Welcome to Flightinfo.com
- Register now and join the discussion
- Friendliest aviation Ccmmunity on the web
- Modern site for PC's, Phones, Tablets - no 3rd party apps required
- Ask questions, help others, promote aviation
- Share the passion for aviation
- Invite everyone to Flightinfo.com and let's have fun
Where to fly?
- Thread starter UND84
- Start date
- Watchers 8
Welcome to Flightinfo.com
- Register now and join the discussion
- Modern secure site, no 3rd party apps required
- Invite your friends
- Share the passion of aviation
- Friendliest aviation community on the web
Lazy8
Registered Parrot Head
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2004
- Posts
- 789
UND84,
It's all dependant upon the person and situation. The best thing I could have done was start and finish at a state college and then get my ratings after or during school. Unfortunately, the only thing I knew about flight training was the huge ads I saw in different flying magazines. Flying at a FBO that has freelance instructing is getting to be a iffy thing these days as far as record keeping and airplane condition go. If you do go that route try and find a place that keeps new planes and employs their flight instructors. It's fine to fly in older airplanes, but once you've gone new you won't go back. Trust me it's worth the extra cash to train in new up-to-date equipment. I'm not bashing freelance guys by any means, I'm just saying it's nicer to learn in a more structured environment. I've had friends go through AllATPs and they really enjoyed it. Another one I would suggest checking out is Flight Safety International. While Flight Safety is probably more expensive you'll get tons of multi-engine time if you stick it out and instruct there.
That's another question you should ask yourself when looking at potentional flight training locations/FBO's. Ask yourself would YOU want to instruct there when you're at that point. Talk to the people, see how they operate, do they have standard operating procedures, do they keep neat organized maintainence records, is the environment friendly, are they financially sound, can you live off of the pay, do the current students enjoy it, etc... There are flight schools out there I like to call "pilot factories" that pay their instructors $10/hour as a CFI and then there are the diamond in the roughs that have better equipment and facilities that pay CFI's $24/hour + benefits.
G
It's all dependant upon the person and situation. The best thing I could have done was start and finish at a state college and then get my ratings after or during school. Unfortunately, the only thing I knew about flight training was the huge ads I saw in different flying magazines. Flying at a FBO that has freelance instructing is getting to be a iffy thing these days as far as record keeping and airplane condition go. If you do go that route try and find a place that keeps new planes and employs their flight instructors. It's fine to fly in older airplanes, but once you've gone new you won't go back. Trust me it's worth the extra cash to train in new up-to-date equipment. I'm not bashing freelance guys by any means, I'm just saying it's nicer to learn in a more structured environment. I've had friends go through AllATPs and they really enjoyed it. Another one I would suggest checking out is Flight Safety International. While Flight Safety is probably more expensive you'll get tons of multi-engine time if you stick it out and instruct there.
That's another question you should ask yourself when looking at potentional flight training locations/FBO's. Ask yourself would YOU want to instruct there when you're at that point. Talk to the people, see how they operate, do they have standard operating procedures, do they keep neat organized maintainence records, is the environment friendly, are they financially sound, can you live off of the pay, do the current students enjoy it, etc... There are flight schools out there I like to call "pilot factories" that pay their instructors $10/hour as a CFI and then there are the diamond in the roughs that have better equipment and facilities that pay CFI's $24/hour + benefits.
G
labbats
Zulu who?
- Joined
- May 25, 2003
- Posts
- 2,593
See if they pay your insurance for you and factor in cost of living.
$15 an hour in the midwest with insurance paid is actually pretty decent. You'd be foolish to compare that to $30 an hour in San Francisco and having to pay your own insurance. A quick analogy I tell my students is how I applied to one place that offered $350 salary a week regardless of hours, and I thought I couldn't live off of that. Then I took a job somewhere local and wound up making half of that. I'm glad I chose the route I did, but it was certainly a surprise. I'd guess the average instructor makes about $10,000-12,000 a year right off the bat. Don't fool yourself into thinking you'll make more than that. You won't.
Also see how many flight hours a year the instructors are getting. Ask them all and listen to the ones you trust on first sight. Asking the school is asking for exaggeration.
$15 an hour in the midwest with insurance paid is actually pretty decent. You'd be foolish to compare that to $30 an hour in San Francisco and having to pay your own insurance. A quick analogy I tell my students is how I applied to one place that offered $350 salary a week regardless of hours, and I thought I couldn't live off of that. Then I took a job somewhere local and wound up making half of that. I'm glad I chose the route I did, but it was certainly a surprise. I'd guess the average instructor makes about $10,000-12,000 a year right off the bat. Don't fool yourself into thinking you'll make more than that. You won't.
Also see how many flight hours a year the instructors are getting. Ask them all and listen to the ones you trust on first sight. Asking the school is asking for exaggeration.
Last edited:
Share this page
Latest resources
-
-
-
-
-
AC 90-89C - Amateur-Built Aircraft and Ultralight Flight Testing HandbookAmateur-Built Aircraft and Ultralight Flight Testing Handbook
- Neal
- Updated:
