Sam Twala

Sam Twala obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Electronic Engineering from the University of Pretoria. He also obtained a Master’s degree in Aviation from Massey University (New Zealand) in 2016.

He worked for the South African Civil Aviation Authority from 2011 as a Certification Engineer and later joined the Unmanned Aircraft Systems department as a “UAS specialist”. Amongst others, his responsibilities included the development of the regulations and technical standards for Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems.

Sam served as a special adviser to the South African member of the International Civil Aviation Organisation Unmanned Aircraft System Study Group and later served as a member of the RPAS Panel from its inception until 2016. He also served as a member of the Joint Authorities for Rulemaking of Unmanned Systems (JARUS).

He worked at ATNS as a Senior Systems Engineer with a focus on Communications, Surveillance and Navigations (CNS) systems. He is a recipient of the European UVS International Catherine Fargeon award