Firstly, I agree that some form of licensing, such as is used in Europe, would be a good thing. However I have reservations about any new system. I'm sure we've all seen some new system implemented (large or small scale) that either isn't worth the paper it's written on, or makes you jump through so many hoops it turns into a bureaucratic nightmare.
I have flown with a couple of non TPS graduate test pilots, and found them to be indistinguishable from the TPS graduates. Different pilots had different strengths, this didn't seem to be related to TPS/non-TPS training. It sometimes seemed to have more to do with which service they learnt to fly with (all TPs I've worked with learnt their craft in a Military environment).
As I posted on Genghis' questions thread, I would support some form of sliding scale.
How would licensing of FTEs be done? Where I used to work, 9 out of 10 TPs had done TPS, but out of the 20 FTEs I am not aware of any that had a formal TPS based training. We all went on some 1 week courses (IGDS in the UK, for instance), which were very useful, but how many of these, and what sort, would qualify one as an FTE?
As for sitting exams, again I would have to ask, what subjects? I am employed to do flight testing, I plan and conduct flight trials, exam the data, write reports and make recommendations, does this make an FTE? I have been doing this sort of thing for about 4.5 years, does that make me an FTE? Getting back to the exam subjects, most people would probably come up with aeronautical sounding subjects. This would leave me completely stuffed. I have an electronics degree, I started out as an avionics integration and test engineer, and it's my avionics background that got me the job in the flight test department. In that department there were people who had aeronautical backgrounds, but were luddites when came to any thing with electricity in it (much as I was with aerodynamics and handling), would this prevent them being FTEs in the current technological era? I may have picked up a lot of knowledge about aeronautical subjects, and can ask intelligent (well, usually) questions, but I don't think I know enough to pass an exam.
Should FTEs be licensed for certain areas of test only?
Licensing of TPs may be difficult, but I would also argue that licensing of FTEs would not be easy either.
John - Your earlier comment about test pilots getting things fixed etc rings seems familiar, a lot of the time I feel more in agreement with the customer than the company, but can't openly display it too much without the danger being unemployed.
I think this is the longest post I’ve ever written.