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.
FAA's five-year effort to radically overhaul Service Difficulty Report (SDR) filing requirements was put on indefinite hold in September when the agency officially shelved its September 2000 final rule, issued a new proposal for minor changes, and said it would continue to explore a more sweeping SDR overhaul.
An Emirates Boeing 777 has had problems with engine pylon skin panels three times in the past three years -- including twice on the same panel -- but neither Boeing nor the airline are quite sure why. They believe, however, that the problem is limited to the single plane in question.
As interest in PMA parts increases outside the United States, suppliers are finding that most barriers to market entry exist not at the regulatory level, but at the cultural level -- as in, the attitudes of potential customers. The parameters on PMA usage in aviation's biggest non-U.S. markets, European and Asian countries, were, for the most part, established well before market demand dictated they were needed. Now that PMA interest is increasing, those parameters will be put to good use.
