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.
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has reduced life limits on a batch of Rolls-Royce Trent 700 and RB211-535 turbine disks contaminated with steel “inclusions” during manufacturing by a supplier. The problem affects 20 intermediate and high pressure (HP) disks, 17 of which are installed on Trent 700s powering Airbus A330s.
An informal industry working group creating training and materials to help pilots improve flight deck monitoring skills is pushing to have its final product out by year-end, group members say.
If mandatory federal spending cuts put in place this year carry over into fiscal year 2014, the FAA should not be expected to come through as unscathed as it did this year, a top Senate staffer warns. “Everybody expects we’re going to have another critical point in September” once Congress gets back to work after a summer break and the Oct. 1 start of fiscal 2014 looms, says Senate aviation subcommittee staff member Rich Swayze. As far as FAA’s budget is concerned he notes, “I’m not sure it’s going to be as easy as it was in June.”
