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.
Airbus is offering incentives for A320-family operators to upgrade legacy flight management guidance computers (FMGCs) with newer systems designed to prevent runway overruns, according to a European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) bulletin. The program, in place since mid-summer, targets about 385 older A319s, A320s and A321s currently in service. The program replaces FMGCs with updated logic and Runway Overrun Warning/ Runway Overrun Protection System (ROW/ROPS).
Airbus A380 operators are facing mandatory checks for fatigue cracking in a specific belly area after scheduled maintenance checks uncovered damage. The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has issued a proposed airworthiness directive (PAD 13-173) that, if adopted, would require “detailed inspections” along the belly frame leading edge profile at fuselage frames 35-37.
The 34-member working group (WG) that studied flight path management agrees that airline pilots need more tools to maintain so-called hand-flying skills, but stopped short of suggesting specific remedies, or even agreeing on a baseline for what solid manual piloting means.
