BEagle,
Ok, I think we are going around in circles. Take a JAA/FAA instructor in Florida. They are allowed in 12 months to instruct 900 hours under JAR. If they were to max out each time he could instruct 100 hours every 28 days. So 900 divided by 100 is 9. 9 times 28 is 252. 365 minus 252 is 113. So if the JAA instructor were to max out in 252 days, that still leaves 113 days they cannot work under JAR. They could stop teaching JAR at that time and go on to teach FAA. Then they are limited to 8 hours per day teaching FAA ratings for the rest of their time. By then the instructor would have more than enough time to be marketable in the U.K. From Gin Slinger's original post I did not get the impression it was a permanent position in the U.S.A. that was being sought.
As for "Slave Labour" as you put it, I agree with you 100%. NAC does not make any money off of the instructors. The reason is the market will only allow so much to be charged for instruction. It barely covers the salary of the instructor.
Yesterday I had a visit from one of my previous instructors, who is now flying four engine jets for Northwest. He instructed at NAC when we were an FAA only school. His visit reminded me of the program we implemented during his employ at NAC. The program was setup under the premise that instructors are professionals and should be paid according to their experience. We set up four tiers for instruction. The students could choose which level of instructor experience they wanted. It went from a low time instructor all the way to a gold seal instructor. After six months I found that when the instructor would reach the level of experience to move to the next pay level they would not tell me. I thought it was odd and I held an instructor meeting just to discuss that issue. What came out was that they did not want to keep advancing in pay scales (which meant student would pay more for the instructor's time) since the more experienced instructors were not getting much work. The students when given the option between instructors would take the instructor which cost less.
As slaves I believe they do not get what the deserve pay wise as professionals. But also as slaves, they get to make their own schedule and work at their own pace. There is only one restriction I put on them. They must operate within the rules at all times.
Should you want to check up on the status of the school, please contact Linda Hosier or Mike Grierson at the CAA. Also, you are welcome to come visit the school and talk to the instructors. Please stop in unannounced should you wish.
Take Care,
Richard