Info required: "A day in the life of an Instructor Pilot"

[Jazzy78910]

I'm 26, and considering gaining my CPL and Instructor-Rating next year as I want a career change from my present work.

I've heard that Flight-Instructors work pretty hard and can do fairly long hours too. The low pay does not bother me (thankyou to my partner who will help with financial support), but I presently have some troubles with lower back pain caused from a work injury last year.

I underwent surgery in February 2008 and I'm slowly on the mend, but I worry of the physical demands required to be a Flight-Instructor.

Can anyone give me an honest idea of a typical day-in-the-life as an Instructor? I hope getting a better feel of how a day is spent in the job, will help me to decide that I am fit enough to have a go myself.

Thanks,
Jazzy

[potkettleblack]

There is a whole forum dedicated to flight instructors that no doubt would like nothing more than to give you the low down. Particularly when the weather is clagged in and they are grounded.

[will fly for food 06]

Come in at 8.30. Drink tea check notams tafs etc. Brief first student and airborne just after nine. Flying 4 to 5 hours a day with 5 mins for lunch. Get home late after writing up all the reports. Repeat above exercise until it rains for a week and you drink more tea and check the rainfall radar alot. After that you check your pay statement and wonder if its really worth it then you look back and realise it is after you have sent someone on their first solo or done lots of aerobatics:ok:.

Hope that helps.

[Keygrip]

Moved at request of OP.

[Jazzy78910]

Thanks for the forum-move. Hopefully it'll reach the correct professionals here.

Regards,
Jazzy

[18greens]

Apart from the pay and poor weather a great job.

Every day is different. You can come in and have 4 students all in the circuit.

Another day, walk into a completely empty diary, another instructor phones in sick, all lessons become yours.

Another day, a bloke has bought a new 250K aircraft (TB20) , needs an instructor next to him for confidence and wants to renew his IMC (in IMC). You are the only movement of the day.

Another day 4 lesson 3s

Another day- it rains 600' cloudbase no flying.

Another day 6 aerobatic trial lessons.

Another day a bloke fail his medical but need someone to move an ac to the grass strip in his back garden with him.

All great fun. I never once got up and didn't want to go to the airfield.

[will fly for food 06]

I agree with you 18 greens. I always drive to the airfield looking forward to seeing what the day brings, except the small pay cheque ofcourse:eek:

[daria-ox]

I think instructing is a really good job. You do different things every day. You fly, gain experience, teach others and watch them progress. The bad thing about instructing is the damn pay. I think instructors should earn more..:ugh:

[pablo]

Hey!

Another one here to join the list of those who love it. I even enjoy ground briefings. To be honest during my FI course and after finishing I wasn't really sure that I took the right option, but after all... I didn't have anything more sensible to do than at least trying it for a few months. After a few given lessons all my doubts disappeared.

Regarding the paycheck... well... yes... in most places is peanuts, but... after you build some experience and get IRI (or its privileges) and CRI it starts to improve. Plus... there seem to be a few offers around Europe and even international that come with a decent paycheck, plus there are located in places with better weather than the average UK location, so... you fly more and may promote sooner too.

And regarding back problems... I think you should be ok. I don't know what is your current status, but I suggest you work on your abs. I'm prone to lumbar "pain" (it's not actually pain, it's mostly discomfort after too much time sitting) and after a few months of doing an abs routine It's a lot better.
And for most of the flying you don't need to do really a lot of physical effort (pulling/pushing controls), and actually after 3-4 lessons the student is hopefully doing most of the flying.
The only other thing that can affect your back injury is the constant vibration of the airplane plus occasional turbulence, but I guess you should be ok.

Best of luck for you with your career!

Regards / Pablo

[BroomstickPilot]

Hi Jazzy,

I think you need to consider four physical aspects of that kind of work.

First is just the element of climbing in and out of aeroplanes. For example, could you get into a Piper Cub without doing yourself a mischief? Warrior isn't the easiest aircraft to get yourself into and the C152 is about as bad.

Second is sitting in aeroplanes for, say, five hours daily.

Third is the heaving of aeroplanes in and out of hangars, perhaps on your own, with a drawbar.

Fourth, refueling high wing aeroplanes that will have fuel filler caps on the upper wing surface, requiring you to climb up to that level carrying the fuel pump gun.

Broomstick.

[pablo]

Hi!

well... I think Broomstick is right regarding climbing in&out of the airplane. In some of them you have to climb the wing first (all low-wing). But... there are a lot of Cessna airplanes used in instruction:}.

Another thing we forgot to mention is the ergonomics of the average airplane. Honestly... airplanes with upholstery and seats literally destroyed outnumber those in good shape. We are talking about sitting for 1 or 2 hrs in a row in a quite uncomfortable seat.
I dream that someday they require to overhaul the seats as they do with the engine!!!!!!:ugh:
Plus... sadly most airplanes don't provide a comfortable flying position.
So far... the only airplane I've flown in which I felt really comfortable are the Socata Tobago and Tampico:ok:. Probably Cirrus and some others with sidesticks are comfortable too.

Refueling and towing around the airplane... you can always have someone to do it, specially the student, and in this case there's a medical and sound reason for it.
In my present school we have to push the airplanes into the parking spot and 90-95% of instructors leave it to the student alone, and there's no medical reason behind it.

We forgot to mention about crouching on preflight inspection to untie, check gear or some other items in certain airplanes. In Cessna airplanes additionally you need an stair to check fuel level visually and caps secured (I would never go to fly without checking at least oil and fuel despite of the student doing the walkaround).:E
<<<Off-topic, but back when I was student, an instructor wanted to make sure that certain 2 students actually did a good walkaround. He left some pieces of cloth in the engine intake which supposedly was easy to see. They didn't remove it, nor mention it. Apparently these 2 guys were being lazy on all walkarounds. (instructor lectured them and removed the cloth before the flight):eek:
Same for docs and other stuff (A/W cert, Registration cert., W&B, POH, etc...). Randomly removed them and most students don't mention it. Many of them just check that there's a bunch of papers!:bored:
By the way... try some day giving them some METAR or TAF from a few days ago with similar weather. Most of them don't check Date &/or time.:eek:
OOOOHHHH those :mad: students!!! (not all of them)>>>>


Cheers / Pablo

[Kikikkukk]

I've been a (FAA) CFII for about one year, accumulating approximately 1000 hours of instruction. I think every professional pilot should start out as a flight instructor, because you will actually learn a lot while instructing, and you will have a great time.

But you mention problems with your back, and that is a big concern, as this is one of the most common health problems among instructors (and commercial pilots), in addition to hearing loss. A common term among the instructors is the 'cessna-back' that you get from sitting in a small airplane in a pretty uncomfortable position 5-8 hours every day.

[Jazzy78910]

Thankyou all for the info so far! This is exactly what I am after.

With regards to my health, I have no problems with actual movement or flexibility, I could easily climb up on, into or under a Cessna or other light aircraft.

The area I'm not so sure about is the stamina requirements of the job. I am wondering if there is any standing for long periods (more than 2 hours at a time, like my current job). Or any hard labor involved like heavy lifting or really strenuous repetitive tasks.

I'm quite comfortable when sitting, but standing seems to get me after a few hours without a break.

Jarrad

[lady in red]

Unless you are doing a lot of classroom teaching you are unlikely to stand all day - I train instructors so for the ground school part of the course we are sometimes in the classroom all day but we have regular breaks and I simply sit down to present when my back gets me. The biggest problem I have with my back is when I have a large student in the C152 who takes up more than his share of the cockpit and I end up crushed into the corner which gives my back a problem. So I have resolved that all large guys now have to do the course in the PA28! Good luck!

[OneIn60rule]

I would not bother with it.

What you have to do in some places to earn your keep.

Drag aircraft out, put aircraft in, fill up, clean windows of aircraft.
Cover the aircraft with aircraft cover, take cover off and stow.
De ice aircraft in the winter. Show students how to check out an aircraft.
Climb into aircraft, climb out.

If you fly 5-7 times a day, you will have to climb out and almost right back in again.


1/60

[Jazzy78910]

Thanks for the information, 1in60rule.

All that falls within my expectations and sounds like it's well within my abilities.

I guess as well as finding out about 'a day in the life', I was also hoping to uncover any completely unforeseen or unusually strenuous tasks that a newbie wouldn't associate with Instructing.

Everything mentioned so far gives me confidence that I will be able to do the job, as it is physically less than I am required to do in my present work.

Thanks again,
Jarrad

[VFE]

I was also hoping to uncover any completely unforeseen or unusually strenuous tasks that a newbie wouldn't associate with Instructing.

Well as an instructor you won't find your number of shags increasing... if that's what yer getting at!

VFE.

[Jazzy78910]

HAHA! I don't think my girlfriend (of 4 years) would be quite so supportive of my plans if this was one of my concerns : )

[Stumpyotoole]

Hi,
Just wanted to add my two pence worth to all the above! I got my FI rating a couple of months ago so by no means am I the voice of experience in all this, but as a relatively new instructor I have figured out a few things i didn't know before!

I tend to get to the airfield fairly early (giving myself as much time as possible to check the aircraft and refuel - esp if its a trial lesson first). fairly often the first student is late, so i try and make sure I am as ready as possible before we go up - once you start running late its near on impossible to get yourself back on track! I am sure I will perfect tis as time goes on but it has been a little tricky as it tends to be my lunch time and breaks (!!) that suffer!

On a good day I can be looking at up to seven or eight flights. sounds like a lot but when they are half hour trial lessons its only four hours of flying! BUT for each lesson there is a briefing, and the general strapping them in, getting airborne, coming back, refueling if necessary!

with regards to the hysical side of things, i have found that at the end of the day i tend to feel a bit 152 shaped, but have found a few lengths of the pool tend to sort it out, nothing too strenuous but a bit of gentle exercise helps!
some of the aircraft have got pretty old radios and i have to say this has been the biggest problem i've found - my ears can sometimes hurt at the end of the day from the radio. i have tried a noise cancelling headset which helps but its generally the transmissions coming through the headset. I have taken to being very careful with the volume control!

another thing is tense muscles - generally found when the student is in the circuit - generally the students are doing most of the hands on flying, but after a days instructing i tend to find my calf and thigh muscles are a little tired from being ready to take over if necessary!

On the whole I have found instructing exactly what i thought it would be - long days with not much time off, pitifully low pay for the situations you can find yourself in, barely time for lunch even though you have a scheduled break, sore ears, aching muscles, high caffeine intake (from the rain soaked noses pressed against the window days), crick in your neck from staring at the sky...its the best job in the world and you wouldn't find me doing anything else now - NOTHING beats that feeling when a student finally gets it, those long long (summer) days with very few breaks when most of your time is spent in your office at 2000' , the aching muscles at the end of the day which signal a productive flying day. the feeling when a trial lesson comes back to start their PPL and asks specifically to fly with you and that crick in the neck as you watch your student go off round the circuit on his/her own - after YOU taught them how to do it!!! ( I cannot put enough exclamation marks in to describe how that feels!)

A day in the life of an FI is a very hard thing to pin down - no two days have been the same yet!!

good luck with whatever you decide, though I am firmly in the camp of thoroughly recommending instructing - not only has it improved my flying, but i get to meet a lot of people i would never have had the chance to before!