Why instructing sucks!

[huskerfan]

So I get to work this morning and my boss tells me I'm getting a 20% paycut as a CFI. Here comes the winter... the incomes going to be low and now I get a paycut. So I'm currently in school full-time, working as a CFI fulltime, and getting married soon. I will need to find myself a second job soon. I had two jobs last winter without going to school. Domino's here I come!!!!

It frustrates me cause I realized my flight school just sees me as a commoditity. I talked to the owner tonight about it and he told me things are tough.. the electric bill is high, maintanence department is slow, etc. If I don't like it I don't have to stay. However we're going to hire a secretary to work 40 hours a week?? Wheres the logic in that. Our maintance department has 3 guys who could easily answer phones when ALL the CFI's are up flying.

I'm not the gretest CFI in the world. I still have a tonne to learn, but I worked my butt off this summer doing extra stuff I wasn't even paid for. Out of the last 11 solos our flight school has had, I've signed off 9 of them. It just makes me mad and just want to quit my job. The only problem is I need to keep building my hours, need $$$$ and currently cant' relocate.

Sometimes being a CFI just SUCKS!

 

[Dieterly]

That's the right attitude!!!

 

[fr0g]

"... just sees me as a commoditity"

Better get used to that, it's the same everywhere..
I wish you luck

 

[Chronic Jetlag]

perspective

Hey Huskerfan:

You are a little whinning baby! Quit your belly aching, shut up and take it with a smile. Back when I was instructing I had to solicit my own business and get my own students because I didn't have enough seniority to get the walk ins. Besides instructing I worked as a waiter as night to make ends meet. I'll bet your new 20% pay cut is still more than I was making. I was making $10-15/hour! Getting married is the choice you made, becoming a CFI was also your choice. You think with any other job your position is not a commodity! You made your bed...so sleep in it! Judging from your total flight time you listed you haven't earned the right to whine and be bitter. Come back and bitch when you have 3,4,5, 10 thousand hours and have walked the picket line in the rain, watch scabs cross the picket line and steal your job, fly your plane, cash your paycheck. Come back and bitch when your wife leaves you because your company goes bankrupt and you can't find another decent flying job to pay for the mortgage and pay for your kids' college tuition. Come back and whine when you do your first overnight with the commuters in a cheap motel after flying 10 legs with no APU, auto pilot in 100 degrees heat trying to beat flow control while doing your own load sheet by hand because the computer is down.

I worked two jobs for two years after I earned my 4 year degree to save up enough $$ for flight school. Instructed for $10-15/hour, finally got my first job with a 135 operator after over two years of instructing; slept on my friends couch because I was too poor. Should I go on? I'm sure most members on this site who are civilians have done the same as me if not worse. Go home and cry to your fiance and have her comfort your little candy a**. Don't do it here you little emotional **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED**wreck.

What's wrong with Dominos? Is it beneath you? I have unclogged toilets when I worked in restaurants. Speaking of toilets, try cleaning the toilet in a small biz jet on a hot day with the APU inop and the stench of urine and fresh human excrement. You don't know the definition of bitter and paying dues. You have not even scratched the surface

I wipe my rear end with your commercial certificate and your CFII, and your 900 hour log book; not because you're low time...because you have no character! I was low time once too. The world owes you nothing, your employer owes you nothing. You're lucky you didn't get a 40% pay cut. You're lucky you have a job right now.

 

[fr0g]

wipe my rear end with your commercial certificate and your CFII, and your 900 hour log book; not because you're low time...because you have no character! I was low time once too. The world owes you nothing, your employer owes you nothing. You're lucky you didn't get a 40% pay cut. You're lucky you have a job right now.

Uh.. dude.. lighten up.. we're all in this together

 

[UnstableAviator]

And you said he has no character while you call him a *censored* wreck? The way I see it, I don't have any right to bitch either as a CFI, so I don't. However, you must consider that a low time guy doesn't know about all the furloughs, divorces, scabs, unions, contracts, fracs, APU's, and flight attendants.

Just like ANY other job, when you get told you are getting a pay cut for reasons not entirely clear you are going to be upset. So he came to an aviation board (his profession) trying to get some help or support but instead gets blasted for being a whining ungrateful SOB. When I first got into aviation I thought it would be like most other jobs, where you do your work well and you will be rewarded (or at least not cut) accordingly. My eyes are just opening, apparently this isn't so. I can only hope for my sake, my friends sake, and my family's sake that I don't become a crusty, grouchy, bitter old man after enduring years of this profession.

Off to another 14 hour day. Seriously, where does a CFI find time for another job! I already quit living.....I guess this sleep thing is overrated too!

 

[RightPedal]

Chronic Jetlage you have no character!
Somebody needs to wipe their but with "YOU"

 

[Huck]

Dear Huskerfan

pay no attention to the flame bait... 99.9% of us out here got what you were saying. A man looks for dignity and appreciation in any job, CFI or cutting grass or whatever. You've a right to demand respect and a decent wage. Keep your head up.

And getting married is your best move. My wife (a nurse) supported me for the first 8 years of our marriage (I had two jobs and went to school full-time too.) Now she gets to stay home and raise babies and I work - that was our deal.

Pay no attention to the screamer - I'm sure he's as much fun to fly with as you can imagine. His type don't usually linger too long on this board.

 

[avbug]

I can't tell you much other than hang in there. Your employer may be doing what he has to do, or not. Can't say as I'm not there. That doesn't help you much, though. I can tell you that there are a lot of employers out there in the business who do this, weather it's justified, or not.

You can take some solace in the fact that later you'll be in better shape; things improve somewhat down the line. You'll stll look back and think this sucks; it does. Instructing doesn't, but the job you have now apparently does.

Fish for more students, try to pick up extra work on the side. Many of us have had to work a second job while instructing. I did several, at different times. It's not always easy. It's tiring, it's discouraging, and unfortunately, it's necessary.

If you haven't read Greg Brown's book (The Savvy Flight Instructor), now is a good time. You may find some help, there.

 

[fletch717]

Huskerfan,

I know how tough it can be. I quit my well paying job at 31 to chase my dream. It seemed that the people who gamble the most, achieve the greatest reward. It was always the 24 year old cfi that daddy paid for college and flight training would come in crying about how bad life sucks. Maturity is what separates the men from the boys. Knowing that less than 10% of the population love their job and you are one of them. My advice is to suck it up and move forward but only if you want it, because there are going to be tougher times ahead.

Fletch

 

[minrest]

Perhaps things would be different if CFI's would just start charging what they're worth and stop taking jobs for $8 bucks an hour and free coffee.

Flight Instructing should be a rewarding experience; not indentured servitude. I left my first CFI job simply because I could not make ends meet. After a year in another profession, I returned to Instructing only after I had secured a good job. $35/hour for primary and up to $60/hour for high performance/instrument. 100% mine (yes I did have to pay taxes and insurance). What amazed me was that accross the field, the FBO was charging about 70% of my rates; yet people still came to my flying club. Why? Professionalism.

We (CFI's) provide specialized training to students willing to pay top dollar. Just look at places like American Flyers and the hourly instruction rates they charge. Unfortunately, they're CFI's only see a fraction of that. If you can find a reputable local flying club that will let you work as an independent contractor, you'll probably find that you can make substantially more money and be your own boss. Even if the other CFI's at the club are charging $15 or $20 an hour, I can tell you from experience that the bulk of executives/professionals looking for flight instruction will pay $35+ if they perceive they are receiving superior instruction. Once you have a couple of students, you'll also find that other CFI's in the club will bump their prices up and you will no longer be "the expensive CFI".

I say enjoy your time as a CFI. Work independently or find another job. Above all else, be ready to enter your next job (probably a regional) with little or no debt because it will be a long time before you break $30K a year there.

-minrest

 

[bobbysamd]

Flight instructing BOHICA

So I get to work this morning and my boss tells me I'm getting a 20% paycut as a CFI . . . . It frustrates me cause I realized my flight school just sees me as a commoditity . . . .

Sometimes, aviation employers lie. I was hired by a certain well-known Florida flight school twelve years ago. I was told that I would first be paid hourly, but would eventually earn X salary working in contract programs. My then-employer had demoted me by not renewing my contract, and the hourly wage that I expected in a best-case scenario would have amounted to a $3K pay cut. I thought that was BS, in and of itself. X salary at the new employer would have been $2K-$3K more than what I could expect to earn where I had been working. Thus, I accepted the new job. I also thought that after living all my life where there was winter that I would like Florida.

I begin the new job at the well-known Florida flight school. I am paid hourly, which was fine. I had agreed to that, but I am jerked around with and by students, and am not making much money. I am finally assigned to a contract program. I ask, "where's my salary?" I am told that "no salaries are being given this month," which was October. But, I argue, I was hired in July and we shook on it. It made no difference. Eventually, I was paid a salary, but it was below what I was originally promised. At the end, I was taken off salary and was returned to hourly. I had already been looking from the time the place screwed with me with students, and I had something lined up when I was returned to hourly. I finalized that gig and gave notice. Another instructor had merely turned in his keys and walked out.

At the time this happened I was over forty, and very much resented being hosed around as if I were some 19-year-old. No disrespect at all intended for 19-year-olds. They deserve and are worthy of every bit of respect as an older person. I make that remark because so many aviation employers push around young people and take advantage of them. Maybe that's why they discriminate against older people; they figure that older people will not abide such treatment.

My point in telling this story is you're not the only one being screwed over and you won't be the last. I second all of Huck's comments 100%. Try to hang in. Alternatively, see if you can find something better.

Good luck with your plans and best wishes for your upcoming marriage.

 

[flywithastick]

Great thing about our system, is you're quite free to find something better or come up with something yourself. your boss/business owner may be an idiot, but that's his privelege. None of your business whether or not he hires three secretaries.

you think he's obligated to hire flight instructors and pay them big bucks!? Thanks goodness he's not, or the whole system would crash and no one would get to fly. Businesses do not exist to employ people. They exist to make the owners money. If paying you more or treating you better will make him more money, (and he's smart) he'll do those things.

Last, I worked at Domino's when in college. had a pretty fun time and made good money for a 20-21 yr old with essentially no qualifications other than half a college degree. I'd recommend them for a flexible job that could pay significantly better than min wage (or did 16-18 yrs ago).

good luck

 

[labbats]

Being disrespected is the dumps. If you really dislike it there, and find yourself wishing you weren't there because of the attitude or treatment, then concentrate on school and move. There is something to be said for self-respect.

 

[Timebuilder]

Sometimes, aviation employers lie.

A cold, hard truth. They often lie. They are right up there with used car salesmen.

At least all you got was a pay cut. I was cut, period. Twice.

You have the luxury of relative youth. You have a job where you are paid to fly. I have no youth, and I can't afford to even rent.

Your situation looks pretty good to me. Extra cheese with pepperoni?

 

[EatSleepFly]

huskerfan-

I'm in a very similar situation. I've been working for an FBO for 8 months now getting treated like scum day in and day out. I get paid a so-so base salary, which is great when things are slow, but I have to be in the office no less than 55 hours a week. I had to pay for my checkouts, my charts, and any other expenses except insurance.

Recently I accepted a new job flying corporate in a Bonanza. I confronted my current boss about becoming an hourly employee so I could finish up my current students, and help train a new replacement for me, and still keep a flexible schedule for the other trips. He told me to turn down the other job, or hit the road-I chose the latter. Sucks for my students, but it wasn't my call.

Point is, if your current situation is not working out for you, pound the pavement and find something else. It worked for me.

Good luck- hope everything works out for you.

 

[EatSleepFly]

Why would I wear stripes?

 

[supsup]

chronic a$$hole

chronic jetlag,

Why don't you smoke some chronic and chill out. Husker just wanted to vent. If you don't like what he said then don't respond. I hope you don't come crying here when your almost furloughed but hits the street.

supsup

 

[House_X]

huskerfan,

Instructing (especially thesedays) really $ucks...I feel your pain. Stick with it...you'll make it...most of us went through situstions like this. I went out and started instructing on my own...mainly because you can pocket 100% of your pay rather than being pimped out by an FBO for minimum wages. The thing I rememebr most about instructing are the friendships and hanging out with fellow instructors as well as some students.

Even with all the current issues that go with an airline job....ITS STILL A #ELL OF A LOT EASIER THAN BEING A CFI. Your going through the toughest part of your career....it get's easier after you get three stripes and start flying turbine equipment. By the time your get the hours, hopefully the economy will be back up to speed and the airlines will be hiring more pilots.

House

 

[huskerfan]

Thanks for all the positive words. I was just frustrated last night and needed to vent. I'm thankful that I still have a flying job and still do like instructing. I just think a pay cut sucks and don't think I deserve it. In most industries, when you do a good job, and work your butt off, you expect to be rewarded positively. I know lifes not fair but I wish the instructing industry had more equity. Looking back at my flying career, I can remember flying with disgruntled, bummed out instructors. I always thought, man you have it so good, you get paid to fly. I can at least now understand where they were coming from. I still plan to work hard and try my best as a CFI and treat my students with respect and fairness. Like I said earlier thanks for all the positive replies. I just needed to vent and thought a place like this would be understanding.
Huskerfan