30-50K for CFI-ING... this a joke???

[dougal28]

Making that kind of money as a cfi will take serious dedication, and sales work on your part. Meaning you will need diligent time management skills to always have something to do with your students even when the weather is bad. Also needed are good sales skills as you will need to pick up a ton of business. The first year I wokd as a CFI I made 11,000 this year right at 12,000. Doubling those figures would be a miracle.

 

[Caveman]

I personally made about $60K a year in the flight instructing business. I did have some management/supervisory responsibilities but I spent half my day with students. The reason I left is because I became addicted to kerosene.

Ditto the comments about IFTA, et al. They start their CFI's in the low $30's and fly the absolute best equipment out there. IFTA for example has brand new Bonanza's for PPL training and brand new Baron's for commercial and multi training. Dual everything, GPS, right side instruments, the whole nine yards. How can they afford to do this? Easy, their students aren't customers. They are ANA newhires. They hire them right out of college and train them from TT1 all the way to the right seat of an airliner.

I'm convinced that one could make $50K per year as a freelance CFI if they market themselves right. Shoot, folks pony up $300 per hour for an experienced golf or tennis instructor. I don't know how much guys like Rod Machado or Sean Tucker charges but you can bet it isn't $35 bucks an hour.

Go buy yourself a Pitts and spend a few weekends a year on the "B" airshow circuit and then come home and offer dual unusual attitude instruction from an 'airshow' pilot. You know, just like getting golf lessons from the 643rd ranked PGA player in the world at your local course for $100 bucks an hour. Let's see $300 an hour for you and the Pitts should be about right.

You aren't going to get most folks to pay this but you will get those that can afford to. Mercedes doesn't try to sell their cars to regional airline pilots t but they sure do sell a bunch to doctors and attorneys. Same with flight instructing. You aren't going to sell dual in a Pitts to many student pilots, as much as they'd like to be able to afford it. But, there are plenty of weekend Bonanza pilots with money to burn that are looking for a little adventure.

 

[avbug]

Darwin was wrong. In fact, he recanted his theories publically.

It was the best fifty bucks I ever spent.

(The second best fifty bucks was buying a monkey...how often does one get to own one's relatives)?