cpl training keeps the instructor in a job

[fly3000]

post 9/11
being a cpl instructor for a long time I am beginning to feel that in many ways I am deceiving my students and by flying and training them I am taking their money knowing only too well that very few will find jobs.
I feel there are too many schools selling the speel and making students have unreal expectations. All it does is keep the school viable and the instructors employed.

How can I believe in what I am doing?

[CAT3C AUTOLAND]

Fly 3000,

At the end of the day you are providing a service, and as long as you are providing a good quality service, surely that is all you have to worry about?

Personally, although I do not have the experience of getting that first job, because I am still training for the IR, it is more down to the motivation and determination of the graduate to obtaining that first job, whether there are ample jobs, or the jobs are few and far between.

Only the other day I was discussing with my IR instructor (also my CPL instructor), whats the difference between a professional pilot and a private pilot? One thing I identified from doing the CPL course, is myself as a pilot feels so much more comfortable flying and knowing you have the ability to get out of possibly a tricky situation, where when I was in my elementry flying career as a private pilot, having to deal with sticky situations could have proved alot more difficult! I guess it all comes with experience.

Surely instructing and seeing your students succeed is more than rewarding? They know the score in terms of the supply and demand of pilots.

[OneIn60rule]

Are you telling them that they will definately get a job at an Airline?

Are you promising that as soon as their are done, they will get hired?

If all you are doing is teaching instruments or CPL then I can't see any fault in you getting paid for doing JUST THAT.
If you say that a student's flying skill is good enough for air lines, then again you are not fooling them in any way. Fact is, even if you are highly qualified you still might not get the job. (Psych tests etc. etc.)

Everyone knows that they might not get a job or that they might have to wait a long time.

Sure enough, you will get people that you believe won't make it OR people that you may think WON't make it.

Only things sure in life are DEATH and TAXES.

Personally, if I find out that all the money I spent was for nothing then at least I tried to do what I always wanted to do.


Cheers mate
1/60

[BEagle]

"At the end of the day you are providing a service, and as long as you are providing a good quality service, surely that is all you have to worry about?"

That's probably what prostitutes say.....

I have the same feeling regarding FIC schools which churn out minimum standard wet-behind-the-ears FI(R)s with next to no experience who then think that they'll find getting a job simple.....

[fly3000]

I spent the money too and have had many years enjoying commercail flying and instructing but are we giving out too many false hopes and dreams at the moment ; realistically are we just trying keep ourselves in the air and be paid. Everyman and his dog now seems to have a CPL. At the end of it if you do make an airline they want a pound of flesh, do we really tell the students the realities and if we did would we have any customers?

[cal_ley]

How many percentage of graduate will get a job in airline after training,how many becoming flight instructor and how many is still jobless?my guess is around 5%,30% and 65%.

[CAT3C AUTOLAND]

I have the same feeling regarding FIC schools which churn out minimum standard wet-behind-the-ears FI(R)s with next to no experience who then think that they'll find getting a job simple.....

They have to start somewhere! And I am sure alot of graduates understand that is is going to be hard to get a job, but not impossible.

[BEagle]

True, but my criticism is aimed at those FIC schools which continue to run courses for hopefuls even though the market has no use for them.

At the moment it's 'who you know' which is going to get a CV looked at. When a prosepective new FI failed to turn up at a pre-arranged appointment with no explanation, he wasn't given a second chance. The CV I received from someone who had done virtually all his flying in the US, including his PPL, CPL and FI(R) courses won't be considered simply because he does not have sufficient actual experience of flying in UK airspace. But those who give their all as FIs and then try their luck with the airlines will certainly get a strong letter of reference - the most recent has just started commercial air transport flying with a major regional.

[wbryce]

most students know the prospect of the job market ahead of them upon completing commercial training...all these challenges to get a job only make it a better feeling once your there!

[FlyingForFun]

I did my CPL knowing that there were very few jobs out there.

I also did my FIC knowing that there are very few jobs out there. In fact, I made the very scary decision, a couple of weeks away from finishing the FIC, to quit my well-paid job and put everything into starting a new career as an instructor.

I was very lucky to find myself a job which, a couple of months later, I love. (In my case, I got the job through sending my CV to everyone and anyone I would consider working for - not through contacts. However, I have since been offered, and had to refuse, another job purely through contacts at the school - so yes, who you know does count, but it's not everything.) As you will know if you've read my posts on the Flying Instructors forum, it wasn't plain sailing, but here I am, and I don't regret it at all.

I don't feel I was deceived or used by either my CPL or my FIC school. Even if I had not been lucky enough to find myself in the position I'm now in, it would not have been the fault of those schools that I found myself in that position. It would have been entirely my own fault - I made my choices with my eyes wide open, I knew exactly what I was letting myself get into, and I decided it was worth the risk.

Fly3000 - as long as you do the best job you know how to do, and make sure your students know the score, you have nothing to worry about. Good luck!

FFF
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