Thanks for all the replies, guys. I dont want to take any risks, I have business involvements with US entities, I will do things strictly by the book, even if absurd. I just want to find out what it says in the book.
However it is difficult to discover what the true position is on a visa for getting ASES, there seems to be no way of getting sense from some call-centre operative who types "flight training" into his/her database and sees "VISA REQUIRED" on the screen.
There appears to be no way of getting a written ruling from the US Embassy. Short of engaging a US immigration lawyer, I'm not sure what to do next.
