Whilst I can certainly see Idle Stop's point about allowing a rotary TP (with some form of class rating) to fly aircraft on which he doesn't hold a type rating for true T&E purposes, I can't quite see how you'd make a generic "production test pilot" rating work: consider for example Airbus, AWH, Diamond, BNG.... Whilst there are certainly similarities to each organisation's production flight test requirements, to create a syllabus and qualification that would encompass everybody's needs would be incredibly expensive and cumbersome. The current approach of an experienced and type-qualified pilot within the company being approved by local procedures agreed with the authority seems to make a lot more sense.
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