Question for Instructors.
I'm currently studying the instructors rating and am not particularly happy with how things are going. I started in late April and to date have completed the mass and pre-flight briefs but done only 14 hours of the flying. I received minimal guidance, direction or assistance with the briefs, so much so that I could have just as well done them before quitting my full time (read "paid") job. The CFI insisted on completing all the briefs before setting foot near the aircraft, which seemed odd but who am I to argue so I complied. Now that the briefs have been completed / presented and accepted by the CFI and other grade 1's, I'd like to get underway with the flying but it's dragging out like you wouldn't believe. I've been on a roster since I first started, so I have been at the school 9-5 most days answering the phone, handling queries, writing quotes, washing aircraft, vaccuuming, cleaning, washing up and every other domestic endorsement you could think of, so I'm around all the time, but I just about have to shoe horn an instructor into the aircraft simply to go flying. For this priviledge I pay over $200 per hour. I'm not paid for the domestic, phone answering general dogsbody stuff, but I have been told I'll be paid $35 / hr for the few scenic's I've done (5 or so over the last 3 months). I dragged my long suffering girlfriend over here from overseas, and she'd much rather be living in Sydney or Melbourne where she could actually get a job relevant to the career she studies two degrees for instead of counting beekeeper applications. She's happy enough to make the sacrifice if I'm getting something out of it, but that doesn't seem to be coming along too well either.
I'm happy enough to be around the airport all day, and I'm happy enough to answer phone calls and busy myself with whatever needs doing when I have spare time between my training. It's the "my training" bit that's lacking. I'm also becoming increasingly uncomfortable with what happens when I get my rating. I've been told there's a job available at the end, but possibly because of the general behaviour around the school, there are very few students. We had a whole weekend the other week with one booking. We have CAVOK days with no flights. A mature age PPL student came in the other day and I asked him how he was going and what stage he was up to. He replied "how would I know - no-one tells me anything around here". I'm not sure if he was joking - it's didn't seem very funny and no-one laughed so who knows maybe I'm being melodramatic. Either way, I'd much rather "great thanks, Roger Wilco tells me I should be OK for solo next week!". You don't need a degree in PMI to see that if you're students are saying or even joking that kind of stuff there's a problem.
Anyway, I guess the big question is "is this sort of treatment normal"? Is this just some period we all go through, something the sadist GA overlords cast down upon us to ensure we are forever grateful for not having to clean toilets anymore / as often? Should I just keep on my best smile and eventually all will be OK"? Or, should I get the hell out of here before I spend all my money for the priviledge of a job with a ordinary school or worse still looking for a job with the monkey of a bad school instructor rating on my back.
My decision to do the rating here in the first place wasn't without basis. This school used to be pretty good; I just guess things change. Like the lonely planet guides always say; good places can go bad, and bad ones can go broke.