Desperately Seeking CFIs

[Ray Finkle]

We are in need of a couple CFIs. I am the lead instructor and just got an offer for an FO position and am leaving in 2 weeks. 2 instructors will do very well here. I billed over 70 hours last pay period and its been very consistent.

Pay...

CFI - $17/hr
CFII - $18/hr
MEI - $19/hr

These rates are for up to 15 hours of instruction in a week. Any hours beyond that in a week add $2.00 per hour. believe me, youll be in the higher range.

We have one other fulltime instructor who is leaving in July for ATC school. So his students will need someone to care for them.

Please PM is you are interested or know anyone.

Thanks!

 

[Big Dog]

Good luck with those payrates. What does the school take from the student, $35-40/hr.

 

[Ray Finkle]

not sure if that was meant in a bad way...

like most schools, we charge the customer $40 per hour. thats pretty fair and competitive. ive seen $50. if there are some that can afford less, great.

in regards to the payrates, yes there are some schools that pay a little higher. but then there are many ive seen that pay less..not more than $15 an hour. we at least pay more if you go beyond 15 hours in a week, which is very easy and that puts the cfi in the $20+ category. we give raises to those that get additional ratings.

 

[SPilot]

ive seen $50. if there are some that can afford less, great.

What does the instructor cost the school? What is there to afford? Classrooms, offices and tables? That expense can be paid by the profit from one instructor alone (billing 120h * $25 profit = $3000.00/monthly).

If the school needs the money for the airplanes, it should be charged as airplane rates, not instructor rates.

 

[Ray Finkle]

BTW - This position is in Clearwater Florida KCLW

 

[woog315]

What does the instructor cost the school? What is there to afford? Classrooms, offices and tables? That expense can be paid by the profit from one instructor alone (billing 120h * $25 profit = $3000.00/monthly).

If the school needs the money for the airplanes, it should be charged as airplane rates, not instructor rates.

classroom space can be quite expensive, and why would that be charged as airplane rate instead of instruction rate? its used for instruction and guys who come in to rent a c172 for the day shouldnt be paying for the student's supplies.

 

[FlyingToIST]

What does the instructor cost the school? What is there to afford? Classrooms, offices and tables? That expense can be paid by the profit from one instructor alone (billing 120h * $25 profit = $3000.00/monthly).

If the school needs the money for the airplanes, it should be charged as airplane rates, not instructor rates.

Yeah, those evil doer flight school owners. When was the last time you checked the fixed costs of operating a flight school? And you get 120 hrs/month? We get maybe 30-40 hrs /month in average.. So, in your math i have to not pay my instructors any single penny.. Hmm..

 

[Amish RakeFight]

What's enrollment like in flight schools these days. Are you seening a big drop?

 

[Jedi_Cheese]

What's enrollment like in flight schools these days. Are you seening a big drop?

There's no CFI's... Why have a student try to kill you when you can add another $5k in debt (after paying for $60 for your ratings) and fly a RJ?

There are enough Indians/Chinese/European students to go around.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Amish - Well, I cant speak for everyone, but for a part 61 school at the local airport, we are very busy. As I said in my first post, 2 FT instructors will do very well.

We are seeing a real problem trying to find CFIs. My guess is due to the Regionals ever-decreasing mins, CFIs are off to work there. 3 months ago we posted for a CFI job and had a ton of resumes, now?...none. Im getting the sense from other schools they are struggling to find CFIs as well.

As far as that other guy who turned this job opening post into what seems like an attack on what we charge vs. how much training facility costs are...who gives a rip? Im not here to debate costs. Im just trying to find a couple CFIs to give an opportunity to. Unless I completely misread your posts, I feel like a couple of you are taking shots at me, take it someplace else. We dont screw our customers. We charge competitive rates. In fact, the FBO doesnt raise fuel rates until the new truck comes in, and then only if the new fuel goes up. Others in the area raise rates like the gas stations...at the first hint of a fuel hike - even though that same fuel cost less. Totally unacceptable. As soon as fuel prices go down, we lower our rental rates. we dont hang on to the new higher price to gouge our customers/students.

Anywho...The typical flight school at the local airport doesnt tend to make a huge profit. Profit comes from several sources, depending on what the school has its hands in. Hangers, Tiedowns, Fuel...etc. We, in fact, are seperate from the FBO. We just do training and rentals.

What's enrollment like in flight schools these days. Are you seening a big drop?

 

[TWA]

What does the instructor cost the school? What is there to afford? Classrooms, offices and tables? That expense can be paid by the profit from one instructor alone (billing 120h * $25 profit = $3000.00/monthly).

If the school needs the money for the airplanes, it should be charged as airplane rates, not instructor rates.

And the owner of the school shouldn't make a profit because....? They did take the risk of starting the business.

Besides, there are other costs involved in having employees than just their pay rates. Workers comp, social security matching, etc. Why shouldn't the flight school tack onto the instructor rate to pay for this?

There is a lot more to business than what is on the surface.

 

[SPilot]

And the owner of the school shouldn't make a profit because....? They did take the risk of starting the business.

Besides, there are other costs involved in having employees than just their pay rates. Workers comp, social security matching, etc. Why shouldn't the flight school tack onto the instructor rate to pay for this?

There is a lot more to business than what is on the surface.

Sure the flight school should turn a profit. However I think it is problematic as an instructor, to charge a student $80-100 for a few hours, when I only get $20-30. For most students, that's a lot of money, and when it makes so little difference for me, it makes it more difficult to charge the full amount for my time.

At the place I worked as CFII/MEI, a typical two hour session would be $20 for me, but $84 for the student. If I'm going to strive to the level of competency necessary to keep customers paying that much coming back day after day, I'd like more than a quarter of the transaction.

It would perhaps be more constructive to compare the profit margin a flight school makes on a flight instructor, to typical profit margins in other personal service industries featuring educated employees.

 

[atpcliff]

Hi!

A guy I know owns 1/2 a flying school in GRB. He was paying the instructors about $25 and charging the students $30-35 for the instruction. That seems more reasonable to me.

cliff
YIP

 

[Way2Broke]

Besides, there are other costs involved in having employees than just their pay rates. Workers comp, social security matching, etc. Why shouldn't the flight school tack onto the instructor rate to pay for this?

Most part 61 flight schools do not employee their CFIs, instead they are contractors which require more or less none of the above benefits that you talked about. I think a 80/20 split seems fair, and this is if, and a big if, the school is actively going out and finding students for their instructors. If they are not doing that, and you are a contractor, then you are getting ripped off.

 

[pilotyip]

Contract CFI's are getting $25/hr at Ann Arbor, that includes ground Inst time.