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.
Boeing suppliers are developing “a sense of acceptance” that the manufacturer’s push for a 15% reduction in supply chain costs won’t ease up even as the economy improves, an informal survey of several major suppliers by Canaccord Genuity finds. Whether the push will succeed remains to be seen.
Inadequate regulatory oversight was the most common contributor to fatal air transport accidents from 2009-13, and among the most cited factors in all accidents, an International Air Transport Association (IATA) analysis reveals. IATA examined 432 qualifying accidents in the five-year period, including 94 with fatalities, and broke down the causal factors in each accident sequence. It then categorized the factors into five broad categories: Latent conditions, (external) threats, flight crew errors, undesired aircraft states, and countermeasures.
January’s news that BAE Systems Regional (BAESR) used additive layer manufacturing—better known as 3-D printing—to make an out-of-production spare part for its Avro RJ line turned a few heads. In commercial aftermarket circles, however, it is the company’s work in a similar area—producing European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA)-certified independent replacement parts—that is even more notable.
