CFI Pay?

[Iceman21]

I know CFI's do not get paid jack squat but I don't know what the average is.

I am wondering what the CFI's on this board are making if they don't care to make it public.

I will hopefully have the choice of instructing at my current school, but I am not sure if it will be possible to make the finances work (wife, baby, and paying down debt, etc). I plan on getting a second job to help out but I would like to know what full time instructor makes on average.

For any consolation, I am in the Chicago area.

TIA

 

[dmspilot00]

Why not post a poll? Everyone loves polls! Right?

Like...
A) < 10
B) 11-14
C) 14-17
D) 17-20
E) 20-25

..etc...

Those would be hourly rates of course. Maybe it would be better to poll yearly averages.

You can delete the original thread (hit edit then delete) and post a new one if you want to do that.

 

[Speedtree]

I worked in Houston as a full-time CFI from September of 1996 through January of 1999. I believe in 1997 my 1099 was about
$11,000. 1998 was in the neighborhood of $15,000. Take out about 15% for self-employment taxes.

This was at a part 141 part 61 school not affiliated with any kind of college training program. I worked 6 days a week. I started with CFI and CFII and during 1998 got my MEI. I could have worked harder and made more money. I'm a pretty laid back guy.

Good luck with your endeavors. Instructing is a rewarding opportunity and a great learning experience if your attitude is right. There is more to aviation than the type of aircraft you are flying. You will meet all kinds of people and all kinds of situations. It gets monotonous but so do most flying jobs.

 

[Iceman21]

Thanks speedtree, anyone else?

 

[spitfire1940]

CFI pay

I was making $22 at an FBO in Maryland. I charge $30 an hour for freelance, which I prefer.

The school at Frederick, Maryland, uses a sliding scale where the more hours you instruct per month, the more money you make.

It still sucks.

To make any money as a CFI, you have to charge from "Hello" to "Goodbye."

 

[Ralph]

Schools charge 30.00 an hour and the CFI gets 20 of that.

At our last FAA CFI seminar the FSDO guy went on and on about how CFI's should charge more. What they don’t understand is that unless you are an independent instructing in the owner’s plane you don’t get to set the rates.

I think the MINIMUM charge should be...
$25.00 / hour for your first 100 hours of dual
$50.00 / hour after that.

If I could set the school’s rates that’s what it would be. But I guess if I did that some bozo would just undercut me and damage the whole industry. Thank God that’s not a problem once I get out of instructing.

 

[PA-44Typed]

I charge $20/hour for freelance in the Atlanta area. However I’m doing more substitute teaching ($65/day) than flight instructing at the moment.

 

[52vincent]

Twenty five,3 to the schooll
Twenty two to me.

 

[planejanes]

School was charging $30. $20 to instructor w/ health insurance benefits. Unfortunately, there were a few too many instructors at our school - my pay in 2002 was around $12k- ouch. Used to have canned food drives for the instructors during bad weather...

 

[utahpilot]

school charges 32, CFI gets half IF he has all his ratings and seniority of a year or so.

I charge 20-30 freelance

 

[Toy Soldier]

I freelance out of the atlanta south metro area and charge $45/hr. Some instructors around PDK are charging up to $65/hr. My rates went to $45 as soon as I got my NAFI Master designation and ATP.

I figure that I could charge more after having more licenses and experience.

I do give block rates however. I am currently charging $28/hr to one guy since he is paying me for both of his sons in their C182.

I also charge from HI-to-By. I have one student that is continuously late (15 minutes to 1/2 hour) and I am on the clock while he gets ready.....

 

[spitfire1940]

toy soldier, you are doing it RIGHT. I'm surprised that dude continues to be late if he's paying for it.

People pay a doctor 100 bucks to look down their throat for five minutes. Why shouldn't an experienced, well-trained flight instructor get $45 or $65 an hour.

 

[hydroflyer]

I was making about $17,000 to $20,000/year in the Northwest. That was more than the base salary due to overtime and extra teaching. What you make will change from place to place, largely due to cost of living. When searching for a job or comparing jobs, go to google or yahoo and do a search for "cost of living index" and it should produce a website or two with a calculator to compare salaries adjusted for locations. For example the $20K a year may sound great if you are from Atlanta, but may not do much if you are up in New Jersey or the Northeast.
Biggest thing you may want to look into is maintenance. I would gladly take a lower paying job per hour if the maintenance was top notch. Higher hourly, but poor maintenance just means you will be paid more per flight, but you will likely be doing less flying. There's nothing like the peace of mind of a well maintained airplane. Just my thoughts.

 

[RedheadCFI]

I am a part-time cfi at southern illinois university. They pay us $6/hr with a 20-hr salary per week. Its not alot, usually I work more than 20hrs but then again for spring break and the month long break at christmas we still get pay checks. The full time guys are making 18-21k depending on length of employment. The check airmen are getting substantially more.