Instructing on the way....

[tom24]

What do people think, is instructing really a good way of helping ones self on the way to an airline career?

I ask as I know a few instructors who have been doing it for some time without any luck getting into the airlines. Don’t get me wrong, most of the experienced Captains I speak to went the instructor-air taxi-airline route, but these days with all the jet training courses about surely its more relevant to go down that route and God forbid if it means doing so, then paying outright for a rating. Lets face it, ultimately all us newbies will at some point or another end up having to pay for a rating directly or indirectly anyway.

Also, taking into account the salary earnt by an average instructor, say £12-15k(??) compared to a new jet/TP pilot £20-40k(??), and the cost of a FIC compared to the cost of a TR, one would still gain financially considerably over the proceeding two years.

OK, there is no guarantee of a jet job, neither, from reading some of the threads on here, is there a guarantee of a FI job.

[tonker]

Your quote about being "newbies" to me somes it up. Getting a commercial license gives you a license to learn and this is where the instructors course really helps.

Compared to what i knew about flying at 200 hrs and my knowlegde of weather etc 3 years on i genuinley believe i am much better prepared for an airline job.

It's not about the money although that will probably put paid to any instructing personally in the future, it's about learning the ropes from the bottom up. I have learnt many vital new skills not only just about aviation.

Good luck and if you are "really" interested in the flying as opposed to the uniform, then you can't go wrong.

As you say correctly the people interviewing you as cheif pilots have probably gone down this route.

Regards Tonker