Career Flight Instructor's

[superjet]

I was just wondering what keeps the career flight instructors going? Whats better freelancing or regular schools? Hourly rates charged? How do you keep motivated? And finally why didn't you go to a commercial flying job? Any other insight would be great? Thanks in advance!!!

 

[smellthejeta]

I was just wondering what keeps the career flight instructors going? Whats better freelancing or regular schools? Hourly rates charged? How do you keep motivated? And finally why didn't you go to a commercial flying job? Any other insight would be great? Thanks in advance!!!

Superjet,

Provided I can get my medical straightened out, my goal in life for the short term is to become full time ATC and then instruct part time. Keeping motivated? Somebody else pays for the plane, but I get to do what I truly enjoy... When *I* want to fly. Commercial flying job? The career ain't for me (at least not for a long long time). Truth is, if you're paying your way with no spousal or parental support in any form, it's just too much of a long hard road to get the ratings and make the money. Never mind, the money ain't there any more. Putting it differently, you spend way too much time at the bottom of regional payscales, just to get a decent job and get furloughed again.

 

[BRA]

I think a few different reasons create these people. They really love teaching, helping others, and enjoy the instructing. They are possibly making money other ways as well, or are retired from something else. (police, or the service.) Sometimes these people charge a higher rate, and also keep all of that $35 or whatever they charge for themselves.

I've seen some career intructors that i knew would never leave their comfort zone. Some you may see have no CFII, or MEI, and are really just afraid of hard IFR. I have seen this. They would be intimidated to fly freight in a baron. Traffic patterns and stalls are in their comfort zone. They do good work, but will never challenge themelves for something more.

Some people have such a bad record that they could never get through a background check or an interview for a better job.

 

[AAflyer]

SMELLHTEJETA,


Truth is, if you're paying your way with no spousal or parental support in any form, it's just too much of a long hard road to get the ratings and make the money.

Could you please explain what you meant by that.

AA

 

[NYCPilot]

I think BRA's post summed it up nicely.

 

[macfly]

SMELLHTEJETA,


Truth is, if you're paying your way with no spousal or parental support in any form, it's just too much of a long hard road to get the ratings and make the money.

Could you please explain what you meant by that.

AA

I think what he means is to leave professional aviation to the 3rd generation riddle kids. Seriously, I think what he means is that it takes a true passion or insanity(prospective) for flying in order for someone to lay out the cost to obtain an entry level job in the aviation field and without help fianically, it could be monetarily disasterous.

Someone had a nice sig, it said something to the effect of professional aviation = poverty management.

I personally know a lot more guys that had help in aviation then guys that did not. I wonder how many guys on this board are sons of legacy carriers, I bet it would be an interesting percentage.

 

[AAflyer]

Thanks, I was looking at it in a differnt meaning. I agree with your comments. I am not son of a legacy pilot however i had met a lot of people from early years who have helped me in so many ways.

AA

I think I have that passion (insanity) virus..

 

[CutEmUp]

If you like what you are doing and enjoy life, why change?

 

[JediNein]

Why would I want to take a 75% pay cut to go sit in some smelly jet with a bunch of miserable people behind me whining about every little thing? I can get the whining for free on flightinfo.

I'm a career instructor. Right now I'm instructing in new airplanes, although one has lost the new airplane smell at 3 months.

I set my own schedule, which has included my not having to get out of bed until late in the morning, and I'm typically done by sunset. If I encounter someone that doesn't want to pay my rates, I send 'em elsewhere. If they want to pay, but complain the whole time, there are plenty of competitors that would be happy to have the complainer. My client's checks don't bounce and three congratulated me on my last price increase. The corporate head is trying to raise my pay, not get wage concessions while padding his own pocket and funding his golden parachute. I don't have to wonder about the maintenance level. I don't have to sleep with anyone to keep the job. I get to see new and interesting places all the time. The people I work with are some of the nicest and most decent examples of humans on or off this planet. They are intelligent, even the trailer-trash types. I don't get the strip search every time I board the plane to go fly, and the plane is generally faster than any airline, especially considering flight cancellations. I get paid for cancellations on short notice. I get paid for ground stops. If there is flow, I don't care, we can always change our plans.

While I keep my phone on 24/7 as a courtesy to my clients and the mechanics on night shift, my last call after 11 PM was when the mechanics had to ground an airplane until parts became available; and my last call at 3 AM was to go search for a downed plane--because of a volunteer organization where I once belonged.

I've been playing with the latest gizmos for the last few years, specializing in instruction for the latest gizmos. Now I don't even have to worry about vacuum pump failure, my planes don't have them.

On Christmas, I will not be sitting 1 hour reserve at LGA in the middle of a snowstorm that has grounded aviation in the Eastern U.S. I won't be working a rotating split shift with off-sked ops that mean I get a 2 hour break between 14 hour shifts. I get bored on point a to b to c flights if there is not instruction taking place.

I control my own retirement, there are no forced programs that will be bankrupt when I need them the most. I buy my own comfortable clothes, no monkey suits, and no epaulets. I voluntarily completed my last checkride, it wasn't forced on me or just part of the lifestyle.

Bottom line: I think it is the insanity part and a strong aversion to 75% pay cuts that keeps me going on instructing.

 

[smellthejeta]

SMELLHTEJETA,


Truth is, if you're paying your way with no spousal or parental support in any form, it's just too much of a long hard road to get the ratings and make the money.

Could you please explain what you meant by that.

AA

Okay, I'll spell it out:

Cost to obtain flight ratings: $30k-$40k. You have to have some way of paying for that. Presuming you have no college, you're doing what? Making $10/hr as a line guy? Then, you still have to pay for food, rent, a car, and car insurance. The last few cities I've lived in (admittedly, very high cost of living) you're still paying $500-$600/mo with a roommate. Car payment and insurance probably totals $400. Add $200/mo for food, and maybe $100/mo for gas. No we're up to $1200/mo in expenses. Out of that $10/hr you're making as a line guy, you're probably taking home $300 per week. So you're really not making enough money to pay the flight training.

So somehow you manage to get the training paid for. You had a slightly better job or you took out student loans. What did you get? Probably an entry level CFI job paying you $16-$20 per flight hour. Ooops, that's like making $8-$10/hr again. You CFI's for a few years, and now you're in a position to get a 135 freight job, entry level 135 charter job (a jet! oh my!), or first year at a regional. No matter what, you're still making $25k/yr give or take, not much better than being a line guy. Maybe now your car is paid off, but you're trying to start a life, buy a house, or whatever. If you had to take out loans to train, now you're paying those back at abou $200/mo or so.

You just made it to second year pay at the regional, making $35k or so. That's a bit more respectable, but not enough to start a life, buy a house, or support your wife. Now your pay got frozen because the company's fallen on hard times. You got furloughed. Ooops, back to $25k a year at first year pay at another regional. Or maybe you went to Eagle, skipped a furlough, but you're a sixth year FO with no upgrade in sight. You're making, let me guess, $39k/yr and are pretty close to maxing out the pay for FO's. No upgrade in sight means you have to VOLUNTARILY leave to find another job that might give you a crack at PIC time. Pretty soon your car needs replacing, you're paying off your student loans, a car payment, and insurance all over again.

You're doing all of this at such a low rate because you're chasing a job that got "outsourced" back to a regional, hiring guys that are making $20k to start. What's left? I don't know, but last I checked, the most junior pilot at US Airways has a DOH of when I was in kindgergarten, or close to it.

In this climate, I would not want to be at a regional. When your job now depends on your ability (or your company's) to do the job cheaper than somebody else, there will be downward pressure on your wages, with the threat of your job going somewhere else because you can't (or won't) do it cheap enough.

Do I sound down on this business? Damn straight. That's why I'm not flying for a living. I can't go through life worried about the next furlough and paycut, meanwhile making so little money that I cannot afford to live AND save money for that impending job loss or pay cut. Call me whatever you want, but I found an alternate aviation career that pays me $100k/yr with about $3000 worth of college education. That's right, I can buy my own plane.