ISR Jobs Overseas
 

Couple quick questions for those of you out there doing this type of flying.

1. Is one company better than another? CACI, L3 etc... to be honest, those are the only two I know of.

2. Are they still hiring?

3. To be transparent, who pays the most and gets you overseas the quickest?

I’m an Air Force guy with about 1800 PIC (4000TT). C-130s and K -135s. Typed in the BE-200. Many Middle East and Africa deployments. Active TS clearance.

Still an active Reservist and just took a 13 month leave of absence from a major airline and the way things are going I don’t imagine I’ll be back to that job in the next few years. Very bottom of the seniority list.

Thanks for any info or advice.

1) L3 is the best. Very stable contract, good outlook for future, and business class overseas.

2) I’m not sure what official stance is on hiring but they have removed their job postings recently, which I’m sure is due to the virus.

3) I’m not sure who pays more but L3 pays north of $900 per day for new PICs.

Im sorry about your predicament but at least you have that reserve option. Commuter Air Technology, MAG, CACI, and Dynamic still have their postings up. I’m curious my self to see how this affects ISR.

Crazy times indeed. The fact of someone of your qualifications inquiring about ISR attests to that. How a period of a few weeks changed EVERYTHING. I believe overseas travel restrictions make it more difficult if not impossible to rotate crews in and out of the AO for now and there's will always be bad guys who need watching. Does your LOA allow you to keep your seniority number? I know under USERRA you'll keep moving up if it a military deployment. Either way if you can keep using retirement numbers to move up and whatever economic recovery we actually see on the other end might be the best you can hope for in the current environment. My .02. Good luck.

I'm not sure if you meant it this way or not aeroengineer - but there are people flying with many times those qualifications flying ISR for the different contractors. There are people who chose to do this type of work - not necessarily as just a fall back plan.


Good luck with your search HercTank.
Thanks for your continued service.

No sir not at all.
I know that there are those who gravitate to the job and the mission and I'm certainly one who sees it for the important job it is. They helped keep me and my buddies safe in times past. I do know there is/was a substantial flow through by those waiting for a call by the airlines and that translated into more opportunities for others in the industry. PIC job openings have seemed to be a continuous fixture on most contractors websites reflecting the need. With all the furloughs/potential furloughs I know there'll be plenty more highly qualified individuals including those with active clearances who will need to pay the bills. I would certainly be doing the same in their position.

​​​​​​I honestly think that most people enjoy it, too. I believe the reason most people leave is because they feel that a career at the airlines is more secure because contracting can "go away over night." Well, history has shown several times that the airlines can too. Nothing in life is secure. That is why you see constant openings for PICs. People leave to get the job that others tell them they should have and not necessarily the job they want. However, for the foreseeable future, I don't see many pilots here jumping ship unless they all ready have a retirement. Contracting has been around for a long time too. Long before the war on terror. Just need to know where to look. The demand might ebb and flow with the pace of operations but I don't ever see it going away.

I think the NEED for the series will always be there in some form or another.
What seems to change are the number/names of the companies in the pool for that contracted work - and like you said - one companies contract goes away when the next bid cycle comes out; and with that comes a little bit of 'is this a long term move'.
Even the guys I know coming right out of the military at some point down the road get tired of the 'deployed lifestyle' too.