CFI's: Don't think of the job as just a timebuilder

[SigAV8R]

Good Grief! Where did you work? I was just going over some old tax returns- I made $40,480 in my last twelve months of instructing. I worked 6 days/week. What's with the Chunky soup? My students were always buying me lunch, just like I did for my instructors. I thought it was a tradition?

I think the more important question is where did YOU work? Because a lot of instructors would jump at a job where you make decent $$$ and don't have to live on the Ramen noodle diet (which I'm still on from time to time). I also went through ATP in Dallas and we flew ACTUAL weather on a lot of our flights. Maybe it's where your location is, but in Dallas we did everything (even checkrides) in the soup. I think my time at ATP was when my scan was the fastest it's ever been because we actually flew IMC just about every other flight. But then again, I went through their program in the winter months (NOV-JAN) so there was a lot of IFR days.

 

[RedBeard]

Amazing... I've passed the CFI oral and discontinued because of weather. I'm due to fly next Monday, and after hearing all the crap about what CFIs go through, I just can't wait to get started. I look at instructing as sort of an internship. I expect to have a lot of fun, learn at least twice as much as I already know, and have the joy of turning someone into a pilot.

Sure, I could go back to running a computer business and make much more than I will instructing, but how much fun is that? I don't want to be a bitter old tool that worked a sh|t job all his life and never enjoyed his job or anything else.

Moving on...

The ATL FSDO is all in a huff to get a grip on CFI checkrides. They are pissed that people are going out of state to get rides so their solution is to do as many CFI initials as possible with 8 to 14 hour ORALS. I've seen a few of these happen recently and one of those sessions included two FAA trainees which resulted in a tag-team oral. The applicant said he now knows how prisoners feel when cornered in the shower. The power trip is obvious, the God complex is running amok, and their interpretations of the FARs and PTS leave lots to be desired. Business as usual for a government entity I guess.

 

[Goose Egg]

I would say that instructing mildly sucks, sometimes--there is actual work to be done, after all--but let's try to keep things in perspective. In my previous job, I was a 1-hour photo lab technician. I worked long hours for low pay, dealt with inferior equipment, and had to a resolve a myriad of customer concerns (most of which I had no hand in creating.) For me, coming from that job, instructing is the absolute shizzle.

Remember, every job is going to suck at least little bit. That's why it's called work. The notion that pilots are rock stars is one that we are best disabused of sooner rather than later.

-Goose

 

[ifly4u]

I never did mind about the little things....

I love how people with thousands of hours tell other pilots that they need to be the best CFIs they can be. I fully agree that pilot mills focused on jets at 100 hours are a bad thing, but let's not forget that being a CFI sucks, sucks, sucks.

I remember my wife crying in the grocery store because we didn't have enough money to eat, again. I remember working 6 days a week to make less than $1000 a month. I remember driving all the way out to the hangar, only to have the guy be a no-show. I remember eating one bowl of cereal for breakfast, and one can of Chunky's soup for lunch everyday, because it added up to less than $2.50. I remember not having any insurance.

I had some great experiences too, but like remembering an old girlfriend, lots of you fellow airline pilots quickly forget the bad.

Thank you. If being a cfi is so f-ing great then why does eveyone leave at the first opportunity? I'm sure some get more out of it than others but I get tired of airline pilots always wanting to wax nostalgic about their cfi days. It's like looking back on your High School days, sure the memories are all rosey now but I don't think there are very many people that would actually want to go through High School again. You always remeber the good parts and forget the bad, it's human nature.

 

[wrxpilot]

Thank you. If being a cfi is so f-ing great then why does eveyone leave at the first opportunity? I'm sure some get more out of it than others but I get tired of airline pilots always wanting to wax nostalgic about their cfi days. It's like looking back on your High School days, sure the memories are all rosey now but I don't think there are very many people that would actually want to go through High School again. You always remeber the good parts and forget the bad, it's human nature.

Don't forget about us low time guys too though. You have a 1000 hours??? You are a Jedi Master in my eye (~100 hrs). My only goal right now is CFI, and man would it be sweet if I was there... Not to say I have any intention of stopping there (I certainly don't!). One thing at a time, that's the only way I can manage my long term goals in this business. BTW I work in an office and am filled w/ dread every morning I drive in to work. I also made $50k last year. Affording groceries does not buy happiness either...

 

[MTpilot]

I don't know, high school could be fun.........

I love instructing, I worked hard to get here and I like flying airplanes. If your in it for the money, go back to selling insurance or whatever, hell, I used to break rock all day, I've had all sorts of crappy jobs. I like to fly and that is the key, the money will work out eventually.

 

[Clutch_Cargo]

Well, I started to chime in on this subject about 8 hrs ago when my computer crashed... ^%$#^%!! Anyway, just my opinion but...

I love how people with thousands of hours tell other pilots that they need to be the best CFIs they can be.

You should be the best CFI you can be... it is what being a professional is about and it's something you owe to both your students and your fellow aviators. You can provide quality instruction and still build time. If the only good you can find in instructing is the time-building aspect, you should do something else... there are other ways to build time. I told all my CFI students that and more than one decided to do the right thing and find another way to get time. When I was still actively instructing, 1500 TT didn't get you far. Unless you were doing PFT at a regional, towing banners, or dropping jumpers, you were most likely still instructing... you needed to get in the right frame of mind to do it. No complaints, that's just the way things were at that time. Just me, but I liked instructing. It only sucked because you were at the airport 14 hrs a day, 6 days a week, just to make pauper's wage. That brings me to another thing...

Good Grief! Where did you work? I was just going over some old tax returns- I made $40,480 in my last twelve months of instructing. I worked 6 days/week. What's with the Chunky soup? My students were always buying me lunch, just like I did for my instructors. I thought it was a tradition?

Holy Crap HMR! Where did you work?! I don't think I ever made more than $16k a year as an instructor and I felt pretty fortunate... bought Ramen by the crate at Sam's Club! Good on ya for being able to get that - it's what instructors should get - but I think most would say you were in the minority!

 

[minitour]

It's like looking back on your High School days, sure the memories are all rosey now but I don't think there are very many people that would actually want to go through High School again. You always remeber the good parts and forget the bad, it's human nature.

I would!

I'd LOVE to go back to HS and do it all over again. Hind sight being 20-20, I'd do EVERYTHING different...actually I'd love to go back to about 4th grade and start over from there.

.....but then again I like pizza rolls and applesauce too

-mini

 

[Goose Egg]

Great posts by MT and Clutch...

I love instructing, I worked hard to get here and I like flying airplanes. If your in it for the money, go back to selling insurance or whatever... I've had all sorts of crappy jobs. I like to fly and that is the key, the money will work out eventually.

I could have written the same thing.

...you needed to get in the right frame of mind to do it...

I absolutely agree. I'm instructing because I love flying. I'm happy because I love flying. Sort of reminds me of a lot of conversations that I've had with my skiing friends. Most of them talk about just saying "screw it" and just getting some ski area job so that they can ski all the time. Skiing is what makes them happy, and they are happy because they are skiing. It's part of what they are. And none of them complain about not making enough because they are doing what they love. They are just glad that they can live and do what they love.

It's the same with CFIin', or at least it should be. But instead we have instructors who constantly bitch because they aren't compensated like rock stars. Personally I'm just glad that I can do what I love, fly, and someday make enough to buy a house. News flash for y'all: If you can't be happy now, you won't be happy later. Flyin' the line will suck too, because there will always be something to complain about, and it will consume you. There are plenty of examples of that on this board.

-Goose

P.S. High school sucked.

 

[California]

nevermind

 

[ifly4u]

LOL Good replies. I don't think anyone expects an instructing job to be paradise but I think the money is the big hang up for most people. Not making enough money to pay the bills effects your attitude a lot. If they would pay the instructors even half of what they bill the students it would make the whole experience a whole lot more tolerable. Why we can't have a union like electricians and other skilled laborers is beyond me. Well actually that's not true I know the answer to that a cfi union would never get off the ground because too many instructors would see a union as limiting their potential by restricting their ability to build time. It is the very "time builders" that everybody loathes that drive down the quality of life for flight instructors because they are all to happy to accept long hours with low pay just to get the time and move on. If you stand up and refuse to work 14 hour days for 8 bucks an hour the next guy will so what can you do. I don't understand why it's considered noble to accept poor working conditions as a flight instructor but you're a wh*re if you go to work for a low pay airline like Mesa. They use all the same justifications that cfi's do, "I'm just doing this for now until I get the experience" etc. etc. I see people rage against pilots who PFT and work at bottom tier airlines but turn around and pat someone on the back for flying 150 hours a month at slave wages. It's the flight instructor double standard. Just my observation.

 

[HAL]

Thank you all for your replies. Good thoughts from everyone.

I really started this thread because that article clicked into something I'd been thinking about for quite a while. I was not bashing CFI's for their attitudes or work ethics. Merely reminding those thinking about becoming CFI's (or are new to the job) that it takes a lot more than a little plastic card from the FAA to make you a great CFI, and being a great CFI is what you owe everyone who walks through the flight school door.

And for those who complain about airline pilots having rose-colored glasses, I am only six years removed from a long stint as a CFI. I loved the job, was paid cr@p, and learned more about aviation from that job than any other I've had since. I still go back and visit the FBO often, and keep in contact with former co-workers and students. Yes, it was difficult, but if you can do it the right way, with the right attitude, being a CFI will make you a good pilot for life.

On a different note, a long time ago on this board I posted a thread on the same subject of what Goose Egg said a couple posts above. If you're not happy (or at least somewhat pleased) with your current job, you may never be happy as a pilot. Pilots as a group are a very focused bunch of people who can spend years aiming at a single goal, scratching and clawing to get there. For a few of them once they reach that goal, they realize it was the fight up the hill they enjoyed, not the end of the journey, and suddenly discover they hate being a pilot. Don't let that happen to you - stop and smell the roses, and enjoy every flight you have the privilege of piloting.

HAL

 

[MTpilot]

F**k YEAH!

 

[HMR]

Holy Crap HMR! Where did you work?! I don't think I ever made more than $16k a year as an instructor and I felt pretty fortunate... bought Ramen by the crate at Sam's Club! Good on ya for being able to get that - it's what instructors should get - but I think most would say you were in the minority!

I didn't realize things were that bad out there! Didn't mean to rub it in. I worked at a busy PT61 SoCal flight school. We had a great facility-each instructor had a private office, aircraft were mostly new. Management sucked but I was too busy to notice.

When I was flying PT135 for crappy pay I would give King Air instruction on the side for $100/hr. Kept me off the Ramen.

 

[DruDown]

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