OAK SFO SJC Bay Area Instructing.

[NYCPilot]

I'm looking for information on CFI opportunities in and around the San Francisco Bay area.

What are some of the busier airports in the area in terms of flight instruction. I looked at the SFO terminal and see that there's a lot of class C,D and E airports. Whats the flying like and what does the average CFI get paid an hour. Are there a lot of students and CFI turnovers. Would it be difficult to pick up full-time work there.

What are living expenses a month including housing. Best places to live in the area, etc.

Looking to get out of NYC and move to the West Coast. I've visited the Berkeley area a few years ago and found the climate and lifestyle to be pleasant out there. I need a change.

 

[oiltycoon]

Look in the San Jose area. Palo Alto for example. Busy Class D for a 2500' runway. There is Palo Alto Flying Club, West Valley Flying Club, Stanford Flying, Shoreline Flying . Most are freelance so you set your own rate or whatever the club sets. Avg is 40/hr. But it's expensive to live in the bay area as I'm sure you have come across during your research.

 

[oiltycoon]

http://www.paloaltoflyingclub.com/

http://www.wvfc.org/

http://www.flystanford.com/

http://www.shorelineflyingclub.com/


The Palo Alto area is a cashcow if you can land the right students. Very middle to upper class area.

 

[NYCPilot]

It seems rooms in a house around the Berkeley campus arent too pricey. $500-600 isn't too bad compare to NYC.

Is the Bay Area in general busy in terms of students? It would seem there's a lot of opportunity with all of the airports I spotted on the map.

Freelance would be good. Any idea on whether 25 hours a week would be too optimistic after establishing a base of students?

Also, whats the IFR flying like. Is there a lot of it? I know the Bay area gets a lot of fog and stuff. Are there constantly low ceilings which prevent VFR flying. Do you need to file IFR to get out to the practice area on occasions?

 

[NYCPilot]

The Palo Alto area is a cashcow if you can land the right students. Very middle to upper class area.

That sounds good for a freelancer. Any reason why most places allow freelance instead of hiring their own instructors with the pay inequality?

 

[oiltycoon]

It seems rooms in a house around the Berkeley campus arent too pricey. $500-600 isn't too bad compare to NYC.

Is the Bay Area in general busy in terms of students? It would seem there's a lot of opportunity with all of the airports I spotted on the map.

Freelance would be good. Any idea on whether 25 hours a week would be too optimistic after establishing a base of students?

Also, whats the IFR flying like. Is there a lot of it? I know the Bay area gets a lot of fog and stuff. Are there constantly low ceilings which prevent VFR flying. Do you need to file IFR to get out to the practice area on occasions?

Freelancing in the South Bay area is great pay if you can establish a solid student base. It's not tough as long as you are flexible. Many instuctors commute to several airports, instead of just working for one club. Alot of the money comes from the (over)abundance of rich dotcom companies and big tech companies like Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Cisco, Sun Microsystems, Google, Yahoo, Nvidia, etc.... the list goes on. These employees have $ching$ and aren't afraid to spend it.

As for IFR flying. You've got your typical morning blanket fog. You can always get a pop-up clearance to get above the layer and 99.99% of the time it's severe clear and blue skies above. Go to the coast or central valley to do your airwork, by the time you come back around 10am at the latest, most of the fog burns off and it's sunny California dreaming the rest of the day.

Check out Palo Alto, San Carlos, San Jose international, San jose-reid hillview and the Hayward airport.

 

[NYCPilot]

Oiltycoon
Thanks a lot for the info and links. I checked them out.
There seems to be plenty of instructors listed on those websites, but with all of the airports and instructors it seems like there's a lot of flying going on out there.

Thanks again.