FI Rating with Cabair

[Permafrost_ATPL]

Hi everyone,

I'm considering doing my FI rating with Cabair and I'm trying to figure out my chances of getting a job with them afterwards (let's assume I'll be good enough to deserve one). Anybody has any experience with them? How many restricted FIs do they employ? How good is the training course?

Thanks!

P

[airpilot]

I 've heard their very good but expensive. Plenty of jobs at the cabair schools as instructors are moving on.

Further to that I did all my CPL/IR training with them and had no probs and a friend of mine did his FI course with them at cranfield.

[finals24]

Did my FI with Cabair last year and subsequently employed by them. I have now moved on after great experience during the summer months.

You should be able to get employment with one of the schools, but bear in mind that business activity is very slow at this time of the year, which coupled with the weather makes for very limited earning opportunities.

Good luck, enjoy the course.

[18greens]

I agree with all of the above.

Ray Watson does a good course at Biggin. The churn of instructors is high, lots get airline jobs quickly so the chance of picking up a job is high if your face fits.

The Cabair name always looks good on your CV as well.

[Permafrost_ATPL]

Thank you chaps!

I'm planning to do the FI course in the new year, hopefully finishing when the weather improved.

Could you confirm that Cabair pays a base salary, supplemented by per hour fees? PM me if you prefer. I'm trying to get an idea how hard it will be to make my monthly loan payments :{

P

[18greens]

Most instructor positions are pay as you fly £15-£20 per hour, no retainer. Expect to do 500ish hours per year skewed towards the summer months. I will let you do the math (as our cousins say).

Few positions are salaried.

Unless you live close to the airfield with your mum and borrow her car I wouldn't bank on any loan repayments. In the first year you may earn enough to pay back the instructor rating but thats not why we do it. Its also the reason you don't see instructors hanging around for long. First whiff of a £15,000 first officer job and most people will jump.

People who instruct for more than a year generally have another source of income.

[Permafrost_ATPL]

Thanks for the financial warning!

I don't live with mum and I can't borrow her car, but my wife has volunteered for the job :ok: Hopefully her patience won't run out too soon...

P

[Craggenmore]

Expect your contract of employment to take 12 weeks in the post...

[K. Soze]

Anybody that can tell me what the price is for the FI course at Cabair and how long it will take to complete? I've tried to e-mail them but can't seem to get trough to them.

Also since I'm from abroad is it possible to get accommodation near the school at either Cranfield or Bournemouth?

I've been looking at Stapleford cause it seems very convenient but I wouldn't mind some more info on Cabair.

[18greens]

About 5 weeks and about £7,000. Call them up if you need more information. All schools will talk to people with cash. Its when you want a job they don't call you back.

[mesh]

If you do the FI at Cranfield don't listen to any of the false promises you will be given of employment and great Airline conections. If you want to spend an extra £2000ish for good instruction but limited aircraft and hence longer completion time then go for it. At the end of it you may be given a job at a ppl school, this will be paid by the hour.

[Tuned In]

Paid how much 'by the hour'? I had heard the pay was not the best at Cabair - £12-15 per hour, even near London?.

And K. Soze why are you still thinking of going to a school that can't be bothered to answer your email? There are many other good schools to teach FI(R) courses which don't have the baggage that these do. They are not popular in the industry.

[finals24]

Speak as you find.

Excellent course, completed in 5 weeks with top class instruction. Any questions call Keren Caiird at Cranfield.

As for pay, it is £20/hour flown with £10/hour for supervised solo. In industry terms not bad but you will struggle to live off this, particularly in winter.

Finally, whether deserved or not, any course from Cabair looks good on the CV. In my experience it is deserved.

[K. Soze]

Tuned In: Turns out that it was some sort of a spam filter that doesn't like yahoo e-mail addresses.

My reason for looking at the 2 schools that I'm looking at is that I need a course as soon as possible. It needs to include accommodation since I'm not from the UK and the quality needs to be good (and preferably it also needs to be a known name in the industry). I don't know that many schools in the UK so I made a seach and contacted the ones I found suitable.

If anybody has any ideas for other schools I would be interested to hear about them.

[Send Clowns]

We do them down here at BCFT (where I did mine), KS, they do them at Old Sarum, Bristol Flying Centre I believe do one as well. Now you ask I'm sure lots of people will tell you lots of good places.

[pilotbear]

cranfield flight training - Dave Coulson 01234 752272

[porridge]

And also Bonus Aviation, led by Head of Training Peter Godwin whose name you will see on many of the popular aviation training books as the editor. On staff 3 FIC instructors including Peter who is the resident Flight Instructor Examiner. Opportunities for graduates are good with fairly rapid progression to advanced instruction to the right people. See http://www.bonus.flyer.co.uk/ and look under 'courses'.

[18greens]

You can also try Babcocks at Barkston Heath who offer FI courses whilst they are not teaching the RAF to fly.


All training done in a Slingsby T67- 260 by RAF (or Ex RAF) instructors and at a very reasonable cost.