I used to fly for ATI. We had three guys killed attempting a three engine take off for a maintenance ferry. I've done gear down ferry flights, non pressurized ferry flights maintenance verification and test flights for other companies.

It's just not worth it to me. There are more than a fair share of crashes due to the unusual stuff that happens on these flights and lets face it other than the sim once a year we NEVER get to practice this stuff in real life. How often have any of you guys taken an airliner to the shaker or auto throttle wake up or alpha lock? Hopefully never.

The engineering guys are an asset plain and simple. They should have an ALPA number and a seniority number.