David Peterson
Manager
Airworthiness Emerging Technologies
CASA
David has 25 years of experience in technical and leadership positions in the aerospace,
commercial and defence sectors. He is currently the Manager of Airworthiness Emerging
Technologies in the Airworthiness and Engineering Branch of CASA, where he is responsible for
developing airworthiness policies to enable new technologies such as RPAS and AAM to safely
enter the market. He is also a CASA representative to the ICAO Airworthiness Panel (AIRP) and
the rapporteur of its initial airworthiness working group (AIRP WG-2).
Prior to joining CASA, David worked for 18 years in software and systems engineering in the
private sector, across commercial, defence and early-stage technology company domains,
including as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of two startup companies.
David holds degrees in electrical engineering, physics and computer science, and is a Fellow of
the Institution of Engineers Australia. He currently serves on Engineers Australia’s National
Committee for Space Engineering (NCSpE) and is a former Secretary of the Systems Engineering
Society of Australia (SESA).
In his occasional spare time, he also tries to maintain his claim to being a proficient instrumentrated private pilot
