"Dave Stadt" wrote in message
. ..

Hardly, the FAA could care less about quality. They simply want
compliance with some 50 year old out of date piece of paper.

It's obvious from that statement that you've never attempted to obtain a TSO
Authorization. A TSOA is both a design AND manufacturing authorization.
Not only do you have to show that the design meets the TSO, you must also
show that you can consistently manufacture the product IAW the design
documentation and that the finished product meets the production standards.

Meeting the manufacturing requirements involves conformity inspections of
finished product in addition to having a quality system of processes,
standards, and training to ensure that every product you ship meets the
standards. The MIDO approves your program and performs routine audits every
year or two. Fail an audit and you can lose your TSOA. At the very least,
your line will be shut down until you implement corrective actions and the
MIDO it signs off.

And while there are a few old TSOs like the one for sensitive altimeters
(which really haven't changed in 50 years), the majority of TSOs are less
than 15 years old. You should also consider that a major objective of TSOs
is ensuring interoperability (on the airspace side not the aircraft side --
AEEC and GAMA push for that) so constantly changing standards is not
necessarily a good thing.

Gerry