southern flight instructors

[barn stormer]

I am currently a flight instructor in the northern part of the country, and was wondering how many hours on average a flight instructor in the southern or southwestern part of the country would pick up in a year? This winter has been tough with a lot of icing and low ceilings around here, and was thinking of trying a new part of the country...

 

[bigD]

I'm in Austin, and it really depends on the school. On the low end, I hear full time instructors doing about 500 hours per year, and well over a thousand on the high end.

 

[SigAV8R]

I'm in Louisiana (in a small *ss town on top of it) and last year I logged 600 and 100 multi in the last 6mos of the year.

 

[TEXAN AVIATOR]

Average 80 hours in the winter flight time, 95 in the summer flight time in Houston. BTW I'm about to start here, this is what other CFIs say they build.

 

[mozzer]

I worked in the southwest for 18 months and picked just over 1400....you fly EVERYDAY.

 

[CDVdriver]

South Florida...

3000 hrs in 3.5 years
1248 hrs last 12 months.
Taking it a little easier right now...lol
Actually able to afford lunch...lol

 

[bobbysamd]

Vero v. Prescott v. Farmington

From August, 1991 to early October, 1992, I got in about 750 hours. I had a lot of downtime during my first two months. I got far less actual than I expected - maybe only about five hours at the very most. A lot will depend on if your school can keep you busy.

At ERAU, from early 1989, when I started working, to July, 1991, when I left, I got in about 2100 hours. During the few months I worked at MAPD, I got in about 220 hours.

 

[labbats]

I can relate. As a full time midwest instructor, I got 400 hours last year. But this year is picking up, and I'm just fighting the weather now, rather than a spotty schedule.
Find a busy flight school, if the weather is acceptable you'll fly. If you find your present school is putting you on the books for 2-3 flights a day, you should move on. A good school will have 5-6 students a day lined up for you.

 

[bobbysamd]

Adequate aircraft

Another caveat is to be sure your school has a fleet large enough to accomodate its students. That can be a real hindrance to staying busy.

A real problem at Riddle was there were too many students and too few airplanes. That meant a lot of downtime for instructors. We'd get back our schedule sheets with everything red-lined and "SOL." SOL for Riddle purposes meant "student overload." It got better for me after I learned how to watch the computer for available aircraft and slip-in requests for them.

FSI always had plenty of aircraft - even twins. I do not recall ever losing work for lack of aircraft at FlightSafety.

 

[Timebuilder]

Of course, if you DID have a "student overload", it meant that you WERE "SOL"!!