Originally Posted by
Shoot First
You don't necessarily get a type rating from these companies. You are trained to contract requirements. Remember these are government owned airplanes being flown overseas. Military pilots aren't typed but they are trained to service specifications and thats kind of the same thing here. There are plenty of pilots with extensive experience in the King Air series who cannot legally fly a civilian version in the US. FAR's state a military pilot can go to the FAA and get their license. There is no such provision for civilians flying government equipment.
Yeah, just disregard this post...
If you're hired to fly an aircraft that requires a type rating by one or the overseas ISR companies, you'll get a type rating. There are Wickets setup by the government training requirement wise to ensure contractors don't go crashing their planes left and right. These wickets differ between what government agency has what contract. It's usually type rating required and in some cases even hours in type required for specific aircraft depending on the customer requirements.