anybody out there a career flight instructor?

[kloe]

Is anybody on this forum a career flight instructor? I am 39 years of age with a stable full time job at a Major Canadian airline with all my perks such as airline tickets, benefits, cheap hotels-cars-cruises, etc, you get the story. I began my dream back in the 80's but with my personal issues just couldn't get it together along with not doing alot of flying sure did not help. I today have just under 500 hours total time that includes 130 hours on twins and 90 hours on floats. Should I just instruct for the rest of my life or still try and get that regular flying job as I might have an opportunity to get a flying job on a beech 1900 flying freight out of my hometown airport.

And for anybody that is a career flight instructor, do you enjoy it and does it fulfill your flying needs. You hear all these stories about instructing until you move on but I want to hear from guys that do it for a career permanently.

thanks

kloe

[Unhinged]

Yes I'm a career instructor, yes I enjoy it and yes it fulfills my flying needs.
Mind you I have very simple needs: Plenty of flight instruction, a decent boss, and always more goals to keep reaching for on the horizon.

I can't even begin to give advice to anyone else on whether they should take the same path, but for me it's the best choice I ever made. I was born to be an instructor, and will do it until they put me in a box and wave me goodbye :-)

There are significant costs and rewards associated with this choice, as with any commitment in life, and only you can decide if the trade-off is one that you're happy with.

Choose carefully.

[lady in red]

Yes, I am a career instructor too. i have never been remotely attracted to flying busloads of people or lorry loads of cargo. I am a teacher and spend my time now mainly training CPL and flying instructors, but it does take a while to get to that point. You have to do your apprenticeship as a PPL instructor on poor pay for a considerable period before you can climb the ladder.
I love the variety and the opportunity to fly different types of aeroplanes - usually about 15 to 20 varieties a year.
If you are a natural teacher rather than a taxi driver or coach driver or lorry driver then instructing has to be the choice!

[Dr Eckener]

Guess there are just two then. Does not bode well for flying schools should there be continued improvement in the job market!

Now, how about that pay review......

[the dean]

kloe..

i have a professional job but been flying 40 years...instructing 20 and examining 6..so i would guess i'm as close to career instructing as it gets..

i feel its very much a personal choice you have to make as the other contributors have said...

no one can tell you ...or help you much for that matter..

personally i have always found it rewarding...but like anything else ( even commercial flying ) there are days its the same ol' same ol'...if i did'nt have another job..i would probably have flown pax for a living...but then you have to like that as well.nothing is perfect.

if you move on, the pay would be better and probably the aircraft more of a challange and you can always instruct ( if you have any hours left ) if you wish so the that extent you get both..whereas if you limit yourselt to instruction alone until you get too old to take up an airline job or commercial flying...then you are limiting your choices...

my dad was in the business for many years.he always said...'get a profession and fly when you want to fly..not when somebody else tells you to...' but i still would have liked it..

think on...and good luck...:ok:

the dean

[FlyingForFun]

Another career instructor here.

I had to make the tough choice about a year ago.

At the time, I was a full time PPL-IMC-Night instructor earning a pitance, I had several hundred hours instructing, and an fATPL. I was all set to start applying to airlines for jobs - but something told me I just wouldn't be happy watching an autopilot flying an aircraft around all day.

The only "tick in the box" I didn't have yet to become a CPL/IR instructor was the multi-engine instructor course. But I didn't have any MEP P1 time - and to build the 30 hours P1 needed before even starting the course was going to cost me a small fortune. I made the decision to cash in the very last bit of savings I had, and use it to build up the necessary hours and pay for the multi-engine instructor course. Then, to make the decision harder, my company offered me the chance of a KingAir type-rating, but would bond me and pretty much remove me from instructing except on a very ad-hoc basis. But I stuck to my guns, turned down the job which would have been the doorway to a future airline job but done my career-instructor ambitions no good at all, and carried on with what I was doing.

Now I teach multi-engine, CPL and IR, and I know I made the right decision. I love teaching, and I love light aircraft. I work 9-6 Monday-Friday, I never have to stay away overnight, and the people I work with are as enthusiastic about flying as I am. It's not quite as much fun as PPL instructing, and it doesn't pay as well as an airline job would, but for me it's a good balance between lifestyle and salary. But it's not a path to take unless you're dedicated to it.

One thing's for sure, though. If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing.

:ok:

FFF
--------------

[Lembrado]

FFF,

Well done that man - It's always great to read positive posts!

L.

[lady in red]

Flying for Fun I agree with you! I lost my job in the City about 7 and a half years ago but as I had been instructing part-time i had enough experience to train to do FIC and CPL and I have to say that it is the best fun I have ever had. I certainly do not miss the long commute to London nor the hassle of an office job. Money is not everything by any means, lifestyle, health and happiness are so much more valuable. I read in the paper recently that people in the firm where I trained 25 years ago in London are earning over a million a year, but it means nothing compared to the views we see each day and the freedom of running your own business.
You would not get me flying for an airline for the the salaries on offer - if I wanted to earn a large fat salary I could have stayed in London.
For me the job satisfaction is in seeing guys go up the ladder and especially when they get that first instructing job! (Plus I do not have to get up at 4am!!)
I also get more than half of my FI candidates from the airlines - people who are fed up with the automation and routine nature of the job and want to get back into flying light aircraft - doesn't that say something about the system??

[Craggenmore]

Plus I do not have to get up at 4amYou don't know what you're missing :} Its the best part of the day. Watching the sunrise over Lake Geneva yesterday morning with the twinkling lights reflecting off the red glass flat lake as we were climbing out was ethereal. Not the same scene 9-5 Im afraid.

Having instructed beforehand, I was unsure about the move away to full time jets. The cushy 9-5 with a short drive to the local airfield agreed with me wholeheartdly. Its massively different now but its an amazing experience.

I must say that I enjoy having the FI ticket and the jet ticket than just the FI ticket. Both sides of the fence are rewarding in different ways.

:ok: http://www.balpa.org/intranet/avatars/plane1-a.gif

[will fly for food 06]

Hi
Im sorry if this seems like a stupid question but do you need a full atpl to be an instructor? ive only ever seen instructor training through the military and was wondering how you get qualified in the civvy world(my soon to be new and strange world!)

[dartagnan]

no you dont need an ATPL to be a flight instructor...you need a CPL and a Flight instructor rating.

[rightbank]

if you move on, the pay would be better and probably the aircraft more of a challange and you can always instruct ( if you have any hours left ) if you wish so the that extent you get both..whereas if you limit yourselt to instruction alone until you get too old to take up an airline job or commercial flying...then you are limiting your choices...
I have to agree with the above. If you do both you get the best of both worlds. If, having tried both, you find you prefer one to the other then go for that full time. Don't dismiss either out of hand. Both are fun, but the commercial job pays better!

[kloe]

message for lady in red in particular and anybody else that might shed some light.

lady in red you mentioned that even some airline pilots have stopped airline flying and ended up taking flight instructor course to get back into instructing. I would like to know more stories of these pilots and their decision why.

thanks

[kloe]

windforce nice to read your positive comments about instructing.

What makes a young guy like you want to become a career flight instructor?

I would like to know.

kloe

[hotcloud]

I am a part time FI and fully love the job. I have been instructing at the weekends for 9 years and still get a buzz out of it. Mind you I have always wanted to fly, and I was always the one that nagged my parents for the window seat as a youngster. Flying is in my blood, and I get such a buzz from teaching my students. Nothing compares as far as I am concerned, and I would not hesitate for a moment to instruct full time if instructing commanded a living salary. Unfortunately the UK weather is not always GA friendly.

Definately go for being a career instructor, if that's what you want, the hurdles are not that bad, I studied for my CPL exams whilst holding down a full time job. Studying 2 hours per night was definately worth it, mind you, I do have a very very understanding wife.