Like Crash I want to instruct, I would rather be paid, but it seems that in order to do that I have to shell out loads more cash than I have, so I would settle for an unpaid 'weekend' instructing job for the time being. I'm a late starter, aged 31, and wasn't lucky / affluent enough to get a sponsorship / ATPL when in my 20's, so I got a 'normal' job. Anyway been working for 10 years now, have a PPL, and finally have enough cash to do some sort of FI course. However, I cannot afford to quit my job right away as I have commitments, such as big mortgage (woman:-) etc., so I could not survive on minimum wage without a lot of difficulty. It would have been ok had I gone straight from University to an instructing job, but alas, catch 22, no money, no licence, no chance of getting a flying job!
I love flying and get thoroughly pissed of at paying £100 per hour to rent a plane (especially when you can rent a Seneca II in the US for the same...), so would 'instruct for food' given half a chance. The only way I could see myself survive, would be to keep working where I am, instruct part time, and maybe once I have enough experience get a flying job which would pay enough for me to quit my present job. Either that or remain earning a crust elsewhere and remain a part time instructor, after all it's the flying I love.
I think that you Professional instructors are royally shafted when it comes to salary and this all stems from the typical UK beauracracy which in turn whacks up the price of all things GA and in turn the clubs can't afford to pay a decent wage and obviously new students don't want to pay any more than now.... After all, a FI needs to have as much responsibility as a doctor, it's pretty easy to kill someone flying (what goes up must come down and all that)....
One point though, I know many of you are pissed off at working alongside un-paid instructors, but at the end of the day I may be an instructor, working for the same **** salary, working alongside someone from a rich family, who's daddy and mummy have paid for him or her to go to Oxford, has a big house in the country, and drives a BMW. Does this give me the right to get pissed off with him because it has been laid on a plate for him? No, thought not...
By the way, what are peoples views on a PPL FI teaching for the new NPL, either paid or unpaid....