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.
NTSB wants FAA to weed out aircraft cabin pressure altimeters that, under extreme circumstances, can display inaccurate information. The board, probing several incidents, found that certain dial-type altimeters can, as pressure drops, inaccurately show a high pressure as the gauge falls below the lowest value, comes around the bottom of the gauge, and goes back into the high-value zone. Installing a hard stop for the pointer or upgrading the dials to digital displays are two ways to fix the problem, NTSB said in a letter to FAA.
FAA's effort to update its drug and alcohol testing policy could, if adopted as proposed, derail the MRO business by putting too much cost burden on both repair stations and their vendors without creating tangible safety benefits, according to critics. Even worse, the rule could prove burdensome enough to drive some key service companies from seeking aviation work that would force them to comply with the new FAA regulations, said a group of 15 industry organizations in joint comments to FAA.
Eleven U.S. airlines are using some $3.3 million in FAA grant money in a pilot program to test cabin video surveillance and other security enhancements that, if found effective, may become mandatory. Meanwhile, the first so-called Phase II cockpit door kits are also are being shipped and U.S. airlines are scrambling to meet FAA's mandate of having them fleet-wide by April 9, 2003.
