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 recently issued order on Instructions for Continued Airworthiness (ICA) appears to give independent repair stations a bit more access to key repair data, but stops well short of adopting all of the proposals put forth by a repair station industry group last year.
FAA has checked off only one of nine fixes it proposed in response to criticism in a 2003 DOT Inspector General's (IG) office audit on repair station usage, and shifting trends make it imperative that the agency pick up the pace, the IG said.
Representatives from the Aeronautical Repair Station Association (ARSA) have asked to meet with European civil aviation officials in September to flesh out a disagreement over repair design approval parameters recently established by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
