So, none of your comments actually say that an unpaid or PPL FI is "better" than a paid or CPL holder?
If you put your money where your mouth is and invested wads of cash in a flying school, then you would be utterly nuts to entrust your investment into the hands of unpaid volunteers, who are less accountable than paid staff.
Volunteer management is totally different from managing paid staff. The rules are totally different. I wonder if anyone has actually thought of that?
People are not paid only because they are doing something they don't like. Or to just turn up. If that is how you work, then you are in the wrong job.
In teaching flying you are paid to impart knowledge and because you have demonstrated the ability to do this by passing an FI Course. You are aslo being paid for the responsibility you take.
Turning up is a given, not something you are paid for.
That's like trying to argue that you deserve a pay rise simply because you do your job well. That's what you are paid to do in the first place! You don't deserve more money just for doing what you are contracted for.
All FI's who teach to the same level should be trained in the same way, but standards will always be variable. FI's are all different, schools are all different and students are all different and need different approaches.
You mention the example of a student who comes in once a week. That's OK, but what about the students who come for an intensive course who want to be there 5 days a week or even more? Many, many students do their courses in that manner, so you need a range of people to keep continuity of training.
You cannot expect someone to be there full time and not get paid. What about on the rubbish weather days when there is no chance of flying. Who is going to chat to the walk in customers. Do you just shut up shop on poor days? Could you really expect someone who's a volunteer to sit there bored out of their mind from 9-5 during the long and very boring winter months?
It just isn't practical without full time paid staff available every day.
Bose, your financial status means as much to me as what the pope had for breakfast, but to set your mind at ease I'm in the lucky situation of not having to work if I don't need to.
I don't NEED to extract cash from aviation and you make it sound like a grubby and distasteful act just because I believe in a fair days wage, for a fair days work.
This is why I used this phrase "The vast majority of FI's aren't as lucky as you or I and need to earn from their profession."
It is not I who has the wierd attitude to working and getting rewarded financially, but then again, as professional pilot who holds an FI rating, I can charge for my services, so I do.
After having invested >£50K in my own training, then why the hell not?