freelance instructors at fbos

[turpentyine]

Would it be a bad thing if an FBO only or mostly consists of freelance instructors? thnx

 

[LAXSaabdude]

Would it be a bad thing if an FBO only or mostly consists of freelance instructors? thnx

Overall I would say this is not a good thing. If an FBO only allows instructors who actually work there, his costs go up, and he has an incentive to limit his instructors to the number who can realistically stay busy there. If everyone is freelance, the FBO can "invite" endless numbers of instructors in, and no one can make a living.

LAXSaabdude.

 

[pilotman2105]

I took my primary training from a freelance instructor at a small airport. It wasn't the best quality instruction, either. So that's another dynamic to consider.

 

[midlifeflyer]

Depends.

The basic model at the Denver suburban airports is CFIs as independent contractors. While some are ties to only one FBO, others teach out of multiple operations and develop their own clientele. It's not much of a problem in terms of instruction quality or the ability of the instructors to get students.

Around here, anyway, CFIs still need to meet FBO requirements to teach there. That means instructor checkouts, following certain internal record keeping procedures, and other quality control requirements. Some of the FBOs using independent instructors are Part 141 schools. The FBOs have no interest in overfilling their CFI ranks, so that there's no real difference with an employee-only operation in terms of availability of business to go around. In some cases the FBO's insurance cost considerations will also limit the number of CFIs that can be approved.