Glider Flight Instructor?

[mcfly87]

Hi,

I was wondering whether you are aware of any place where you can secure a position as a Glider Flight Instructor in EU and of course be paid.

I have heard about Air Cadets in UK. Unfortunately, it seems like they are "hiring" only volunteers. On the other hand their website say something about free trainings and courses for their Flight Instructors - do you think any of these might be related to engine flying?

Cheers!

[BaronVonBarnstormer]

Aside from the RAF Air Cadets and VGS there are civilian clubs who do have paid instructors. However there are not a huge amount of gliding clubs in the UK compared to the rest of the EU and from my experience the clubs only tend to employ a handful (if any) instructors. The rest of the instruction being done voluntarily by other club members with instructor ratings. That is not to say that these positions don't come up from time to time. The best place to look is on the classifieds section on gliderpilot.net .

To instruct in the UK you need either a BGA BI/AssCat/FullCat rating. or now you can instruct with EASA SPL or LAPL/S with an FI rating. To instruct on a motorglider you will obviously need the approprite rating also tagged on to your licence.

[cwatters]

Try Booker Gliding Club. They posted recently here..

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:831GhrI2XUMJ:adverts.gliderpilot.net/%3Fop%3Ds2%26st%3D50%26kd%3D%26sn%3D+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk

[appfo09]

Do you have to be a UK national to be a volunteer with RAF ?

Thank you !

[mcfly87]

Thanks guys for your answers.

appfo09 - I did not check that so I am not sure, though I think EU citizenship should be fine.

cwatters - thanks, this looks quite interesting and probably I will apply. This might be pretty attractive opportunity for the upcoming season. Do you have any information what are the approx. wages for experienced flight instructors there (2 years of experience in flight instructing, double FI/FI, aerobatics etc.)?

The advert is quite enigmatic "Wages are competitive, dependant on experience and include an attractive benefit package. "

[mcfly87]

Got one more question:

Do you know whether Universities in UK offering Aerospace Engineering degree have their own gliding clubs where a student can be employed as a glider flight instructor?

[BaronVonBarnstormer]

There are a fair few universities in the UK that have gliding clubs; Bath, Edinburgh, Loughborough, Nottingham, Oxford, Cambridge, UCL and ICL are the ones I have met members of. However all of these operate as university social/sports clubs so they don't or can't employ their own instructors. All of these clubs also operate as 'surrogate' clubs associated with other civilian/military gliding clubs, therefore the instruction is generally provided by the parent club's own instructors. Students who do have an instructor rating do also instruct but I have never come across one who has been paid to do so.

[mcfly87]

Thank you for your reply Baron. My general idea was to support my eventual student expenses by instructing and developing my flying background. I guess it will be wiser to direct my applications straight to those parent clubs then. What I have found for now is this list here:

Links (http://gliding.tardis.ed.ac.uk/database/Page/view/links) (

The thing is that I have no idea about the wages for flight instructors in UK. I am certified to train not only fresh guys but also licensed pilots to flight instructors as I have FI.FI what might be attractive there. Do you think I would be able to pay the tuition fees with my instructor's salary?

[BaronVonBarnstormer]

If you are an EU citizen then I think you pay the same £9000/year tuition as UK students to go to an English/Welsh uni (Scotland is free for Scottish and other non-UK EU nationals). But you will also have to factor in living which is ballpark £6000 a year. So yes in theroy an FI job would probably cover this.

However I'd be worrying about committing the time. Having just done an Engineering degree myself I can safely say it is a full time job and then some! I barely had an evening, let alone a day off towards the end of 4 years.

Of course its up to you, nothing is impossible and impossible is nothing :O

Best of luck.

[mcfly87]

Well, since I already hold one MSc Engineering degree, I was hoping to do only 1 year Master Program + some additional undergraduate courses. So I am hoping this would not be that hard. Also I know that some Universities offer part time programs which should give me more free time to fly.

..Still waiting for the reply from Bookers, what do you think - should I call them in some time if there will be no response?

[BaronVonBarnstormer]

A phone call probably wouldn't hurt. Booker is well located for Universities too, you could easily commute from London/ Oxford/ Reading.

You seem to know what your doing anyway. :ok: