I'm not sure much is in the public domain on that incident (although I seem to remember a good write up in Mod(PE)'s, "feedback" circa 1998), but it happened just as it was being proposed to remove the requirement for flight test crews in helos to carry parachutes - since nobody had ever used them. That particular proposal has, unsurprisingly, not seen the light of day since.
You were probably looking for something more frivolous, but either a "crew" or "department" are the usual collective nouns for TPs and FTEs.
G