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 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has agreed to reconsider the applicability of its self-described ``clarification'' of drug and alcohol testing program policies, but early indications are that the rule will apply to anyone that does aircraft maintenance -- regardless of where they fall in the supply chain.
Boeing and its 737 customers are ahead of schedule on a seven-year effort to install redesigned rudder control systems on some 5,000 in-service airplanes, including 2,000 U.S. operated aircraft directly affected by FAA's 2002 order. The October 2002 airworthiness directive (AD) gives U.S. operators until Nov. 12, 2008, six years from the rule's effective date, to upgrade nearly 2,000 in-service airplanes. Boeing rolled out what it terms the rudder system ``enhancements'' plan for both the in-service fleet and the production line in September 2000.
Putting three- and four-engine transport aircraft, and business jets, under the first-ever ETOPS regulations proposed by FAA would cost too much money for the minimal gain in safety -- and some suggest that applying a few long-standing ETOPS practices to today's non-ETOPS long-range operations actually could decrease safety margins. That's the prevailing opinion of the international aviation community, gleaned from comments on FAA's ``extended operations (ETOPS) of multi-engine airplanes'' notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM), which was published Nov. 14.
