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kloe
31st Mar 2007, 14:26
Hi guys,

I am to embark on getting my flight instructor rating here in Canada. I have a choice of a couple of schools that I like, one where I received most of my training which has the cherokee 140 but is not as busy and the other one which is downtown Toronto which handles alot more students and has the cessna 172 ( more expensive too).

I have not been a great fan of spins and have heard of the cherokee being in the right C of G which mind you I have spun before. I thought of taking a spin course down in the US to better prepare myself and learn more about spin recovery.

So I am having a bit of a hard time deciding on which one of two aircraft I get my instructor rating on and I have read that it doesn't matter as both spin.

The cherokee training school is 20 minutes from where I live and the downtown Toronto school is roughly one hour not that I mind driving a little further.

And as well I would like to find out how many pilots have only instructed in their aviation lives and if they still enjoy it.

thanks guys

kloe

ERIK C
1st Apr 2007, 22:32
Can you do both?
I am instructing on Saturday on C-152 in one school (20 minutes drive) and on Sunday on PA-28 in another school (one hour drive).
Here in JAA land, we don't do spins anymore in the PPL syllabus, only incipient spins.
I am 38 now and have given up hope any airline will ever hire me , but I enjoy being a FI. It is very rewarding (not financially though), hence the full time job Mon-Fri.
Good luck with your career.

Rickford
6th Apr 2007, 19:47
Kloe,
Spinning. You do it on the JAR FI course and the 140 is probably better than the 172 asr Cessna did a very good job with the 172 as you can recover from all but the most aggressive wing drop stalls and stable developed spins with aileron thereby destroying all your learning points.
A more important point is what ever the platform you do want to be comfortable with spinning so you can approach "abeit incipent spin recovery" with your student in a calm and confident manner.
Career Instructor. Depends on your financial requirements. The job is superb or awful depending on whether you like instructing. Your training environment (aka school) will also be very important. I instruct as a second career and find it immensly rewarding but I am buffered by a pension.
Potentially there is a career as a professional FI as all the other FIs move on to larger ac so you must (assuming some skills (aviation & people)) have a serious chance of becoming a CFI... and therefore someone Gordan will welcome as a 40% tax payer
Good luck