THINKING of becoming an INSTRUCTOR?

[Jinkster]

DO IT!!!

Get it done - free flying and they even pay you for it......

Shocking pay and doesnt pay ATPL loans but cracking hour building....

:ok:

[sam34]

what do you mean by "shocking pay" please ? how many are you paid ?

thanks! :}

[OpenCirrus619]

what do you mean by "shocking pay" please ? how many are you paid ?
thanks! :}

Search for the UK's most poorly paid PPL instructor (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=231365)

OC619

[Jinkster]

I will answer your question but dont want another poorly paid thread....

£15 per flying hour - sat on the ground - NIL

[Whirlybird]

Helicopter instructors get paid more and don't sit on the ground so often. :ok:

Mind you, hovering with students all day is probably even more scary than teaching f/w landings non-stop.

Sorry, jinkster, I shouldn't rub it in, should I. This crap wx won't last forever.

[Jinkster]

working today whirls?

off up to airport in a few mins.....

lovely weather yesterday afternoon - all i could see from the VRP was the calverts!!!!!!!!!! :uhoh:

[Whirlybird]

I'm working this afternoon, Jinkster; off to Sheffield in a few minutes.

Yesterday afternoon.....well!!! We tried one circuit, and got up to 500 ft before I took control and scuttled for cover.....errrr....I mean flew a precise low level circuit with a perfect approach, don't I. ;) We then managed an hour of hovering sideways and backwards, and I told my student that excuses of poor vis were quite acceptable, since it was raining so hard we could hardly see the footpath he was supposed to be lining the helicopter up with. Then suddenly it closed in so fast I was wondering if we'd actually manage to hover-taxi back to the apron. I was quite impressed by the calm radio call from the poor f/w pilot trying to beat the real crud home; we waited for you to land before we crossed, since your need was probably greater than ours.

Today looks lovely; so fingers crossed.

[CAT3C AUTOLAND]

That is shocking chaps, you should come and work at my school. £30 per flying hour, £1,000 retainer, allowances when you land away, and you even get a company car thrown in!

You don't know what your missing ;).

[BEagle]

Customers?

[wingbar]

Ha I can beat that,also a sheff city instructor fixed wing, and I earn a shocking /disgusting 12 pound /hour of flight pay,no pay what so ever for anything else....

And people wonder why the quality of instructors is falling.....?

The owners of most flight schools are greedy and fat.

[Jinkster]

wingbar knows what i mean by this - woohahaha:ok:

[TheOddOne]

After 25 years of PPL'ing and with a BCPL in my back pocket, I've taken the first step down the road, by going for the Class Rating Instructor. 25 hours ground school and 3 hours flying, did the test yesterday morning in pretty awful wx (howling xwind, just to demonstrate the skills!) The whole thing's cost me £1,500, can't charge a bean for instructing, though.

So, now I can checkout PPLs and do their 2nd-year Instructor flight. Big deal, you might say! If it works out and I have the dosh/time in the Spring, I'll do the FI course.

So, what's the point of the CRI? Well, I feel better equipped now to do club checkouts and it's reassured me about my personal flying, too.

I'm at the other end of the telescope from Jinkster, being 57 and facing probable redundancy next year, so I'm in it for the personal satisfaction and another layer of aviation activity. The only big IF, for me, is 'can I get a Class 1 medical'? Time will tell...

The Odd One

[wingbar]

Iam as of this evening unemployed and destitute.........

My boss sacked me...for very very little mistakes....

[wingbar]

I may as well not be here anymore ........he knows what he's done to me

[Esperanza]

Wingbar. Don't despair. Early on in my career I was sacked by my boss (through no fault of my own) and so know how it feels. Bearing in mind that you were only being paid £12/ hour it's hopefully going to be the best thing that could have happened to you. You're now free to go and find a better paid job. I would suggest that you don't accept anything that doesn't have a retainer.
Unfortunately we're involved in a ****ty industry. I lost my first job because the bosses nephew had gotten his AFI rating the week before and had apparently been promised my job. It was bizarre. I actually briefed a student one Sunday afternoon, sent him out to pre-flight the aircraft, and then just before I walked out the door was pulled to one side and told that I didn't work there anymore...effective immediate. When I asked why I was told that there had been a complaint (??????) from a PPL holder who I had checked out a few weeks previously.
If you're free to move then there are jobs out there. Sunshine is good. Have you seen the recent adverts for a PPL school in Jerez, Spain. The chap that runs the place is one of the nicest guys around.
Good luck.:ok:

[Whirlybird]

Wingbar,

My commiserations. And I'm going to miss seeing you around at EGSY.

But now go for that other job you told me you thought you could have, and never mind the travelling distance etc. Could be the best thing that ever happened to you. :ok:

Good luck.

Whirly

[wingbar]

Thanks Esperenza and Whirly for your kind comments and encouragement,
I have managed to find a higher paid job at Egsy with another outfit.

I hope this lasts a bit longer, plus my other jobs on the back burner for a while....sad to report...

Wingbar,

Ps Whirly, I have left you another yoghurt in the fridge! :)

[BEagle]

"After 25 years of PPL'ing and with a BCPL in my back pocket, I've taken the first step down the road, by going for the Class Rating Instructor."

Excellent! Good for you! The CRI is an extremely worthwhile Rating to include on your licence if you are in a club environment. To my mind you are using it for precisely the correct purpose; I consider that all club checkouts should be done by authorised instructors.

A club I know uses so-called 'check pilots' who do not hold any form of instructional rating. Not only do these people claim the time as PIC, but also make the person being 'checked' pay for the privilege....

I suspect the low number of CRIs is because hardly anyone knows of the Rating or its privileges. The PFA coaches all became CRIs under 'grandfather rights'; however, many didn't know they had to revalidate (which is very simple) and, as a result, had to renew at their own expense. Sympathy...? Nah!

[Whirlybird]

Wingbar,

Thanks for the yoghurt....though looking at the forecast for next Wednesday onwards, which is when I'm next at EGSY, it looks like I might go short on yoghurt, as well as money and flying. :{ Yes, instructing is wonderful...when you actually get to do it. Anyway, best of luck with the new job, and do drop in and see us sometime - there are plenty of NICE people at Sheffield.

[wingbar]

I shall leave a double helping of yoghurt then Whirly! :)

Another very sad thing about all of this though, is that I am now having to sell my car to keep the debt mungers at bay.....I have so much debt it is unreal...how is it that the airlines can even think of asking us to buy a type rating on top of all of this..........I'm flicking thorugh autotrader, hope I can get the money...because the banks are forcing me into bankruptcy a place I don't want to be.........

All this for a career in aviation....
What have I done......

WB

[PAPI-74]

Don't start me off. Mine totals over 60K with the FIC and MCC and keeping 3 kids fed. I am just about to start instructing next month after the FIC. I have tried to get an Airline job, but every f...er is paying for it and most are from Europe. How do we get a look in unless really well connected. I just hope doors open in the spring after a short spell instructing....:yuk:

[wingbar]

I totally agree with you sir, it's disgusting, I know of no other industry at all where this sort of stuff goes on....

I hope we all get that break soon.... meanwhile, thinking about a shift at Tesco's inbetween...especially now the winters looming....

[PAPI-74]

I just hope that we are not plagued with fog this winter, or having an FIC will be as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike. If we don't get some teaching wx, I will be there with you.
We love it.....
Did an IFR flight to Leeds and back at FL090 in a C182 yesterday (to keep my hand in). Being on top of the cu's really helps to keep your pecker up and focus on the end to all this worry.
Keep the faith amigo!

[BIG MISTER]

Glad to see that youve got the FI Jinks !

So gents, any advice on where to get the rating done part time and local to the Gatwick area ?

Cheers
:}

BM

[TheOddOne]

Try The Pilot Centre at Denham. Superb instruction, but there's probably a waiting list...

The Odd One

[PAPI-74]

Biggin Hill is the closest to you. Cabair do it for 7K and Biggin Air Services (not sure of the name) are a grand cheaper I have been told.
Cabair are always looking for new FI(R) as they keep going into the Airlines. You will get your paws on twins too and the pay is quite generous.
Have you tried Shoreham?

[G_STRING]

Where can you go to undertake a CRI (Class Rating Instructor) course? Sounds a good concept

Regards

[TheOddOne]

Where can you go to undertake a CRI (Class Rating Instructor) course? Sounds a good concept
Regards

I did mine at Denham. I was a bit of a guinea pig as they hadn't done one before; niether had the examiner. There are 3 hours flying and 25 hours groundschool to do, then a test. We started off with the human factors 'learning style' stuff, then picked bits out of the FI course that would be especially relevant for helping post PPLs who are a bit rusty. We moved on to construction of lesson plans and practicing giving long briefings. The flying was 3 sorties, stalling, PFLs and circuits. The last was the most challenging and probably the most important. I did a bit of practice on a fellow club-member prior to the test, mainly to get more competent in the right seat.

The test itself followed the format that you might expect with someone who had learned on a Cessna but never flown a PA28: a long briefing on the differences between the types, then out to the training area. Demonstrate recovery from the base-final stall and the full-flap final stall, then a PFL (with a reminder about whose licence is at stake if you get below 500'!), an EFATO then back into the circuit. There was a real xwind at the 'full 17kt' for the PA28 so that was pretty interesting! Then a de-brief. There were some obvious howlers that I failed to spot that I like to think I'd catch in a real situation.

It was good fun and made me think a lot about stuff I didn't even think I still knew ( a long brief on earth and space gyros made my head hurt!) I can also now draw a diagram of all the various classes of airspace and VFR privileges in each. You can read up on the requirements for the rating and its privileges in LASORS, free on-line.

Cheers,
TheOddOne