I see a well established conversation here - may I add a thought as a new poster?
For me the answer to the "I am a ...." question is either what I get paid to do, or what people would generally describe me as, if they knew me well.
Chuck, if you earn your weekly income by teaching flying skills, then I suppose you are a flight instructor. Presumably you, like Dudley, have the specific qualification that allows you to teach those skills legally, as a consultant or advisor or any other capacity.
But if the rest of the world actually describes the work you do as "airline simulator instructor" then it would be a little misleading to say otherwise. Not wrong, just misleading. (That's just an example - obviously I don't know what work you actually do right now!)
Better just to say what you do. Sometimes that might mean avoiding a term like "flight instructor" that carries strong connotations.
Cheers,
O8
The way this is handled in our community is quite simple really. Unless an instructor's certificate has been revoked for cause, it remains an earned certificate.
The accepted protocol in aviation for instructors who wish to continue contributing to the general good of the program after retirement is for these instructors to simply present themselves as a CFI retired.
There is nothing "misleading" about the term "instructor" used in this accepted manner.
Dudley Henriques
CFI (Retired)