For people who are FI/airline pilot

[VNA Lotus]

Hey Guys,

I heard a lot of things about the FI job... bad and good things.

My goal is to become an airline pilot, but at the moment I am seriously considering the FIC to get more experience. I finished my CPL/IR but I do not fly because of lack of money...the FI route seems to be the best choice if we love flying and sharing passion I think.

Well, I am wondering when I must stop the FI job to apply for a company ??

I mean, some pleople say : with 3000 hours of single engine, companies do not recruit you because you developped bad habits... (what kind of bad habbits ?)

question : is that really true ? :confused:

IF it is true, does it count a little bit more to be FI/IRI on multi engine like PA34/DA42... in a FTO by instance ?

thank you very much

VNA

[basil faulty]

Yes do it. It never did me any harm and here I am 10 years later as a Captain on an Airbus. Unfortunately the Airlines like to take low time pilots straight from the likes of Oxford or CTC with a Type Rating, but if you are not in that situation then go for it, you will learn a lot about flying, yourself and people.

Then you can move up the ladder slowly, start flying slightly bigger things until you end up in the right seat of a Jet Airliner. You may not be richer than a pilot who went straight from training into a 73/319 but you will have seen a lot more been more scared and had a lot of fun in the meantime. Good luck

[VNA Lotus]

Thanks a lot Basil... yep, I don't have any money for any type rating exept for a FIC which is still expensive for me.

[llanfairpg]

If you have 10 different people in an airline interviewing you will have 10 different ways of interpreting requirements. Human beings do not come in standard models, good to remember when you start instructing, everyone is different. Just think what it would be like if everyone wanted to be a pilot, you would never get on this forum.

[jamestkirk]

I spent two years instructing before that illusive first job came along. I was lucky that the airline i work for likes people with an FI background.

The good things are that it will vastly improve your hand flying skills, general knowledge and confidence. If you can, branch out to night, IMC and/or CPL instructing.

The poor side is the cost of training and the poor salary.

I have been on the RHS for 8 months now and am now going back to instruct on my days off. For two reasons. One, a bit of beer money and two, I found it really good fun to fly a PA28 etc.

Also, the FI market is not in a good way at the moment. People leaving to join the airlines have left a gap in the once abundance of availaible FI's. So don't go out there and work for a poxy £15ph with no retainer. I know that recently CTC and Qatar Aero Coll. were looking for CPL instructors and the pay was OK.

A friend of mine earns a good wage as a ME/IR instructor.

This may be a bit far down the line but there are options if you were waiting, like me, for a FO position.

Good luck.

[Deano777]

Lotus

You don't "stop" the FI job to apply to the airlines, you keep teaching people to fly and you keep applying to the airlines.
It is said anything over 1,000hrs of SEP time is worthless, and yes it might be, but this doesn't mean you can't go beyond this, does it matter if you had 5,000hrs SEP time? no I doubt it. But what you can do is improve your ratings whilst instructing, do night instructing, then IMC, then CPL & then Multi IR, don't put your career on hold waiting for that elusive airline job, it may never happen, for lots it doesn't. Just keep striving to get as high as you can as fast as you can (career ladder, not altitude :) )

Good luck :ok:

D777

p.s. as a side note, do the FIC course, instructing will be some of the most rewarding flying you'll ever do :)
Oh, and you will learn **** loads along the way

[IRRenewal]

It is said anything over 1,000hrs of SEP time is worthless, and yes it might be, but this doesn't mean you can't go beyond this, does it matter if you had 5,000hrs SEP time?

Well, in my current job I got into a higher pay scale (by some 5k pa) and a better sector pay system because of the amount of P.1 time I had on joining. A lot of these P.1 hours were SEP and accumulated through instructing.

P.1 hours will never do you harm.

[Deano777]

Not saying I agree with the statement I wrote, just that I used to hear it from the recruiters at the seminars.
Personally the more time you have the better, regardless of whether it's SEP or MET

[deice]

Agree with all here, FI is probably the most rewarding rating I have to date. You get to meet all sorts of people, it'll test your patience (oh my goodness will it test you!), and you fly for free, or better yet, get paid.
I've also realized how much I've learnt myself over the years, which is good for the ego department. It may help you forward to the elusive job.
And, as someone mentioned, FIs have been regarded rather highly by airlines.

[VFE]

Cannot see how instructing could do anything other than help a future airline pilot. Basic decision making and pilot skills will be greater than someone fresh from training without doubt. People may say light aircraft flying has sod all to do with piloting heavy metal and for the most part that may be true you must remember, as women will tell you, size comparrisons are pointless and you should just work with what you get to the best of your ability.

Based on that you should treat instructing seriously whilst you are employed as an FI and enjoy the daily hands-on experience as this will be your first foot on the aviation job ladder and one you are unlikely to return to once the lure of the airline comes along in due course...

Everyone respects an instructor.

VFE.

[robmcn]

Having instructed for almost two years i think its worth mentioning a few benefits of instructing that i think often get ignored.
Firstly instructing is usually referred to as a method of building hours but if you approach it in the correct way you also gain experience. Whilst hours and ratings are the things that will get you interviews, the intangibles that you've gained instructing, whether its simply more confidence on the radio, or perhaps a far greater understanding of instrument flying ( get your instrument restriction lifted asap!), are going to help not only in an interview situation, but during type ratings and line training.
Secondly you learn how to interact with people in a cockpit, and how to make them perform to the best of their ability. You also meet people who can give you advice and help throughout your career, its suprising how many people in the aviation industry still spend time flying at their local airfield.
Finally its great fun!