Originally Posted by
OldnGrounded
Umm . . . I'm not sure how you understood what I wrote to suggest otherwise, but . . . it did not and I do not. I simply said that the fact that FAA personnel were present at the referenced test doesn't mean or indicate anything about delegation to the manufacturer. And it doesn't.
Yes, it does. The FAA can choose to witness
any cert test they want - even if the test has been delegated. Once the FAA chooses to witness the test, the FAA assumes the responsibility for the acceptability of the test and test results (e.g. pass/fail). Quite common in flight testing - the FAA will often decide they want to ride along to observe even if the test is delegated - once they do that they effectively override the ARs (delegated equivalent of a DER) in determining the acceptability of the testing and the results. And yes, it often goes the other way as well - the FAA retains a flight test, but for some reason decide not to go along on the flight test - automatically delegating the authority to the Boeing ARs witnessing the test.