How much does an FI earn these days?

[aardvark keeper]

A few interesting posts on wages.

Who dares reveal how much they earn as an FI?

It would be fair not to reveal who you work for or where.

I earn £19 per flying hour, basic of £700 before tax so thats 36.8 hours to fly before I can increase my wage. I must point out that in winter this is very helpful and at least we know each month what we are getting

[Grange End Star]

I was a full time FI up until June this year

I got £15.00 per flying hour and twice a week was paid £30.00
to be duty instructor for the day.

Averaging about 600 hours a year salary was about £11500 pa

Trick is to make enough in the summer to last you over the winter

[RobinHood]

Q. How much does an FI earn these days?

A. Not enough.

I like many am in a situation where I would like to be a career instructor but I am forced to look at other options due to lack of cash. Financially I am treading water and sometimes I wish I was more like a few friends I know who are earning good money for doing a fraction of the training and hours I put in.

[aardvark keeper]

If a few more put there wages on, a broad view of the what an FI earns could be seen.

Dont be shy, afraid or embarressed, it's not our fault.

The embarressing part for me is I've been at it for 4 years!:rolleyes:

[little bo]

I was working as a full time instructor up until recently. I didn't work for one of the large commercial company's but was lucky enough to be on an annual set wage. I earned £15500 p/a. I loved the job and was pleased to know exactly how much I had coming to me at the end of each month... unfortunately a situation most instructors I know don't find themselves in.

[aardvark keeper]

little bo

Did you by chance teach cpl/ ir /me?

[little bo]

aardvark keeper,

No didn't teach CPL, IR or ME, it was all SEP PPL training and N/R.

[GusHoneybun]

well, i'll put my two pence worth in. probably all i can afford.

it does depend whether your full time or part time.

full time instructor will earn about £12 per hour and have a £400 a month basic. this hourly rate increases to £15 for night and imc training, and only £10 per hour when restricted.

part time instructors earn £15 per hour and have no basic pay.

so, a full time instructor doing about 800hrs a year will get about 14 grand before the taxman takes his pound of flesh. i find as a single bloke this is just about enough to keep me in aqua vitae, but married with kids! all i can say is good luck.

i've blathered to many instructors from other schools, this seems about the norm. however, some schools include a 'non flying day' as part of the terms and conditions where you have to man the desk/radio (or even clean the bogs :{ ) and obviously get naff all flight pay for that day. i also find that most schools don't pay instructors for breifings and it sometimes the ground school is giving for free (although the students tend to supply the beer in the club bar afterwards).

[orionsbelt]

As Part time FI unrestricted + Aeros/night but not Applied Inst
£10 perhr and no attendance.
Sometimes do duty Dep CFI £20 per day.
No fly, nopay as per last Sat/Sun when it P????ed down all day.
Do not depend on flying income to live and eat.
However work for a good club at a excellent airfield so its worth doing.
My flight pay covered my flying expenses for the year inc accountant fees, that’s all.
Cheers
:ok:

[Fr. Dougal]

£25 per day and £10 per flying hour with an average of 2.5 hrs a day

[aces low]

Have never had daily/monthly retainer. I get paid £15 per hour and £10 groundschool. My flying hour is airborne plus ten...which is often less than when actual when teaching new students. If you are paid by the Hobbs, then I reckon it is up to 14% better rate of pay than being paid for airborne plus ten.

This year I have done 250 hours instruction (semi-permanent/part-time) and my total profit after taking into account travelling expenses and accommodation is.......less than £500. and no I don't drive a rolls and stay in the Ritz. I drive a heap (like most FIs) and stayed in a caravan!

'twill always be so until students pay the proper rate for their instruction. Plumber £50 per hour. Laywer £100+ per hour. Part-time lecturer £30 per hour. Flying Instructor £15 per hour...plus pay own NI, medicals, revalidations etc.

I would do it permanently if it paid a decent wage.

Rant over.

[G-LOST]

Used to get 500 quid a month retainer plus 10 per hour PPL, or 30 per hour CPL. Mostly PPLs though.

Thank God I now have a shiny jet to fly and a real salary. The moral is to take the plunge and wait for it to pay off. Nothing ventured...

LOST no longer.

[Flybywyre]

Aces Low..........

You say " will always be so until students pay the proper rate ......

Would it be more accurate to substitute the word "Students" with "Flying schools" ?

My local club charge £160 per hour for an hours training in a PA28-160. The instructor is paid £8.50 for the first 20 hrs and £12 from 20 -60 hrs !!!

Won't be long before they start sending them up chimney's

Regards
FBW

[aces low]

FBW...you are correct in a chicken/egg sort of way. My current school charges about £130 per hour...yet still doesn't really make money of training. Part of the problem is paying for full-time or part-time administrators and the paper CFIs who do not contribute to flying tarining but take a salary/retainer. This subject has been done to death on this forum, but sooner or later there will be two types of flying training etsablishment...cheap and cheerful with inexperienced FIs working for pennies...and quality establishments paying a proper salary for FIs ...in order to keep them. This split is firmly established between PPL and CPL training, but if we trained people properly at PPL level, then the CPL would be a mere type conversion oto a complex aeroplane. Total waste of money = CPL.

Still ranting but now off on a tangent!

Gets worse

[Loony_Pilot]

Hi,

Well I've worked for 3 flying schools over the last few years and the pay has been like this


School 1 : £12.50 per flying hour, no retainer but £60 for doing a "desk day" once a week

School 2: £12.00 per flying hour, no retainer.. but not required to be there unless work available... I eventually negoiatated an £80 per week retainer to include lots of admin duties.. this made life much more bearable financially but quite tedious in the winter when you take home £80 for a 40hr week! still better than £0!!

School 3: £15.00per flying hour with a minimum of £25 paid... but eg if theres only a 30min trial lesson to do or the weather is crap.. at least you get £25.00... but you have to fly more than1.7 hrs to earn above £25.00
Also get extra money for working late, night and imc flying.

Other things that make a big difference to your income are whether you get paid for student solo time.. is it a reduced rate? or full rate? or not at all.. bearing in mind you are supervising.. and you are legally responsible?

Different schools do different things.. and it does seem to me that terms and conditions differ greatly between various establishments

Hope thats not too confusing... wonder if anyone can work out where I worked...lol

LP

[BigEndBob]

The pay at flying clubs will never change.

In 1988 when i started instucting i got paid £5 hour.
Dual rate was about £45 hour.

Last job in 2001 i got paid £15 hour.
Dual rate was about £118 and rising by about a £10 year due fuel, ldg. fees, rent etc.

So it ain't changed much over the years.

Lets face it you have to do it for the love of flying.
but when the novelty wears off the amount you are earning starts to become important.

[Long Beach CFII]

I got paid $15 per hour as a CFI when I started out at a busy flight school, however they were charging $35 per hour to their customer.

I then got a raise to $20 per hour as an Instrument Instructor.

After 1600 hours of instruction, I got sick of paying $15 per hour to the management for 'facility use', then left the school, as relations were going down the tubes between staff and management, and management and customers, and airplane and maintenance!

I now am freelancing, and charging $45 per hour, and remaining busy enough to pay bills, rent etc.

[Chuck Ellsworth]

I guess there is always an exception to everything because I do manage to make a fair wage from flight instruction.

I specialize in large flying boat training on the PBY Catalina and it usually involves travel to another country.

My hourly rate is 250 Euros per. hour plus all travel and living expenses. I also have a two hour per day minimum charge unless weather or some other unforseen problem prevents us from flying

I used to charge in USD but the dollar has fallen so I now quote in Euros and convert.

As a part time sort of hobby I also give advanced flight training in my Aerobat Texas Taildragger for which I charge $150.00 Canadian per hour.

For those who wish to fly floats I have a deal with a school and I get $50.00 per hour for instructional time.

So I guess it is possible to make some money instructing but you have to speialize in something that is not easy to find.

Chuck

[Dude~]

Hey Ardvark, why don't you create a poll, that way people don't have to declare how much they earn publicly?!