Chuck,
It is "Slave Labour" as many of the posts in this thread put it. I agree with them 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.
Recently 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 set up 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.
Happy Slaving Away,
Capt. Richard J. Gentil, Pres.
Naples Air Center, Inc.