to European level. In 1997 he became Director for Commercial and International Affairs at the French shipyard DCN.

At the beginning of 2002 he was appointed Chief Executive of the French Aeronautical Maintenance Agency (Service de la maintenance aéronautique – SMA), a body responsible for engineering, industrial maintenance and repairs to aircraft, engines and aircraft equipment, as well as for the design and production of aeronautical parts.

He has been Executive Director of the European Aviation Safety Agency since the Agency’s start of operations in 2003.

He is married and has three children.

EASA DIRECTORS

Patrick GOUDOU, Executive Director
Jules KNEEPKENS, Rulemaking Director
Norbert LOHL, Certification Director
Francesco BANAL, Approvals and Standardisation Director
Luc VANHEEL, Finance and Business Services Director