self-employed?

[coolpilot]

How soon after graduating from flight school can you be employed as an instructor (are there any hours restrictions)?

Are or where any instructors here particularly self-conscious about teaching people to fly while being low-hours pilots/new grads?

If there are no jobs available in established FTOs is there a possibilty of freelance work or starting your own one-man school, and how would that work?

[BEagle]

As you claim to be an ATPL student, presumably you will have heard of LASORS? That will supply you with the answers to many of your questions; it is freely available on the CAA SRG website.

If you intend to be a self-employed RF, you will need to have a very sound business and marketing plan. As the saying goes: "How do you make a little money in aviation? Start with a lot of money....."

[coolpilot]

BEagle,
Iam indeed familiar with LASORS. I was hoping some people would share their experiences as low hours instructors or first time self employed and how it turned out.
Thanks for your reply

[Field In Sight]

Providing you "graduated" Flight School with all the necessary ratings i.e. at least CPL/FI(R) you could start instructing as soon as some school takes pity on you and gives you a job.

Nearly all instructors are low hours in the beginning, so self-conscious or not you just have to be aware of your comparative lack of both experience and ability to instruct a wide variety of people/aptitudes.

Flying skills are not usually too much of a problem as you are not doing anything that you haven't done lots of already.

I read somewhere that your first couple of PPL students should be "for free" as you learn more than they do. :ooh: .

I've only recently started instructing and have learnt a great deal already.

Good luck anyway.

FIS

[Whirlybird]

coolpilot,

I qualified as a rotary FI(R) last April, and started instructing part time soon afterwards. However, since the school didn't actually need me, I had to do it freelance, finding my own students and teaching them on the school helicopters. AFAIK, this is the only way you could freelance as an FI(R), since you need to be working under a fuly qualified instructor. It's working, slowly, and the school is beginning to realise that students like me, and may be giving me more work...I hope.

I wasn't self-conscious, but I did find it a steep learning curve. Nothing has quite prepared you for the different types of people, and the things they really do in the air are very different from anything an instructor has simulated on your course. And you sometimes have to make it up as you go along - no-one had prepared me for someone who simply couldn't understand the concept of a reference point in the cockpit and a natural horizon, to find out if you're straight and level. I tried different ways of explaining and demonstrating, and finally got there.

However, it's tremendous fun; I love it!

Hope that's some use to you.