Louis Pailhas (2 March 1926 – 6 February 2021) was a French

public servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

. From December 1967 to 1982, he was the director-general of the ''

École nationale de l'aviation civile École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

'' (French civil aviation university).

Biography

Pailhas was born in

Foix Foix (; oc, Fois ; ca, Foix ) is a commune, the former capital of the County of Foix. It is the capital of the department of Ariège as it is the seat of the Préfecture of that department. Foix is located in the Occitanie region of southwe ...

. After high school studies at the ''

Lycée Pierre-de-Fermat The Lycée Pierre-de-Fermat, also referred to simply as Pierre-de-Fermat, is a public Lycée, located in the ''Parvis des Jacobins'' in Toulouse, in the immediate vicinity of the Place du Capitole; It occupies a large space in the city center i ...

'' in

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

and the ''

classe préparatoire aux grandes écoles The ''classes préparatoires aux grandes écoles'' (CPGE) (English: Higher School Preparatory Classes), commonly called ''classes prépas'' or ''prépas'', are part of the French post-secondary education system. They consist of two years of stud ...

'' at the ''

lycée Louis-le-Grand The Lycée Louis-le-Grand (), also referred to simply as Louis-le-Grand or by its acronym LLG, is a public Lycée (French secondary school, also known as sixth form college) located on rue Saint-Jacques in central Paris. It was founded in the ...

'' in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

,PAILHAS Louis
/ref> he graduated from the

École Polytechnique École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

(X 46) and ''

'' (IAC 49). He began his career as a civil aviation engineer in

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

from 1951 to 1956 and then to the board of directors of the ''direction du secrétariat général de l'aviation civile et commerciale'' until 1959. The same year he was appointed director of the air navigation regional center of

Orly Orly () is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France. It is located from the center of Paris. The name of Orly came from Latin ''Aureliacum'', "the villa of Aurelius". Orly Airport partially lies on the territory of the comm ...

, a position he held until 1965. Deputy Director (1965) of the ''

'', he was appointed director of the university in December 1967, the first to hold that position in

. He resigned in January 1982. After that, he was nominated air navigation director at the

Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development, Transport and Housing The Ministry of Ecological Transition (French: ''Ministère de la Transition écologique''), commonly just referred to as Ministry of Ecology, is a department of the Government of France. It is responsible for preparing and implementing the gov ...

. He retired in 1990. In 1998, he was assistant of the Mayor

Dominique Baudis Dominique Baudis (; 14 April 1947 – 10 April 2014) was the French Defender of Rights (ombudsman). Formerly a journalist, politician and mayor of Toulouse, he had been a member of Liberal Democracy and later of the leading centre-right Union ...

for the city of

and then deputy Mayor for science, aeronautics and space activities in 2001. From 16 March 2008 till 15 March 2014, he was councillor of Bouilh-Devant. Louis Pailhas died in

Muret Muret (; in Gascon Occitan ''Murèth'') is a commune in the Haute-Garonne department, of which it is a subprefecture, in the Occitanie region of southwestern France. Its inhabitants are called ''Muretains''. It is an outer suburb of the city o ...

on 6 February 2021, twenty four days short of his 95th birthday.Louis PAILHAS
/ref> Louis Pailhas was member of the ''

Académie de l'air et de l'espace The Académie de l'air et de l'espace (AAE) is the French national Air and Space Academy. Established in 1983 in Toulouse on the initiative of André Turcat, the aims of the academy are the following: "To encourage the development of high quality ...

''.

Awards

Ordre national du Mérite The Ordre national du Mérite (; en, National Order of Merit) is a French order of merit with membership awarded by the President of the French Republic, founded on 3 December 1963 by President Charles de Gaulle. The reason for the order's esta ...

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

Médaille de l'Aéronautique The Aeronautical Medal (french: "Médaille de l'Aéronautique") is a state decoration of France established by the decree of February 14, 1945. It is awarded to both military personnel and civilians for outstanding accomplishments related to t ...

Bibliography

* Académie nationale de l'air et de l'espace and Lucien Robineau, ''Les français du ciel, dictionnaire historique'', Le Cherche midi, June 2005, 782 p. ()

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pailhas, Louis French aerospace engineers École Polytechnique alumni École nationale de l'aviation civile alumni Corps de l'aviation civile Corps des ponts 1926 births 2021 deaths Lycée Pierre-de-Fermat alumni Lycée Louis-le-Grand alumni Knights of the Ordre national du Mérite Knights of the Legion of Honour French politicians Directors of the École nationale de l'aviation civile Recipients of the Aeronautical Medal