Bruce,

You have hit the nail on the head, and have illustrated my point about the fact that, until someone actually presents one of these aircraft for certification, we do not know how the FAA will proceed. As you have enumerated, there really isn't any way to get a powered-lift rating without going to work for Boeing or joining the military. So if they decide to go down that route they will need to figure out some path forward. The exemption from a category/class rating for experimental aircraft is indeed found in the regulations, but this is often overtaken by requirements found in the individual aircraft's operating limitations, which are issued as a part of its airworthiness certificate. All currently-issued operating limitations DO carry a requirement for specific category/class ratings appropriate to the aircraft. So that's not a guaranteed solution, and as you mentioned doesn't work as soon as a passenger is introduced.

So we are back to "what will the FAA do". Well, they won't do ANYTHING until they are officially presented with the issue. So all this talk is just that, talk, until someone approaches the FAA with an official application for airworthiness certificate. That's the only way that we will find out what the FAA is going to do about this emerging class of aircraft.

As I've said in my previous posts, stay tuned.