Hi there people, I'm a VFR CPL (i.e. Single engine, no additional ratings), I've around 500 hrs, spent some time doing aerial photography in Ireland, and I'm what you'd call a grass strip pilot I guess!
I'm undertaking the FI rating very soon, and I want to do this properly - I'm not getting the rating as another string to my bow, and I'm not doing it in the hope of getting a few single engine hours or to 'keep me flying'. I can live without flying if I need to, although I miss it if we're kept apart too long, so I'm not too cold hearted!
Ultimately I'd love to end up in the left hand seat of a Falcon or a Lear or something similar, but I'm absolutely in no rush, not in aviation for the money (convenient, eh?), simply want to better myself and be a productive asset to the industry, whether my influence stretches far or not.
Enough of that - the question remains... Do you enjoy instructing? What kind of instructing do you do? I'm interested to hear from civil and military backgrounds alike. I'm interested in instructing for the 'medium run', as a pre-career you might call it. As it stands I'll be able to instruct people towards the gaining of their PPLs of course, but as funds eventually allow I aim to expand on that and use it as a self improvement journey also. Best way to learn something is to teach it, I'm a big believer in that.
And the bottom line is, I've always enjoyed playing the 'instructor', whether that be in an aeroplane, supervising a learner driver, or on my Duke of Edinburgh walk over ten years ago!
I've got the advantage of having worked both a normal job for a few years, and having flown commercially from grass strips for long hours, so there's no illusions instilled, but I'm only gathering my knowledge from myself at the moment.
Any inputs?
p.s. I'm already broke, so don't need any warning on that issue
