"Steve House"
shared these priceless pearls of wisdom:

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

OK, that's a good start.


but my
-understanding of what TSO means is that 1: the product was type accepted,

Nope. It means the manufacturer tested the unit in accordance with the
Technical Service Order and it met some arbitrary specification. Look up the
TSO for audio panels some day. There are still vestiges of vacuum tube
terminology.

-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,

Nope. That's the installer/approver's job.


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.

Nope. That's PMA.

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.

And how many airplanes did you say you have owned or paid the maintenance bill
on?


-If my understanding of the QA issues regarding TSO is correct, this would
-certainly increase the price of the product because testing of each and
-every unit coming off the line is certainly going to be more expensive than
-testing randomly selected samples.

Even if the FAA approved testing procedure calls for random sampling? Not
hardly.


Because of the unforgiving nature of
-aviation, uncertainty of product quality where safety of flight is concerned
-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,
-even if they're carried enclosed in fire resistant pouches.

Did anybody say anything about bursting into flame? Sydney said the damn thing
got hot to the point of softening the plastic case. Don't build hysteria with
wild-ass projections.

And, if you are so worried about product quality, then build 'em yourself. That
way you have 100% control over the product and performance.

www.rstengineering.com {;-)


Jim



Jim Weir (A&P/IA, CFI, & other good alphabet soup)
VP Eng RST Pres. Cyberchapter EAA Tech. Counselor
http://www.rst-engr.com