boair1,
I agree with John. I have flown quite a few hours now as a FTE on FW and well as RW, and must say that flight safety is a major consideration when planning these sorties. This is usually approached using a process which involves evaluating flight test risks and consequences and then attempting to mitigate these risks. But I must say that most of the testing is fairly routine flying...certainly not the stuff you see in the movies.
Cheers