bryris
10th Nov 2006, 15:47
Greetings folks,
I frequent both the AOPA forums and the Ipilot forums, but had this forum recommended to me recently by a good friend and I hope to become a regular contributor here as well.
I am 24 years old - almost 25 - and am a CFII only. I am within spitting distance of having my CFI add-on - like 2 or 3 weeks away now.
I am an Accounting major and have held a respectable professional position at a mid-sized CPA firm here in FL for the last 17 some odd months. It served the purpose of making me enough money to make the transition from a bachelor college guy to a married homeowner complete /w mortgage. :8
I've always (ALWAYS) wanted and known that I was going to fly for a living as a career. I've been flying for 9 years now, soloed at 16, etc. But in that 9 years I've only accumulated 420 hours of flight time. To get into a position where I am competitive in the industry, I need to at least triple that number.
I've been making moves to be able to live with the very low income typical of a young full-time CFI. I have a small part-time gig (I make my own hours) on the side to supplement my income (non-flying related). But, with my wife's income figured in and everything, the minimum that I can make is $14,000 per year as a CFI and keep the bills paid and food on the table. Based on my research, that is very doable, but happens to be slightly above the average.
At the moment I have an interview scheduled with Air Orlando on Nov 19th. I am going into the interview with high hopes, but with limited knowledge about what being a CFI is like. There are some other flightschools that are closer to my house (this one is 63 miles away - so would involve a hefty commute), which I am hoping to score a position with in due time.
I guess my questions can be narrowed down to these:
1. Anyone know anything about the average income and quality of life at Air Orlando or similar schools?
2. How much flying time is typical of a week?
3. Is $14,000 income reasonable for a "fresh off the press" CFI such as myself?
4. Anyone else commute 63 miles to work as a CFI? If so, how was it?
I know that CFIing is a temporary gig and that I am lucky to find someone who will hire me with basically no dual given. This industry is so tough to get into that I am very willing to make sacrifices on the get go until I can start to negotiate (due to my competitive stance).
I would appreciate some comments on my questions, and I look forward to posting with you guys for a good while.
Thanks.
I frequent both the AOPA forums and the Ipilot forums, but had this forum recommended to me recently by a good friend and I hope to become a regular contributor here as well.
I am 24 years old - almost 25 - and am a CFII only. I am within spitting distance of having my CFI add-on - like 2 or 3 weeks away now.
I am an Accounting major and have held a respectable professional position at a mid-sized CPA firm here in FL for the last 17 some odd months. It served the purpose of making me enough money to make the transition from a bachelor college guy to a married homeowner complete /w mortgage. :8
I've always (ALWAYS) wanted and known that I was going to fly for a living as a career. I've been flying for 9 years now, soloed at 16, etc. But in that 9 years I've only accumulated 420 hours of flight time. To get into a position where I am competitive in the industry, I need to at least triple that number.
I've been making moves to be able to live with the very low income typical of a young full-time CFI. I have a small part-time gig (I make my own hours) on the side to supplement my income (non-flying related). But, with my wife's income figured in and everything, the minimum that I can make is $14,000 per year as a CFI and keep the bills paid and food on the table. Based on my research, that is very doable, but happens to be slightly above the average.
At the moment I have an interview scheduled with Air Orlando on Nov 19th. I am going into the interview with high hopes, but with limited knowledge about what being a CFI is like. There are some other flightschools that are closer to my house (this one is 63 miles away - so would involve a hefty commute), which I am hoping to score a position with in due time.
I guess my questions can be narrowed down to these:
1. Anyone know anything about the average income and quality of life at Air Orlando or similar schools?
2. How much flying time is typical of a week?
3. Is $14,000 income reasonable for a "fresh off the press" CFI such as myself?
4. Anyone else commute 63 miles to work as a CFI? If so, how was it?
I know that CFIing is a temporary gig and that I am lucky to find someone who will hire me with basically no dual given. This industry is so tough to get into that I am very willing to make sacrifices on the get go until I can start to negotiate (due to my competitive stance).
I would appreciate some comments on my questions, and I look forward to posting with you guys for a good while.
Thanks.