To me sounds like a case of a bona fide flight engineer, with bona fide credentials attempting to attend a bona fide training establishments bona fide four-day refresher course (check their website for details) for bona fide reasons (b727 F/E job prospect in New Zealand) coming against a system not accepting the above for various reasons some of which are legitamate but most of which are speculative against their own philosophy.
I'm certain a tourist visa is all that he required - I remain to be corrected
rgds mcdude