I'm sure that many people could argue away the necessity to have AEOs trained as Pilots for the specfic functions that MTPs fulfill - aircraft QA and standardisation across fleets, Flight Testing SMEs, and on occasion a bit of airborne fault diagnosis. Of course experienced pilots without engineering background could do this, and as spheroid mentioned, they actually are at the moment due to a lack of AE-sourced MTPs who are at the right point in their careers. I'm not going to rise to the bait and beat my drum about engineering degrees blah blah blah - but maybe someone who has that kind of mindset and who has more of an insight into engineering/procurement/support issues IS more suited to the role? Another big benefit that isn't often mentioned is the combined aircrew/engineer experience that gets put back into the FAA in the jobs that MTPs move on to after their MTP tour(s). I'm sure plenty of pilots have wished the AEO could see things their way? Also many of the SO1 and upwards AE jobs in procurement, policy and support to ops benefit from having someone with a foot in both the aircrew and AE camps. Anyway, stop arguing my career from beneath my feet!