Sean Broderick covers aviation safety, MRO, and the hardware side of the airline business from Aviation Week Network's Washington, D.C. office.
Broderick's aviation career started in 1991, working for Airbus in Toulouse. His industry experience includes four years with an aviation consultancy, where he helped launch a U.S. Part 121 carrier; 12 years with the American Association of Airport Executives, where he served as editor of Airport Magazine; and 20 years in full- and part-time roles with Aviation Week writing primarily about safety and the aftermarket.
Broderick was named the 2020 Aerospace Journalist of the Year by the Aerospace Media Awards. He also shared in a 2020 Neal Award for Best News Coverage with Aviation Week Network colleagues. Broderick and Aviation Week colleague John Croft shared the 2015 Flight Safety International Cecil A. Brownlow Publication Award recognizing "significant contributions by journalists to aviation safety awareness."
He graduated from James Madison University with a B.S. in Communications ('91) and earned an M.S. in Integrated Marketing Communications ('13) from West Virginia University.
Europe Almost Perfect Three years into the bilateral aviation safety agreement (BASA) between the U.S. and the European Union (EU), few would dispute the pact’s benefits. The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the FAA rely on each other’s judgment for certification and surveillance, and industry benefits from a more streamlined regulatory process. Still, reports Karl Specht, EASA’s continuing airworthiness organization manager, both industry and regulators see areas for improvement.
Washington Proactive Push The FAA’s transition to a sustainable, risk-based oversight system requires aligning many key elements. None is more important than comprehensive datasets to help the agency prioritize how it allocates resources.
A South American carrier and long-time CF6-80C2 operator approached General Electric (GE) recently with a request: help maximize the operating life of some engines with more than 20 years in service and optimize remaining life-cycle, rather than up-front, costs. GE and the airline created workscopes that factored in both service life, to maximize on-wing time, and operations metrics such as fuel burn, to boost efficiency.
