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.
Transport Canada (TC) has ordered Dash 8 Classic operators to inspect engine nacelle firewalls for heat damage, and ensure that starter/generator terminal blocks have required insulation after in-service reports of arcing between uninsulated terminal blocks and firewalls. The airworthiness directive (AD), issued Jan. 10, gives operators of Dash 8-100s, -200s, and -300s 3,000 flight cycles or 18 months to perform the checks. Bombardier recommended the work in a September 2013 service bulletin.
The finalized U.S.-certified repair station security rule, a significantly scaled back version of what the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) originally proposed in 2009, is a reflection of industry feedback that sought a more focused, purpose-driven set of regulations.
A decade after Congress mandated that the Transportation Security Administration adopt new repair station security regions, the agency is finally issuing the rule and effectively lifting a ban on certification of new foreign repair stations. Congress, frustrated with TSA’s inaction on the issue, banned FAA from certifying new foreign repair stations until the final rule was issued. That ban had been in place for more than five years, and the number of repair stations awaiting FAA certification had grown to more than 90.
