Not talking about airliners, or anything turbine powered. Textron and Piper are still selling designs from the 1950’s. Lycoming and Continental still selling engine designs older than that. Cirrus is the only manufacturer selling a newer design. I too am speaking with 25years experience in pt135 ops. Getting anything approved by the FAA can be and still is a test in patience. My local FSDO hasn’t done any field approvals for years. I would not be surprised if SpaceX were to move to Florida that they could find a FSDO that is more accommodating. The administrator’s answers make it look to me that the individual FSDO districts still run independent of Washington, in other words nothing has changed in the way the FAA does business.