Deaths - Funerals

It is with great sadness that we learn of the death of Daniel MOTTARD, which occurred on November 9, 2025 in Saint GAUDENS.

A member of the ITNA/E 66/67 class, he was highly motivated by flying, having already been a glider and private pilot. On his return from military cooperation in Senegal, he was assigned to SFACT/TU in early '71. At the end of '71, he was certified as a pilot with the Corps Techniques de la Navigation Aérienne, and at the end of '72 as an IFR pilot, after having completed the Challes-les-E\aux training courses.

In 74, he was posted to Africa, first to Gabon. In 75, he was posted to Niger. Here he gained experience on Fokker 28s and PA31 Chieftains.

Back in France, at the same SFACT/TU office, he managed to convince the highly innovative Technical Director that it was essential for engineers in charge of operational regulations and technical control to be more involved in the company's development.technical control, to be more involved in commercial aircraft piloting techniques and their modern equipment such as the Head Up Display (France was then a leader in cat II/III precision approaches). As a result, a qualification on the DC10 was financed for him and one of his colleagues.

He then moved to French Polynesia, where he flew the BE90 and rounded off his DC10 experience. He was then posted to Bordeaux for 3 years as head of the SNA department at DRAC/SO, before returning to French Polynesia, this time as airfield commander at Tahiti Fa'aa, where he was able to fly both PA31 Navajo and BE20.

His activities as an operational technical inspector and pilot are included in the memoir of the Pilotes des Corps Techniques de la Navigation Aérienne, which should be published as soon as the funding problems encountered today have been resolved.