I agree about ATC: try doing an approach into LHR then ask for a couple of 'touch and goes', a few asymmetric circuits and a flapless landing... I think you might get a rather terse reply.
Airspace all over Europe is busy - delays at choke points and level restrictions are common, especially when the military are using their bits. To expect to fly a test profile without checking beforehand is relying on pure luck; how many aircraft on revenue flights had been planned through that area?
Slightly more on topic, I feel sorry for the two line pilots who paid the ultimate price... I remember being called out long ago for a test flight as a 2-ringer with less than a years experience. We rattled through a schedule and half the stuff went wrong: the pressurisation failed totally and we couldn't relight one of the engines, amongst other things. At the time I thought it was great fun as I was actually doing the flying, shutting down engines, Mmo runs, etc. - now, I'm not so sure it was a good idea and I think I was naive in the extreme to accept this flight with no training or briefing. Unfortunately, as spelt out in the report, there seems to be no official guide/framework as to how you qualify to execute sorties such as this.
The 3rd guy on the jumpseat should have really known better, though - he *was* qualified and experienced in this line of work.
