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.
Rudder travel limiters on transport-category airplanes -- designed to control the amount of available rudder movement at higher airspeeds -- may not be effective when airspeed changes rapidly, such as during an-flight upset, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has concluded. As a result, NTSB has recommended that the FAA examine airplanes with the systems and, if necessary, order modifications to fix any problems.
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.
