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Input on new CFI job please

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mcjohn

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 23, 2005
Posts
1,456
I have chosen option #4 for now:

I can't decide:

1. Take $4,000 - $5000 to Atlanta's ATP flight school to get my CFII and MEI and then go where ever.

2. Take $1,800 - $3,400 for training to fly banners over Myrtle Beach for season beginning end of March.

3. Take my wife with me out west to work at a flight school that offers health insurance IF I can convince them to hire me (i.e. - MAPD)

4. Start working at home at a strange little 141 flight school with a small student base that might give me a few more students and possibly return to my hotel job (bellman) part-time to maintain benefits.

I figure I've got all this time on my hands so I might as well give it a go down at this part 141 Cessna Pilot Center where I have to wear a full fledged pilot uniform with stripes on the shoulder, name tag and all. They want me to buy the uniform, they want me to come hangout for free to pick up students that drop by for info, and they say they'll help me out with the CFII and MEI if I do a good job (I'll be a subcontracted employee that recieves 1099's). They're also imposing a timeline on me to be done with students from my old flight school. Cost of training at the new place - 110 an hour for the plane if you have a prepay account, 120 other wise. 50 for ground/flight instruction, 45 if using prepay account. Cost of 141 kit $299. So cost of training for my students would be 155 to 170 and hour in a new 172SP with KLN-94 (bendix/king) GPS nav. system and full autopilot.

Could someone give me a little input on how typical or untypical this school may be considering what they're asking of me.
I kind of feel like I might be tooling myself out a little but I won't know until after I work there a couple months. I recieve 20/hour to start after my 10 hour probation period that pays $10/hour.
I have to take a check ride with them tommorow morning (and that I have to pay for.)
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I have to take a check ride with them tommorow morning (and that I have to pay for.)
It didn't sound too far from the norm till you said that......(sigh!)

Other Stuff you need to consider (you probably already have):
1.) $20/hr doesn't sound too bad, but as a contract-1099 worker, YOU have to pay your own Social Security and "self-employment" tax, and possibly Workmen's Comp, depending on what state you're in. (That's one of the reasons chicken-#@!! flight schools like to do that.) Just make sure your personal bottom-line can handle the REAL take-home numbers.

2.) "...they'll help you out with CFII and MEI if........." That could be a worth-while perk, but personally, I'd want to see a contract spelling out exactly what they were offering. That sounds extreme, but I'm sure plenty of others here can tell you horror stories of unkept promises.

3.) ....I'll politely refrain from even getting started on the bus-driver uniform thing.

4.) You said small school, small student base......just how many hours a week are they suggesting you'll be able to fly? You made it sound like part-time, yet they expect you to dump your other students?

Bottom line, you gotta do whatever will work out best for you, maybe this is it, maybe not. Hope this helps a little.
 
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You said small school, small student base......just how many hours a week are they suggesting you'll be able to fly? You made it sound like part-time, yet they expect you to dump your other students?

Part-time at the hotel can be as little as 17 hours a week and I'd still maintain full benefits so that could leave me wide open to instruct.

They said about 3 to 4 lessons a day when they get busy again. Supposedly they're complaining out being stretched thin with business right now but we're still talking part-time for the most part. They already want me to ferry/drop off one of their planes for warranty work (pretty far away) and then have someone fly me back. I was surprised at that.

They want me to talk to my students so I can give them a timeline. I only have two students at the other place and one is fairly close to checkride and the other has yet to begin solo X-Cs. He has tried a couple times to headout on his solo X-C but the radios crapped out on him both times. That was a little frustrating for me. I guess the avionics are not in the best condition at the other place. They paid me 21/hour at the other place and I had a W2/4 or whatever. Other place is 40 miles from home. The new place is 13 miles from home and pay 20/hour but after my own deductions I guess I'd see maybe 16-18/hour.
 
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