At a gala dinner held yesterday, Monday, in Cape Town, South Africa, the AviAssist Foundation in conjunction with the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation CANSO, announced Uganda's Daniel Wanjala as the winner of its 2012 African Aviator Award, this year selecting Air Traffic Management/Control as the area of expertise for the award.
The AviAssist Foundation is an independent, non-profit organization that provides safety support to African countries and companies and aims to inspire and promote professionalism in African aviation safety. It does so in close coordination with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), stakeholders and safety support providers as part of the Flight Safety Foundation family.
2012's recipient, Daniel Wanjala is an air traffic management inspector with the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority and former president of the Uganda Air Traffic Controllers’ Association.
Presenting the award, AviAssist's Tom Kok noted:
“Despite regular press reports on accidents, air transport is one of the safest modes of transport, also in Africa" says AviAssist director Tom Kok. “Working together with our partners is essential to ensure that we continue to improve safety in the years ahead. This year’s recipient, Daniel Wanjala, is a worthy recipient of this award.
Daniel Wanjala (right) at the CANSO dinner
As an air traffic management inspector with the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority, he has had great success in building better understanding between professionals in the aviation industry. One of his key achievements was building a flight deck familiarization program for air traffic controllers,” stated Kok. “Professionals like Wanjala are enabling us to raise the bar for aviation safety and I’m very pleased to be able to present it to him today,” Kok continued.
“Throughout his career, Daniel Wanjala has worked to promote regional co-operation and co-operation with neighbouring states. Troubled neighboring Sudan has benefited from his efforts to improve co-ordination between the two countries. As former president of the Uganda Air Traffic Controllers’ Association, Daniel has introduced the global air traffic controller association IFATCA to the East African Community’s regional safety oversight organization CASSOA. As such, Daniel’s work complements the efforts of the Foundation to boost regional co-operation as one of the solutions to safety oversight challenges in the African region” elaborated Kok.
The award was presented to Mr. Wanjala at the CANSO Global ATM Safety conference gala dinner in Cape Town, hosted by South Africa’s Air Traffic Control organization ATNS and sponsored by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.
