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.
Nine U.S. majors are in the process of improving their overall safety oversight systems, but none have been found in violation of any of the Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR), according to preliminary results of an FAA audit of their safety monitoring system. FAA began reviewing nine U.S. majors -- American, America West, Continental Delta, Northwest, Southwest, TWA, United, and US Airways -- in July after an investigation of the 10th, Alaska, turned up systemic violations in safety oversight.
FAA in December ordered inspections of Boeing 747-400 longeron splice fittings after nearly a dozen in-service reports turned up cracking on the same area in older models. The 747-400 fittings targeted by the rule (AD No. 2000-10-23) -- four on each side of the fuselage on stringer 11 at body station 2598 -- are similar to ones used on older models that were the subject of a June regulation requiring similar checks, FAA said.
Granting industry wishes aimed at minimizing aircraft downtime, FAA is giving operators of some 1,300 U.S.-registered Boeing jets an extra year to swap cockpit drip shields and environmental system ductwork that don't meet flammability standards. In a pair of airworthiness directives (ADs) published in late December, FAA extended compliance times to fix the problems based on comments from operators that said a six-year window would fit better with maintenance schedules than the five years originally proposed by the agency in August.
