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.
As it works to analyze what went wrong with a US Airways CF6-80C2 last fall, GE is making progress on a pair of other nagging problems with the venerable engine family. The manufacturer has redesigned CF6-50 low-pressure turbine nozzle locks, blamed for three engine failures on Continental DC-10s last year when they broke and allowed the nozzles to rotate freely in the casings, and made them available to operators, a GE spokesman confirmed. The new locks feature stronger materials as well as a new design.
An uncontained failure during a routine post-maintenance engine run-up by US Airways mechanics has NTSB concerned about the adequacy of General Electric's CF6-80 high pressure turbine (HPT) stage 1 disk design.
U.K.-based BBA Aviation will buy Gulfstream's engine overhaul and repair operations in Dallas, and Gulfstream will purchase BBA's maintenance centers in Dallas, Las Vegas, Minneapolis and West Palm Beach, Fla.
