Has anyone been involved in developing an STC?

CFI A&P

Exploring the world one toilet at a time.
A friend of mine has asked me to help steer him in the direction of developing their own STC, well technically modifying an existing STC but the modification is extensive enough that it meets the criteria of major alteration. I understand the academic process of getting a DER and the FSDO involved, but what can my friend expect to encounter with this?

Stolen picture for attention:
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A friend of mine has asked me to help steer him in the direction of developing their own STC, well technically modifying an existing STC but the modification is extensive enough that it meets the criteria of major alteration. I understand the academic process of getting a DER and the FSDO involved, but what can my friend expect to encounter with this?

Stolen picture for attention:
View attachment 58836
Your buddy wants to put winglets on Air Tractors?
 
I was involved installing a smoke system on a Lear 24 for The One Who Shall Not Be Named, I heard chatter about an STC for it, but there was no realistic demand and a 337 was all it ended up with.
 
This is when the guys on the RV forum start chuckling and open the Aircraft Spruce catalog....
Well, the suffering of the FreeFlight STC paved the way for a lot of that stuff you can get now in the Spruce catalog, because even the stuff for non-certified aircraft has to meet some minimum standard if it’s going to be broadcasting up in the NAS.
To be fair, a lot of the problems were with the vendor the FAA chose (because they were the only place that put in a decent bid) being incompetent and/or scumbags.
 
To be fair, a lot of the problems were with the vendor the FAA government agency chose (because they were the only place that put in a decent bid) being incompetent and/or scumbags.

Adjusted the above for clarity. This is, interestingly enough, quite common in multiple industries.
 
Adjusted the above for clarity. This is, interestingly enough, quite common in multiple industries.
In this case, lack of detail in the RFP +the vendor taking a software shortcut contributed to a midair collision that killed a bunch of people. I’ll see if I can find a source that lays out the chain of events completely and clearly, if I can’t I may have to type it out because it’s very much a Swiss cheese alignment kind of deal and I was sort of involved in the process.
 
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