Florida Flight Instructors, info needed!

[wingnutt]

well, i know some of you dont like to hear this...but if its ME time you're shooting for, and you want a decent chance at the airlines, Aviator in Ft. Pierce is the way to go.

it may not be the prettiest place to go, nor the best paid ($10/hr...hobbs time only), but all of their guys move on to the airlines because when they leave, the norm is 900-1000TT with 7-800 multi. tell me where else you can get that? Eagle, CoEx, ACA, etc. are picking them up as fast as they can get the hours.

they used to not hire outside of their program for CFI's, but as of late hes been picking up a boatload of Comair/PanAm guys because of the afore mentioned gripes with their respective schools.

 

[Ned]

What about ATP

Lots of good info on the options in florida in this post. Anybody instructed at ATP in Jax or pensacola? Seems like you could get your multi time pretty quickly teaching there....

 

[flyboy]

ATP

I don't think that ATP hires too many guys who didn't go through their program. That's just what I've heard.

 

[172driver]

Same story w/ Comair and ERAU...no job unless you went through the program. Florida seems a little saturated with CFI's right now but I'm sure it'll clear up soon.

 

[jaybird]

"Same story w/ Comair and ERAU...no job unless you went through the program. Florida seems a little saturated with CFI's right now but I'm sure it'll clear up soon."

172 you are so wrong. We took more than a few of your (Comair) guys, who BTW are great guys. They had nothing good to say about the Comair program. They said the pay sucked and the aircraft were crappy. They did say there was a quick upgrade into the twin, and that still remains true I guess. This was just what they said, I've never been to Comair before so I don't know. I did hear one of your instructors on your ops. frequency say that he had a gear problem. He sounded like he was very upset. Maintenance told him to check the Nav lights and that was the problem. I thought that was funny.

When times were good, ERAU would hire lots of people from off the street. Now it's just hard to find a job anywhere around here.

 

[Timebuilder]

Thanks for all the responses.

ATP: Yes, Jim K. shows no interest to those outside of the ATP program. "Fax me a resume and I'll put it on file" is as far as he has been willing to go for the past year. I tried.

Connie did not return my call at FSI.

PEA did not return my call.

ERAU is not currently hiring.

Epic doesn't need more instructors.

My new "job" (see my post "Flying Again") has one student, and a "first lesson" student for Saturday. That's it, no kidding.

I'll be going to sun n fun to beat the bushes this week. I do have a lead on a good 141 school, and I'll tell you all about it when I ink the deal.

It sure would have been nice to stay in Pa, but I don't have the money to get checked out in a Grumman Cougar (five hours to instruct, and I found out today that I would be expected to bear the cost....) and I have seen no one giving multi instruction this week. Nice people there, but I think the flight school is a secondary consideration, and there are several guys ahead of me for the SIC time on the charter side.

I should be wandering around Tuesday or Wednesday, and will likely spend some time volunteering at the NAFI booth.

Sun block, anyone?

 

[172driver]

Yes the pay sucks and the aircraft are old. How recently did ER hire Comair guys though? The sentiment I keep hearing is how clogged up ER is with CFI's, as are we, although I really don't know 1st hand. I don't ever want to defend being underpaid but I will say that 1...our guys have been consistently hired with Comair even since 9/11 and 2...we have Delta pass benefits for ourselves and family which help offset the low pay. Who's in this for the $$$ anyway? BTW...plenty of disgruntled ERAU students and CFI's here too. The grass is always greener for some.
The aircraft are old but safe. We put so much time on them that they are in and out of 100 hrs about every 2-3 wks. Anyone who thinks a gear problem is "funny" is obviously a little sick. I think you guys fly Seminoles at ER. If so, you would know why the nav lights should be the first thing checked if you don't get 3 greens. If you want something funny, it's all the ER guys pleading for 5 minute extensions on the practice area frequency. Why not just schedule the plane for the proper amt of time in the first place?

 

[jaybird]

Exactly the Nav lights should be the first thing checked. I would be very embarressed if I had to call my company and have all those people listen, only to find out it was only the Nav lights. Sorry, I guess in hindsight it was funny. Don't get your panties in a wad!

The Comair guys were hired about 10-12 months ago, the ones I know anyway. You're right the grass is always greener for some. I'm not even gonna argue about getting extentions.

 

[bobbysamd]

ERAU aircraft scheduling

I remember begging for extensions plenty of times when I was a Riddle instructor. Scheduling Riddle aircraft for the right amount of time is one thing. Actually flying that time is another thing. In Prescott, you could have ten Riddle aircraft waiting for takeoff. I'd bet that Daytona is no different. By the time you'd get to the practice area it was almost time to come back. Then, it would take forever to get sequenced in for landing. After that, you had to beg your training manager to approve XT because you flew the allotted time but couldn't finish everything.

Easier said than done.

I appreciate Patmack18's comments about the Riddle treatment. Sums up much of my experience there. Paywise, though, it was the best aviation job I ever had. Good equipment and facilities. I'd still recommend it.

 

[172driver]

Of course it's the same at Comair. In fact, SFB is much, much more busy than DAB. However, we schedule for just that situation. Maybe a 2.5 hr block instead of 2.0 would be good? Not a big deal about the XT's but it sure clogs up the frequency. While they're getting the XT, they're not reporting their position...nor is anyone else. If you need an extension, you have not scheduled the a/c for the right amt of time. If you know the delays are coming, plan for them.

 

[bobbysamd]

XT

I should clarify what I mean by XT. In ERAU parlance, XT meant "extra training." You'd go to your training manager and ask for an XT when you ran out of lessons for a particular block of training.

Nearly every student needs at least one XT during his/her individual flight course. Usually it is because you simply run out of time to complete everything on a particular lesson. I recall of only one ERAU student in Prescott who completed the entire flight program without XT. In most cases, it did not reflect badly on a student if he/she needed some XTs.

It used to be that training managers would rubber-stamp XT requests. They became tougher about it after a while, probably because parents and some students complained. That meant you had to fail a student on a lesson(s) to support your need for the XT. On paper, three XTs for a student and he/she was out of the flight course. In practice, that never happened.

Indeed, some boneheads failed lessons. But, most of the time, you needed XT to finish up lesson(s) and/or train to proficiency because you spent a good .2 - .3 just trying to depart the airport and come back!

Just before I left Riddle in mid-'91, it rewrote the syllabus and allotted more realistic course times. I dunno how it worked out.

 

[172driver]

Gotcha. We call it review flights and each one must be signed by CFI, student, and manager. Basically a CYA thing....student signs form saying, "I know this extra flight will cost me time and $$ but I want it anyway." Comair's quotes are fairly realistic, although I'd say most go over by a small amount.