It happens that in most non-military environments anybody qualified as a TP is also qualified as part of that route to carry out periodic or post maintenance air tests. When I worked at Boscombe (as an FTE, in fact I suspect that we have flown together), post maintenance air tests (which I did run on occasion) were flown by a convenient TP qualified on type. I wasn't aware that had changed or possibly that the situation was never adequately explained to me and I just got lucky each time I asked for pilots for the task?
There are organisations - such as Airbus or UK-CAA who seem very reluctant to employ non TPS graduates despite both UK and France having industries who in large part use non-graduate TPs who have worked their way up (OK, the UK hasn't much of an industry left, but of I think 9 F1 B-conditions organisations, I'd guess 5 don't have use of a TPS graduate). To be fair to those who do, employing a graduate is pretty much a certainty of competence, and you really need to spend time and money assessing a non-graduate - which may be the reason.
The use of the term "Mafia" is tongue in cheek and I apologise if I've caused offence (remember when half the senior staff of the scientific civil service seemed to be Welsh - they were termed the "taffia mafia" I intended a similarly light context), but nonetheless organisations run by TPS graduates are noticeably reluctant to recruit non-TPS graduates. ETPS itself, when I went through the course, had no TP or FTE tutors who weren't TPS graduates.
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Last edited by Genghis the Engineer; 10th October 2003 at 08:33.