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 FAA’s proposed fiscal 2014 budget of $15.6 billion cuts $351 million from fiscal 2012’s actual level largely by trimming airport grants, a move that failed in recent years. The budget, released yesterday by the Obama administration, includes $9.7 billion for operations, $2.8 billion for facilities and equipment (F&E), $166 million for research and development, and $2.9 billion for the Airport and Airway Trust Fund-backed Airport Improvement Program (AIP).
The Essential Air Service (EAS) program would receive a $246 million slice of Obama administration’s fiscal 2014 budget if the figures proposed yesterday by the U.S. Transportation Department (DOT) hold up, giving the program a 27% boost from 2012’s $193 million actual budget. DOT proposed allocating $146 million in Airport and Airway Trust Fund-sourced discretionary appropriation and another $100 million in foreign carrier overflight fees to EAS.
The FAA has mandated a Boeing-recommended fix to install new elevator components on all 737 Next Generation aircraft that addresses a problem linked to at least two instances of inflight elevator vibrations. The airworthiness directive (AD 2013-06-05), based on a Boeing service bulletin issued in April 2012, gives operators 60 months to replace left and right elevator tab control mechanisms with pieces with modified attach lugs, or modifying the lug assemblies alone.
