Leeds1972
Full time FI in the UK can expect to fly anything between 30 to 70 hours a month depending on the time of year. 30 hours a month typical during winter months and about 50 - 70 hours a month during the summer months.
Last year was a particulary awful summer though. Remember the market was really active last year hence why so many FIs moved on. Myself I started to get invited to interviews once I hit 700 hours total time, after about 7 months of full time instructing. Though the school I worked for wasn't particulary busy.
However colleagues in the past have instructed for up to two years even longer when the market wasn't quite so good before moving on. Some still ended up paying for ratings. So as to picking an FI rating over a type rating; you really need to do your research on the market when you finish training. In other words how long will you need to instruct for and how many hours? That is very hard question to answer. Though it is generally regarded there is no significant benefit in having more than a 1000 hours of single engine time. Also air taxi/single pilot public transport operators require 700 hours of total time for insurance (there are multi time requirements but some firms will allow you to build multi time flying empty sectors to meet this requirement).
An FI rating will certainly keep more options open and can lead to more interesting flying jobs. However I will not deny that funding a rating can be the financially more shrewd thing to do. If you are to go down the type rating route I would recommend the ATR rating at the moment.
Last edited by portsharbourflyer; 20th Apr 2008 at 18:16.