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.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is concerned that certain fuselage repairs could be masking fatigue cracks that, if left undetected, may pose structural failure risks to aircraft. The board recommended that FAA tackle the problem with rulemaking and education of technical personnel. NTSB's concern stems from the still-open probe into the May 2002 in-flight breakup of China Airlines Flight 611, a Boeing 747-200, over the Taiwan Straits.
FAA is getting strong opposition to a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that would mandate tamper-proof transponders, with industry questioning the need to make the systems more secure on top of the myriad steps already taken to improve aviation security. Boeing's input was typical of many commenters. It pointed to improved airport screening and security, reinforced cockpit doors and the push to create ``trusted traveler'' programs as examples of beefed up security measures that obviate the need for hijack-proofing systems found on flightdecks.
With just a few weeks remaining before the April 9 deadline to have cockpit doors upgraded, FAA wasn't wavering on its insistence that flight deck security would be achieved on a one-level-of-safety basis. But cargo carriers that were affected by the mandate got a reprieve from an unlikely source: Congress. In mid-February, FAA denied requests from AirTran Airways and American Airlines to fly some planes past the deadline without the new doors.
