Helilog yup I agree with some of what you are saying but a load of designs are years old and not really rocket science. Look at bearings these are generally normal industrial bearings but with aviation paperwork put on them.
Most of the older designs were R and D by the military, 269,369,206,105 to name a few
All of you defending the industry can't answer why 269 pitch links have trebled in price, come on Snoopy answer the question.
Have you seen some of the law suits against car manufacturers ?You seem to think there should be a different level between the auto motive industry and the aviation industry in terms of proactive safety ? Aviation has only just started to have SMS where the automotive boys have had it for over 25 years ! Mind you that is obvious as they recall stuff when there is a doubt on it. What does aviation do, it will be all right, just look at Super puma gearboxes in the North Sea. Things are only done when people die, the automotive boys SMS tries to stop this because they are frightened of huge law suits .