Steve House wrote:
Assuming the problems reported are legit

In other words, maybe I'm an idiot or making this up? Good start....


, this seems to indicate a quality
assurance issue with the manufacturer.

No argument there.

I was just looking over the
Lightspeed web site and didn't see any indication that their headsets were
TSO'd.

True. Neither are any of the other ANR headsets AFAIK

Now I will be the first to admit I'm a newby so I my impressions may
be in error and as such take anything I say with a grain of salt but my
understanding of what TSO means is that 1: the product was type accepted,
passed testing to insure that it did what it was supposed to and was
compatible with and did not interact negatively with the other aircraft
systems, and 2: that the manufacturer has quality assurance programs in
effect that would insure all products coming off the line met the same
performance standards as the samples submitted for approval.

Negative. What TSO'd means is that the product met the "type
standards order" the FAA has produced for that type of product.

The TSO for a given product may literally be decades old, and a
product which meets it may (of necessity) be inferior to a product
which does not.

The TSO says nothing about testing/compatibility with other
aircraft systems.

The TSO says nothing about quality assurance. It simply says that
the product, as designed and evaluated, met the standards of the order.
QA is what a "PMA" is supposed to be about.

I may be wrong, but it seems to me to be foolish to buy non-TSO'ed
equipment for permanent aircraft installation or for use by the
PIC or FO if there is one.

We-eeeel, when you're making your purchasing and maintenance decisions,
you're entitled to chose according to your convictions.

Just remember this: Bernoulli not Marconi makes the plane fly.

And here's another little tidbit for you: I've been in the
clag with a TSO'd transponder which was emitting smoke and the
charming odure of frying electronics. So I wouldn't bet the
rent on the TSO quality thing.

is something I personally can't afford at any price and battery packs that
spontaneously burst into flame certainly seem to me to be a safety issue,

Who on earth talked about "battery packs that spontaneously burst
into flame?"

Jay (who has not experienced this problem) wondered if this could
happen, and I explained: no.

The thing did get durned hot, and could conceivably have melted
low-temperature plastic on which it was placed. It was not hot
enough to ignite either paper or plastic and was unlikely to become
so, because the plastic deformed and ended the short circuit
long before that point.

HTH,
Sydney