True, but to be fair, the phrase used in the advert was "work on"; I recall all the excitement when I was there and Sqn Ldr ***** **** became the first Eurofighter project pilot to actually fly the thing - and I think he was about the 4th pilot in that post. Similarly how many Nimrod 2000 project pilots have there been? - and have any of them actually flown it yet.
It's always been vital to have pilots, preferably TPs, involved as early as possible in the design and approval process of any flying machine hasn't it - nobody ever said that test flying was solely a flying job.
I'm sure you're right about flying being hard to come by, it always has been for many in the test flying world. We could certainly argue that's a bad thing and when it happens something should be done about it, but perhaps if we do that should be in another thread.
G