Cost of FI rating

[buzzc152]

Hi all

I've been thinking lately about doing an FI course and teaching PPL in my days off (I fly for a well known biz jet operator). It's something I always wanted to do but I was quite lucky in finding jobs so the 'hour building' FI route never came up. Still, I'd like to do it just for the enjoyment and new challenge of teaching.

So, my questions are : 1) what the cheapest route to getting an FI(r). A quick look on the web at some local schools suggest about £6000 which seems a bit much. Can it be gotten cheaper ?
2) how much would a part time instructor earn on say working 10-15 days a month ?

Thanks
Buzz

[Gavilan]

In Spain you can do the course for around 6000 €,so it´s more or less the same and takes from 2 to5 months.And I don´t know how much you much you can earn in UK

[ric180880]

Skyleisure at shoreham do a very good FI course for just over £6K plus landing fees. Really good instructor and a nice airfield to fly from.

[Legal Beagle]

Answers to your questions:

1. Cheapest might not be best. Go for recommendation. Always.

2. Not much. Because you will probably be on pay as you fly, unless you are very lucky. And this is the UK. However, if you are going to be instructing for fun perhaps low pay won't be a problem.

Give it a shot!

[EK4457]

1) £6k is around the going rate. You will not get much below if at all. You'd be better off budgeting £7k as the advertised figure rarely includes landing fees and never includes A/C hire for test and test fee. Don't forget you need to pay the CAA to print a line of text in your license too.

You could go abroad but the weak pound means that there is no saving after flights and accom. Plus, the (quite extensive) groundschool is always given in the local language with obvious potential problems.

Bottom line is that it will cost you between six and seven grand.

2) Pay varies wildly with loacation and experience. As a part time instructor you would be on an hourly rate.

Good would be £20 ph plus £30 pd retainer.

Bad would be £13 ph and no retainer. :eek:

As a round figure, expect £200 to £300 per month with those hours.

Out of interest, with the answer to (1) so high and the answer to (2) so low, you can see why 'FI ing' is not always the most favoured option for newbies!

EK

[Deano777]

Also have a good read of CAP371 ;)

£7000 is about right as stated with a/c hire & test fees etc.

[buzzc152]

To be honest, at £6-7000 I probably wouldn't bother. Seems a bit pricey to me : 30hours flying instruction = £4500 perhaps ?

Anyways, thanks for the replys. Perhaps when I'm a wealthy capt with a 6 figure salary I'll reconsider.

Buzz

[Keygrip]

30 hours flying, yes - but 120 hours of groundschool from a guy who's had his wallet ripped out through his :mad: by the CAA to gain his qualification.

Then the facility has to be approved by the CAA, too.

The costs for anything (other than their own rating renewals) are phenomenal for anything to do with the CAA.

This is another section of the professional world - not mom and pops registered training facility for PPL.

Another aspect, by the way, is - do you want to take food from the mouth of a struggling, underpaid, full time, credit crunched, flight instructor, for you to "have fun" at the expense of the students that you will teach during your scheduled rest days from the professional job?

[EK4457]

Good point KG and one I wanted to make but thought better of.

It's a free world out there and one can do as they please. But you WILL be taking a job away from someone who desprerately needs it.

A better option might be getting a share and just flying for fun on the ol' PPL.

Food for thought....

[Hot 'n' High]

Alas Buzz, the real benefit of the time on the FI course is NOT the flying but learning the art of explaining to your students how to do it when on the ground! And that all comes out in the extensive groundschool. I know it sounds daft but, when I did my FI course in 1999, I was amazed at how much of an art that was – and how much groundwork was required.

Think back to your times as a student (PPL, CPL/IR, Line Training, OPC etc). How do you rate all your previous Instructors/Examiners? No answer required – just think about which Instructors (and Examiners) clicked with you in terms of quality delivery and those who you maybe did not progress quite as quickly with! But the flying is great! After all, on the FI Test, the Examiner is, in part, seeing if you can save his/her life after "Student Induced" mishandling! ;)

[Happy Chappy 2009]

Following on from the cost of a course can anybody recomend any decent schools to study your FI rating with?

[Mickey Kaye]

Kevin Rowell at advanced flight training based at Sherburn in Elmet.

Advanced Flight Training (http://www.advancedflighttraining.co.uk)

Nice aerodrome, nice guy and good instruction.