Airline career after the Instructor one?

[retro cowboy]

Good day to you all,

Just curious to know if any of you know how many instructors who are(were) hour building actually get on to flying for the airlines since it was the objective in the first place. Starting an FIC on monday so fast responses would be appreciated!!

Thanks in advance,

RC

[BEagle]

Start your FIC with that attitude and you won't last long..... Who do you think would want to employ you?

[DB6]

Nope. Have ended up that way but started out wanting to fly light aircraft/aerobatics/warbirds. Still do but economics have dictated the present situation. The best flying I've ever done was instructing military students (in light aircraft) - airline flying has it's own challenges but for pure flying pleasure it's not a patch on light aircraft flying. Also you don't get the pleasure of sending people first solo etc. and watching your students go on to greater things. It's just a great pity that the wages are so difficult to live on (impossible with a family).

[retro cowboy]

Not too sure what you're going on about BEagle, perhaps you should read the thread again.

It's a well known fact that over a third of instructors are building hours for an airline job.

This question is of no disrespect the the hard working career instructors of which there are many out there such as the ones who have taught me, all of which were very talented.

Secondly, people will want to employ me because I'm a dedicated worker who's honest! I will tell them upfront that my final goal is to work for the airlines.

So BEagle who would you rather employ? A hard working, honest employee who won't be there forever or perhaps you'd prefer an employee to lie to you from the start and then screw you over later?!

My thanks to you DB6 for your opinion.

[mad_jock]

Retro nearly all the instructors I met in Scotland last year working as a FI now have airline jobs in some form or are flying turbo props for fisherys or the like.

Being a FI is all about your customers, and they very quickly warm or go cold with an Instructor depending on your teaching ability and interest in getting the student through the course. And also trial flights are your back bone in new customers. The more fun you make them the more hours go in your log book. Not only from repeat trial flights for other family members but also people starting to do there PPL.

Instructing takes alot out of you and the fact that FTL's don't stop employers working you to the fatigue limits. I see you have applied for what i think is my old job on FI(R) instructor thread. Its a cracker but 700+ hours a year as a FI (900 in my case) is a killer and no career instructor would ever do that. I had my time after about 13 months (1200 hours in my log book) and I knew in myself i wasn't giving the service to the students I had been 12months previously. So I decided to chuck the job and go HGV driving for a bit and only instruct at the weekends (mostly trial flights) which worked for me.

Now as a FO i am flying the same amount as hours as last year but now have a life with 2 days off a week and don't have the same deep down fatigue that i used to live with everyday.

If you only instruct to build hours, the customers will know and you won't be able to put up with the working conditions and life style associated with being a high yearly hour instructor. And in some ways the winter 60 hours a month are more knackaring sitting around than the 120 hour summer months where all you seem to do is roll out of bed fly all day then fall back into bed again. Getting pished isn't an option due to the 4 days it takes to recover the sleep you lost in that one night.

I also have some sympathy for the school owners, FI's leaving is a major hassel, the students don't like it when their instructor disappears off. And also with the current recruitment methods of the airlines they get little or no notice that the FI is going. The airlines know that the school will be pissed off so don't care if you get a bad ref from them and the schools can't really afford to take legal action about breach of contract. But then again if they treated the FI's a bit better and not as hour builders they wouldn't dissappear at the drop of a hat.

MJ

[Wee Weasley Welshman]

I was a VGS instructor then a PPL instructor then a Commercial instructor in Jerez for a period of 6 years all in before I got a 737 job.

If you banned people from being instructors if their aim was the airlines then - frankly - you'd have more schools than instructors.

Being a weekend/part time/specialist/only do it for fun instructor is fine. But Mon - Fri, Jan - Dec, 6am - 10pm its the airline wannabes who are getting the majority of the job done.

Cheers

WWW

[Chocks Wahay]

It's a generalisation I know, but in my experience as a customer, it was the weekend/part time/specialist/only do it for fun guys who did it best, because they were motivated by the job. UNfortunately you can only live on Tesco Value Baked Beans for so long, and they generally end up getting a job that pays proper money.

Of course if you added 10% to the cost of a lesson (which the average ppl student could easily afford) you could double the instructors salary and keep the good guys, which would be better for everyone surely?

[luckyPierre]

Good reply BEagle. Seems like the RC needs to work whether he is in the Aviation industry for a Flying career or to just earn as much money as he can with the airlines.

[Fiske]

I agree with LP.

It seems as if the Retro Cowboy needs to sort out his goals and attitude. I feel that an English language course may be more beneficial for him than an FI one.:}

Sounds like he may be some kid trying to get people wound up. ;)

[DB6]

I don't see the problem with Retro's attitude. I was a telecom engineer - I tried my best to be a good one, I was/am an instructor - I tried my best to be a good one, I'm now an airline pilot - I'm trying my best to be a good one. Just because the ultimate goal may be airline flying does not mean that everything else is unimportant and not worthy of one's best efforts, and his second post implies that he is not that type.
Have fun, Retro, and do your best. It's a great job. Anyway aviation is a very small community and word gets around if your heart isn't in it. References have to come from somewhere :} .

[homeguard]

A number of Instructors that I employ come from different backgrounds and aspire to differing aims. Retired Airline Captains, Military Pilots, FI's from the old PPL Instructor system and also the current batch of those progressing to the commercial flying world.

I need a cross section of Instructors to aid continuity. I don't consider that it is any of my business what someones ultimate aims are. While they are working for me they must do a good job.

There really isn't an economic and progressive career for an Instructor except for the few. I'm very proud of the young FI's that have previously worked for me and have found success in the airlines, many are now Captains. I couldn't have done without them.

This week I have lost two Instuctors, One to an Airline and the other to Military Training. There isn't the money within a PPL club to pay the heavily indebted CPL/FI sufficiently to cover their financial needs. Therefore we must develop a path for the local experienced PPL's to become part-time Instructors if we are to have continuity within flying schools. That would not be at the expense of the FI working toward the airlines. There is a bargain to be had for them and the club. We have discussed this extensively within another thread, of course, so I won't introduce the issue here.