Originally Posted by
wrox
I see a lot of these companies fly King Air 350, that requires a type rating. So they obviously send you to get a type rating if you don't have one. My question for myself and others, does L3 and the others make you sign any agreement for any length and what happens if you leave before that time?
Some places like Avenge appear to have start perspective employees signing training bonds for some of their programs, and have sued guys for leaving whether they had a training contract or not. I'm sure some of those guys can chime in.
L-3 doesn't make you sign a training contract with your offer letter, and I don't think MAG does either. There are some things you have to sign, but nothing that denotes a value to your type rating and X months of required service in return for it.
Word on the street is that if you leave L-3 on good terms, they will welcome you back in the future- and there are guys who come back. I haven't heard of instances of the company going after anyone for leaving in the same way Avenge has sued former employees just for leaving (and lost in court). I don't foresee L-3 doing so in the future either. It's a Fortune 500 company so I doubt it takes it personal when people leave like some smaller companies seem to.
A while back L-3 was the only one that would pay new hires a salary while in training as well as perdiem/lodging for guys who didn't have type ratings. MAG wouldn't pay unless they came type rated in the 350... travel only until OCONUS I'm not sure if that's changed but I know a bunch of guys who went to L-3 for that reason alone. The idea of being a fully paid company employee with benefits from day one sent a message that L-3 was interested in the success of their new hires where the Avenge training contract wreaked of indentured servitude and MAGs lack of pay in training didn't give the warm fuzzy that they were confident enough in keeping their contracts to not terminate their employee group without any prior warning and at the time, Dynamic paid A LOT less than they do now also.
Definitely do your research on the companies and don't be afraid to talk to their pilot recruiters/hiring managers to get the companies official positions on things like training contracts, employment terms/pay etc. Things change often enough that the guys who work mostly downrange don't hear the latest and greatest until they get back to home base for the company sometimes.