A CFI Venting

[poorFITgrad'02]

I only intend this to vent some things about the CFI lifestyle, because I'm poor and I found out today my car is on its last legs and I have basically no money right now to get another one and to put anymore money in the trashbox I have would be pointless. Severe Structural Rusting, ha, whats the worst that could happen? My car breaks in half.

Where do I begin? The Certified Flight Instructor is the most important person in aviation, second to the mechanic. Without either of these people, planes don't fly and people don't know how to fly them.

How much do instructors in other fields get paid per hour? Why can't instructor positions be salaried? Because if we aren't teaching the flight school doesn't make money? Okay, apply this to every other job out there in the world. How about the fire fighter, what if you paid them only when they were fighting fires? You'd have no fire fighters in the world cause you are rarely on a call and they would be poorer than CFI's.

To those instructors who only get paid when the Hobbs meter is running, I'm right there with you. I too have had the frustration of getting to work at 8am and leaving at 5pm like every other American who works with back to back flights all day, no time for lunch, only to total up the numbers at the end of the day and discover you logged 5 hours and thus thats what you got payed.....on a good day. How about on a summer day, 8am to 11pm, maybe you do hit that 8 hours of dual given.....only to find you have been at work for 15 hours. Working 7 days a week is what it takes to try and get that impossible 40 hours a week on that paycheck.

What's the solution? Charge for every minute of pre and post? Then rates go up and your out of competition with other flight schools. I'm a big fan of block pay. 2 hour block, 2 hours of pay. But of course, then the part 61 flight school I'm at would go under.....so I'm told. The 141 school I was at used to pay per block hour until recently. Seemed fair to me.

Is it no wonder that a few people I know who are on the way to getting thier Commercial are totally avoiding the instructing path? The responsiblity and the pay just DON'T ADD UP. My signature is in the logbook of many students who I have trained from the begining, but some whom I have inherited. How do I know that other CFI has trained them well? Sure, I can do evaluation flights, quiz them endlessly on the ground, but then students will leave every time they get an instructor change for whatever reason, because now they have to pay for how many hours to prove to another instructor what they know and during this time, progress is slowed.

This industry is going to find one day that quality instructors are going to seem to dissappear. Why subject yourself to years of living in poverty when you can run to Alaska with 200 hours and get a 135 job or go to Florida and become another PFT statistic?

Right now, I know there are a lot of people with CFI certificates collecting dust, sending out countless resumes trying to get a flight job. Trust me, I am more than thankful to have a flight job at this point with the way the industry is. It's just frustrating getting that pay stub every other week and realizing that you might not be able to make your rent payment, let alone any other bills. Who wants a job that pays like that? I know there are people out there who would live out of their cars just to get paid for getting flight time right now.....those will be the quality instructors out there. The ones who are willing to make that sacrafice, but how many will that be? From what I see, less and less people everyday.

The CFI position is just about the bottom of the professional pilot totem pole in terms of pay. So one could argue that just like any career, the starting job is usually crap for pay and lifestyle. Yeah? Someone mention to me a career where the spectrum starts at a CFI pay and tops out at $300,000+ a year for a big-iron-international captain. Most starting careers out there begin in the high 20's middle 30's. That's affordable living.....not 12,000 a year.

To those that might say I'm bi*ching, maybe I am. But things in this world don't change unless someone does so. So the next time you go to your small, local flight school to get checked out or a Flight Review, or for your next lesson, just remember the CFI. Do something you love for a living and is it really work? But unfortunately, this world wants money for everything. People work for money.

My 2 cents.

 

[skytrucker]

"Been there"

Been there, done that, got the shiet, etc.

First off; yes you are bit**ching. It suck's.

Second, You are not the most important person in aviation. LOL The student's who pay your megar wages are. So get over than chip.

 

[avbug]

Part of instructing is getting your facts straight. If you really think you can go to Alaska, or anywhere and fly 135 with 200 hours, you need to do a little more research. Further, many jobs in Alaska aren't as entry level as you might assume.

As a firefighter, I can tell you that there are more volunteer firefighters nationwide, than paid. Many departments pride themselves on training to the same standard, and with the same frequency, as paid departments. I belonged to such a department for a couple of years...and we could easily have competed with any paid department for professionalism, knowledge, skill, response time, and dedication.

I've entered burning structures and fought wildland fires, and worked vehicle extrications as a firefighter and EMT, for no pay many times...with the same dedication of a paid firefighter. I've also done it for pay...no difference in the effort. The same can be said for hundreds of thousands of other firefighters.

As an aerial firefighter, I can tell you that the pay is far less than a comparable corporate position or airline position. The hours are longer, the protections are fewer, and unlike your fellow instructors, the death rate is much higher. Again, not a very good comparison.

Most pilots reading this board, if not all, have been full time instructors. The majority of those that aren't or haven't been, will be. It may be said that you're preaching to the choir.

On the other hand, while teaching is a noble profession, being a flight instructor is roughly on par with a swimming coach or ski instructor. You have some more responsibilties, but that's where it ends. The ski instructor invests a few dollars and a little time learning to ski, and teaches skiing. The flight instructor invests a few dollars and a little time learning to fly, and teaches flying.

The bottom line is that anybody can do it. Virtually all professional pilots are instructors, and most all entry level pilots become instructors. Teachers aren't so easy to find, but instructors are a dime a dozen. Look at the matter of supply and demand. Anybody can become an instructor, and in the professional flyign community, most everybody is. Add to this the rising costs of aviation, a declining student base, and a poor economy. You do the math.

I know flight instructors who are salaried. I know others who are not. Not, is the majority.

I spent a week or so going in and out of FIT...you identified yourself as a FIT grad...last year. I used their sim to do some training in the evenings. In order to use the sim, I rented one of the instructors there, and then had them sit by while I did the instruction. I found about what I'd expect to see elsewhere...wet behind the ears kids who looked uncomfortable and out of place in their ill fitting white shirts and shorts. Kids who looked like they belonged in high school.

I came out of the sim one day, and met a boy who was sitting by a wall crying. I asked him what was wrong. He had just busted his instrument checkride. Why, I asked. He blew the NDB proceedure. We sat and talked. His instructor was a teach-by-the-numbers syllabus kind of guy, and that's how he taught. After only a few minutes of talking the student realized there was an easier way to do it, faster, with less disorientation. He perked up a bit.

His instructor probably got him through the next ride. But the point here is that the instructor was just starting out, and in a student mill. Pop them in, pop them out, crank them through on a schedule...just like many schools. I realize that each instructor would like to be making senior airline wages, but for that instructor at FIT, like so many everywhere, it's an entry level job. They bring entry level bare minimal skills to the table.

Many instructors take a second job to make ends meet. I suggest you do. When I've been instructing full time, every instructor i knew had a second job. You might be surprised to find that pilots in many other areas of the industry have second jobs...I've had them for most of my career...everything from 911 dispatcher to cop to armed gaurd to warehouse worker in a rubber stamp factory. I'd love to say I deserve more respect as a pilot and so on, but I've spent my nights scrubbing supermarket floors, days off substitute teaching high school, weekends and nights packing parachutes and turning wrenches on airplanes at the local DZ. Anything I could find.

What makes an entry level instructor any better?

More importantly, what are you going to do to change it? Not what ought to happen, but what are you going to do?

When I was instructing full time, I carried a weapon at night and patrolled an industrial complex as a gaurd. I gave local tours, introductory flights, taught ground school, turned wrenches, towed banners, packed parachutes, telemarketed, worked the school desk and did books, and anything else I could find. What are you doing to fix that car, aside from instructing on a regular bankers-hours job, and complaining that it's not enough? What more do you intend to do?

I gotta ask this...you identify yourself as a FIT grad in 2002. I you graduated and then started instructing, how long have you been instructing? It can't be very long...why not settle into the job for a while and then see where it goes? The industry doesn't pay a king's ransome right off the bat...nor five years off the bat...get used to economical living.

For now, look at your immediate future. It's hard to get to work without a car. Get some additional work, and fix your car. You can do the work yourself and save some dollars. You'll learn to do things like this, in order to survive. You'll feel better once it's fixed. Don't get too worked up about your car. I have been flying a bit longer than you, and I drive a fifteen year old car...and I keep it running by working on it myself.

Buck up...things can get better for you, but only in proportion to the effort you're willing to put in to make it happen.

 

[bobbysamd]

Flight instructing

I instructed for the better part of six years, all the while applying first for commuter jobs because that was my goal, and later for better instructing jobs, FAA jobs, Interior Department jobs, college aviation department instructing jobs, etc.. Best I ever did was flight instructing, and the the best job I had was my first job, at ERAU. While I got tired of some of it at the end, I liked teaching. And, while I grumble about a number of aviation things, I enjoyed my aviation experience overall and wouldn't trade it for anything.

How long have you been instructing? How hard do you work? I realize that instructing may not pay much, but it also pays you in terms of learning something new about flying nearly every day and hours in your logbook.

I believe that some of the new Commercial pilots who refuse to instruct do so because they might feel that it is beneath them, that they paid their money to "fly" airplanes (and nothing less than an immediate regional FO job right out of flight school will do). No matter how good your training may be, anyone, in any occupation, has to learn their job. You don't know everything there is to know about aviation at 250 hours (or 4565 hours).

Right now, you are still learning. There is always something new to learn every day. In the meantime, you have some hours and nothing is stopping you from applying to regionals, corporate, freight, or whatever your next goal may be.

Good luck.

 

[Bluto]

"To those that might say I'm bi*ching, maybe I am. But things in this world don't change unless someone does so."

No, things don't change unless someone gets off their butt and does something about it. Whining does nothing for anyone. I don't think it'd be too far a stretch to say nobody here feels sorry for you. Sorry. It sucks. Deal with it. Avbug said it best:

"Buck up...things can get better for you, but only in proportion to the effort you're willing to put in to make it happen.

 

[bulldog]

Poorfitgrad02,

If I read your post correctly you are only getting paid based on hobbs. If that is correct I would look for work elsewhere.

I have instructed at several different flight schools and all allowed the instructor to charge for ground instruction. You are instructing and often the ground instruction is more valuable, when done properly, than the flight instruction. You deserve to get paid for it!!!

Flight instruction is hard work and requires a lot of patience. Stick with it, but find a school that allows you to get paid while you are teaching, whether it be in the air or ground.

Bulldog

 

[supsup]

try listening for once

Avbug, instead of refuting every word that FITgrad said try being supportive. For the most part i agree with many of the things you said about instructing, but why do you have to be such a dick!!!!! It's painfully obvious that FITgrad was just having a bad day and was looking for some encouraging words or advice.

FITgrad, keep flying one day at a time and try and be positive. DON'T listen to all the negative b.s.

supsup

 

[avbug]

Okay, supsup, how's this for encouraging advice: get up and do something about these terrible conditions, or forget them!

I have no patience with complaining about a condition if one isn't willing to do something to change it. I gave examples of what I did to improve my station and life when instructing full time. I indicated some specific points about the industry that are contrary to what Fitgrad was whining about.

I offered suggestions and direction...if you think that's a kick in the nuts, so be it. I really don't care.

I will not apologise for my comments; they are what I meant to say, and will say again. There are those who talk, and those who do. If the car is busted, fix it. Can't afford to fix it, take a second job. Most of us have done it. Fitgrad can too.

You seem all set to dole out sympathy, so have a ball. I'd prefer to see Fitgrad get ahead, rather than listening to him cry. You listen, and I'll suggest that he get up, dust himself off and move ahead. Have a ball.

 

[Timebuilder]

I was a "poor" flight instuctor, so your comments aren't news to me, and likely the rest of us, too. My car is a 1989 Camry, a far cry from the brand new Supra I bought in 1984 when my broadcasting career was going great guns. I feel your pain.

As a college grad, you no doubt know about supply and demand. There are a great number of eager pilots who will step into that instructor job of yours, so hold onto it until you can fly charter or find some other opportunity. Not too long ago, I was soliciting here on this board to find a new instructor job when my first one was snuffed out. Fortunately, God had a better plan for me, and now I am flying Lear Jets. The pay is also small, but it averages better than my old instructor job, and of course, the experience can't be beat. Today I flew a 55 from Cleveland to Allentown, mostly hand flying. That isn't a big deal, until you compare it to what I was doing before this: nothing. Four months of nothing, in fact. This is better, by far.

If your car has structural rust, and cannot pass inspection, you might look at a yard for a similar body in better condition, and transfer over the usable parts. Maybe you can replace a couple of fenders and come up with a wacky looking, but usable machine.

My advice is to stick with the game plan. CFI pay won't improve anytime soon. As Avbug said, find something to augment your income. If you have car knowlege, Pep Boys is always looking for store help, installers, and ASE mechanics. I put in five years there after broadcasting because I was a hot rodder as a teen. I have four master's certifications, and 36 individual ratings. As a writer, I have done rewrites on several popular ASE study guides, and I have voiced commercials and corporate productions.

Find you skills, and use them to help you through this. Be creative. I know very few pilots who aren't good at something else.

I'll be that you are, too.

 

[bigD]

Heh - I must be the most naive guy on the planet. I have quite a few instructor friends in the area, and most make between 15K-20K working full time, 6 and in some cases 7 days a week. Certainly not a lot of money for the amount of time spent at the airport. Heck, I pay more than that in rent every year. But I gotta tell you, I can't WAIT to get the helll out of my programming job and start instructing.

I'm still a year away before I graduate and get the instructing ball rolling, but I've already sat down and worked a budget, decided where I'd need to live, decided on what early 80's POS would replace the Acura, what flavors of Ramen I'd buy, and so on and so on. If I could start that stage of my life right now, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

I don't mean to belittle your rant, poorFIT - I can certainly understand where you're coming from. It's easy for me to walk away from my material BS because I don't have anyone else depending on me for support. And who knows, maybe after a couple years of being a CFI I'll be on here posting essentially everything you just said. But until then, all I'm doing is sitting here thinking about how much I wish I was doing what you get to do every day.

I guess this goes back to AvBug's post - perhaps I'm the reason CFI's have it so bad. Flight schools pay such crappy wages because there are a billion guys like me willing to fly for them. But I'll tell you, if I didn't have dreams of eventually having a family (as well as some dreams of flying some bigger planes!), I'd be a CFI forever. I can't think of a job in aviation that's more awesome than teaching others how to fly.

 

[poorFITgrad'02]

I offered this to see what other people's opinons were but more so to just vent some steam.

And just fixing my car isn't quite an option for two reasons: A) no money, I believe I mentioned that. B)Its a structural issue that I'm sure would be more expensive to fix than to just replace one beater with another, by far. That's why I was pissed.

I believe I work hard as a flight instructor. How does one define how hard an instructor works? That they make themselves available to fly 7 days a week? That they are willing to put in a little extra ground even though it won't be billed to make sure a student fully understands a concept? That during the flight, the instructor is talking a majority of the time, making suggestions, introducing new things, and helping to intereperet new experiences? I do all those things. I just feel that instructors in general aren't compensated as they should be. There are instructors who are there to build hours and thats it, and there are those who do the job; who teach people to fly safely and have fun to the best of their ability. When the opportunity comes along to move up to the next best flight job, I will take it. So am I building time? Yes, who isn't? Flight Instructing for a career doesn't pay the bills in most cases. But I do the job, not sit and tap the Hobbs meter while my students learns to fly on their own.

I was also voicing a concern that the overall quality of instruction may degrade unless the conditions of the job change. The thinking of "that's the way it's always been, so there" unfortunately is the reasons why some companies go under; because they don't adapt and change. I just feel that if the aviaiton industry doesn't adapt and change, it might fall behind. Look at the airlines.

PS: I am sticking to the game plan for sure. There is a 135 job flying freight for 4 times what I am making now. Guess this is what happens when you start putting money as a priority when you are in an aviation career....it doesn't work.

As far as the 135 jobs in Alaska, yeah 200 was just an exaggeration for effect, my bad. The firefighting example was a mistake, maybe I shoulda used something I was familiar with.

 

[flyboy]

There isn't an instructor on this board that can't say that they didn't feel the same way this guy currently feels. I feel the same way right now. It's not that cut and dry, avbug. It's just not. A second job doesn't guarantee squat. Make that jack squat. I work 3 of them right now and can't seem to make ends meet. I haven't done anything for the luxury of it in over 6 months. This board is a place to try and gather support. Instead of railing on someone, encourage them.............

 

[Timebuilder]

Maybe it's a generational thing, but I think that encouragement is exactly what Avbug was trying to give.

My father, a mountie and RCAF navigator, expressed himself in a very similar maner. Tough, yet understanding. It took me a large part of my adult life to really understand my dad. I am very thankful that he is alive to see me flying jets. That was a real connection for us, starting with my return to flying several years ago. I'll never forget the day that I took my dad flying, instead of him taking me flying.

But I digress. FITgrad, we understand. Hang in there.

 

[Ty Webb]

Although most of us have been where you are, don;t expect to hear a whole lot of sympathy flowing . . . hell, you've hardly earned the right to bitch.

This time is bad, but it is even worse for guys who were junior at a major. Think about being in your mid-thirties, with a wife, kids, a couple thousand-dollar-a-month mortgage and a couple of car payments, and you go from $70K to nothing.

Where are these guys going to find a job that will pay their bills for the next few years? At least you could pick up night job and double your income- some of these guys are going to be lucky to find something paying half what they were making. Happy fircking Holidays!

Here's a thought- when my wife was pregnant with our first child, I took a part-time job at night at the airport, working for Fedex. It paid pretty well for a part-time job, had good benefits, and it was only 3 hours a night from like 6:30 p.m. to around 9:00-10:00. If I could do that after 12 hours working on an ambulance, I am sure you can do it after a day of flight instruction.

Maybe that will help you get out of your situation.

 

[172driver]

Most of us feel your pain but it sure beats sitting in an office, wielding a shovel, spreading tar, etc. I'll be hard pressed to break $10K this year and I'm so far in debt from college and flight training, I can't even see the light at the end. But...I love to fly, work with students, see the sights. There are certainly worse things to be doing.

Instead of griping, be happy with what you have, do it well, work toward your goals. The same advice could be given for any job... do it well and with a smile. It is an admirable trait, whether flipping burgers or driving heavies.

To the rest...did FITgrad mention that they only make $7/hr? Despite my words, that does seem just a little ridiculous. I agree with avbug though...love it or leave it.

 

[350DRIVER]

In a way all you are doing in reality is paying your dues- there have been many before you and will be plenty more after you graduate from the ranks of instructing and you move on to "greener" pastures. I have seen a few positions for instructors that are salaried positions in fact I was offered one BUT it is my opinion that it is just better to suck it up than to get yourself into a position that you may regret. The experience that you should be gaining is in a way "reward" enough add into the mix a positive attitude + the fact that you are "sharing" the love of flying to someone else and that should be "money" in itself.

It is only going to be as good as you make it and with that said give it your ALL since "future" aviators are counting on you. !!

3 5 0

I do know what ya mean.......

 

[Doozer]

PoorFITgrad'02:

I’m relatively new to this board, & I believe my flying goals are quite different than the overwhelming majority of the people who frequent this site; however, I do know a bit about life, which I feel compelled to share.

As much as many of us might hate to hear this, I believe that Avbug is pretty much on the money with his comments. I recently watched an interview that the actress Maureen O’Hara gave in which she said that in this country you can do pretty much whatever you want, BUT you have to determine beforehand what you’re willing to sacrifice in order to attain it; if you’re not willing to make a particular sacrifice, then you probably don’t want it badly enough. How true…

I have a family that’s more important to me than flying--although you might get some argument from my wife. Nevertheless, if you’re under 30, in good health, unattached & really love flying, I can’t think of much that should stop you from choosing to live in relative poverty for 5 – 10 years while you work your way to a place where you can attain your “dream job.”

I know most of us want to get to the majors. I tried to after I left the military, but noone was hiring & I had mouths to feed. A few years ago, a friend (the only guy I ever flew with that handled the controls roughly enough to simultaneously illuminate almost every light on the caution panel) offered me the opportunity to get on with American, but I had a well-paying consulting job &, after the involuntary sacrifices that my wife & family endured while I was in the Marine Corps, I couldn’t in good conscience ask them to suffer through 5 years or more of what amounted to more than a 70% cut in pay while waiting my way up the seniority list.

I made my choice, & now I work my day job & pretty much live to instruct in my time off at what most would call “a Podunk grass strip in Tennessee.” Somewhat limiting, perhaps, but flying and instructing are still fun for me. Sadly, the overwhelming majority of the airline pilots I know have candidly told me that flying’s not fun any more--but the pay is really good when you get into the big iron. Both my situation & theirs’ are real good examples of the old saying, “for everything gained, there’s something lost.”

Bottom line, if you want it badly enough, you’ll find a way to make it happen. If not, adapt & move on.

 

[Freight Dog]

PoorFITGrad, you know that with your time you could beat down some Part 135 outfits' doors. Sure, in today's market, you'll probably start off in a single engine, and move your way up into a twin. Hell, I did it that way back in the good times. Depending where you look, the pay may not be so bad. Sure would probably be better than CFI-ing. Pretty much every 135 job I've had, I've managed to survive and make a living, and actually probably made out quite a bit better than many CFI's in financial sense.

Give a call to Flight Express, Ram Air Freight, Airnet, Ameriflight, GTA Air.... etc. Do some research.. Good experience, good flying, and probably better pay than CFI-ing for sure!

 

[Archer]

Just because society tells you accept something, doesn't mean you have to.

We are "luminous" beings, as a quote from "Master Yoda" comes to mind, we have been given the ability to think and evaluate our lives more than any other living being on our little blue planet.

Just because society thinks CFIs should be payed squat and not respected (which is what is happening after all to some extent), doesn't mean that student pilots in high school should grow up with the worry that they have to go through years of hell (i.e. large amounts of effort spent for little reward received) and then going through lesser hell, and not even be sure if they will ever make it to their dream job as a pilot flying that 777.

If a high school kid can't wish to be a CFI, a teacher to other human beings, then something should be telling you that society is messed up. Obviosly there are countless things wrong with our world, and low-payed starving CFIs is one of them, but it doesn't mean we have to accept everything.

Some things might seem impossible to change, and people might consider you a dreamy fool for even considering changing something in the global scale...but if no one thinks it will be possible, then it won't ever be possible, and our kids are going to have to suffer as they come to this horrible world that we created for them.

I highly dislike this attitude of "we've gone through it, everybody does, deal with it".

It is most likely that you won't be able to change such global aspects of society. Yet, those who critizise and discourage trying, are the huge drawback to humanity. For if we don't even try, nothing is going to change in this world. It's all about trying.

Think about it, the fewer CFIs accept living in conditions that barely allow them to survive, the more FBOs and flight schools around the country/world are going to have to raise standards because of the fundamental need of such an important person in society. FIT is right, without CFIs, planes would not fly. And I'm sorry to shatter any ski instructor's pride, no offense intented, but without ski instructors, the global economy will not be on the verge of collapse, as it would be if CFIs ceased existing, due to the importance of the airline industry in our modern world.


So by all means FITgrad, do all that it takes to find a better CFI position. Search, search and search, never give up. Even while instructing at that crappy place, search. And be persisent. You can't complain too much if you are searchign and unable to find a better job, then you HAVE to stick to your current position and wait till it goes by, but if you are not searching, by all means, do, and don't give in to a disrespectful unappreciating society.


Thank God for the existance of AOPA!

Archer

 

[bobbysamd]

Don't hold your breath . . . .

Originally posted by Archer Just because society thinks CFIs should be payed squat and not respected (which is what is happening after all to some extent), doesn't mean that student pilots in high school should grow up with the worry that they have to go through years of hell (i.e. large amounts of effort spent for little reward received) and then going through lesser hell, and not even be sure if they will ever make it to their dream job as a pilot flying that 777 . . . . Think about it, the fewer CFIs accept living in conditions that barely allow them to survive, the more FBOs and flight schools around the country/world are going to have to raise standards because of the fundamental need of such an important person in society. FIT is right, without CFIs, planes would not fly. And I'm sorry to shatter any ski instructor's pride, no offense intented, but without ski instructors, the global economy will not be on the verge of collapse, as it would be if CFIs ceased existing, due to the importance of the airline industry in our modern world.

(emphasis added)

What you say is fine and noble, and, as a closet idealist, I agree. But, lemme give you a dose of reality. The instructor position may well be the most noble in the aviation food chain. Unfortunately, it is also the lowest. Instructing is primarily an entry-level job. It is, indeed, an important and tangible service, for which you require tangible credentials, unlike a pilot certificate only. However, as we've discussed over and over again, there are not enough instructing jobs available, much less pilot jobs, to sop up the glut of available instructors and pilots. This is true, even in the good times. Accordingly, with schools and FBOs always having a bank of flight instructors available, they will always be able to get them for the lowest pay possible.

You might put out a call that all new CFIs should unite. "Don't accept starvation wages." But, it will never happen, and maybe it shouldn't. As I wrote above, instructing is primarily an entry-level position - one from which you make contacts and from which you work your way up. It is an opportunity to learn more about flying than you ever did in training, be paid to learn, and to move on. Comparing flight instructing to a physician's internship and/or residency is valid.

I've never understood it, but flight instructors in the U.S. do not get the respect they deserve as compared to elsewhere. I understand that in the U.K. and in Europe, flight instructors are held in great esteem and are paid accordingly (I realize that the practicals for flight instructor in the U.K. and Europe are more extensive than they are here.). Their students also treat them with the appropriate respect, unlike the U.S., sometimes.

There is a place here for good, professional flight instructors, and jobs, too, that pay a decent salary and benefits. You have to seek out these jobs. They usually require 500+ hours of instructing and maybe 1000+ hours total time, which are both obtainable goals. MAPD requires 500 total and 100 dual given. A new instructor just out of flight school can build time to those mins in a few months! Pay at MAPD is $16/hour the first year, up from $15 per hour when I was there nine years ago. Health and pass benies as well. And, the real deal about MAPD continues to be the opportunity to get an interview with Mesa. Check out the MAPD instructor requirements..

Once more, you can try to be the salmon trying to swim upstream. Sometimes, it's better to be practical and pragmatic. Most people use instructing as a stepping-stone. Nothing wrong with that. But, while you're there, do it to the best of your ability. And, once more, there is nothing stopping you from applying for other jobs.