Flight instructor > ??

[cimore000]

Hi
I have thought about an aviation career and have decided I am going to become a part time flight instructor unless maybe some kind of nice opportunity comes along and knocks on my door. I am here to ask whether a flight instructor with the right number of hours can land a job in qantas link/rex?
I just don't want to commit to going up north and quitting my job, I am perfectly happy with part time flight instructing for the rest of my life but I would quit my job for rex/qantas link anyday!


P.S i am from melbourne.

[Aussie Bob]

Get a CPL first

[The Bunglerat]

Depends on the kind of instructing. This ex-instructor currently flies jets with a major airline, & managed to get there almost entirely on the back of an instructing career. But... The majority of my instructing was multi-engine/IFR & airline cadet training, as opposed to mostly bashing around the circuit in a Jabiru or C152, etc, teaching RAA/PPL. Some kinds of instructing can be very beneficial to career development with airline flying as a long-term goal, whilst other kinds will do nothing more than put another hour in your logbook.

[MakeItHappenCaptain]

If you just want to build hours, stop now. Please.

Instructing requires dedication. You pass on 60% of what you know and if you haven't brought your knowledge back up to 100%, 60% of 60% means you can't teach s:mad:it.

Sorry to be blunt but instructors are responsible for instilling the correct techniques, attitudes and reasons the first time a student is taught. This is called primacy. Correcting mistakes is harder than getting it right first time.

That being said, an instructor rating is the best thing you can do for your own flying abilities. Do it right and it will lead to opportunities down the track.:ok:

[cimore000]

Yes, I just want to fly and I am perfectly happy with being an instructor. JUST that if I somehow get an opportunity to fly for REX I would quit my boring future job (still in school).
So as the poster from before said, you'll need to get some m.e time and probably some other stuff.
Is it hard to get multi engine time as an instructor??

[nomorecatering]

I think you should go for a walk around Moorabbin and talk to a few instructors. There are many instructors who cant land an airline gig after thousands of hrs instructing, so your attitude of doign a few months of part time instructing then waltzing into Rex or Qlink wont make you any friends here. Nor will it impress any future possible employers.

I think a reality check is required.

[Howard Hughes]

that if I somehow get an opportunity to fly for REX I would quit my boring future job
Geez mate, set your goals a little higher!;)

[The Bunglerat]

...What Howard said.

I was trying to help by offering my 50 cents' worth in my previous post, but what I should have also mentioned is that I spent ten years instructing in GA, & it was hard slog all the way. No shortcuts, no helping hands, no favouritism. Everything I achieved, I did so by clawing my way up the ladder, one rung at a time. Many colleagues who were just as hard-working as me simply didn't make it. I won't go into all the reasons why.

I don't want to sound all "Tony Robbins" with the warm & fuzzy motivational crap, but I do believe you can achieve some pretty big goals in life. However, you've got to (a) set goals worth working for, & (b) bust your balls & be hungry as hell to achieve them. As such, the previous advice about a reality check/setting your goals a bit higher does seem to be in order.

[nomorecatering]

One should take the words of Bunglerat very seriously, for he speaks the truth. Howver I do disagree on one part. I was brought up to belive the were only pilots and non pilots. You are a captain, whether in a c150 or C130 or a B744. a captain is a captain, sure teh role is different, the equipment and perhaps level of skill different. But the attitude of professionalism should be the same. You try to do your best no matter what you fly.

I am an instructor, why, because it gives me fulfillment, a sense of purpose, that I make a difference in someone elses life. A few weeks ago I recieved an email from an ex student who just passed his 777 command training. He said my training and mentoring, and words of advice still sit with him and helped him get through the tough training. So I guess I must have done something right.

I dont get the big bucks, the flash equipment, the recognition or the prestige of an airline pilot. But I get satisfaction that no other employment has ever come close.

What offends me however, is when someone decides to use instructing as a mere way to get an hr or two for their own beneifit, merely a way to pass the time before they "decide" to allow an airline to hire them.

[The Bunglerat]

Nomorecatering, I'd suggest we're more on the same page than you think. When I mentioned that multi-engine/IFR instructing counts more than bashing around the circuit in a single, I did not mean to imply that one is any less a "pilot in command" just because he/she is flying a C152. I'm simply saying that a couple of thousand hours of multi-engine/IFR instructing will make you much more attractive to an airline employer than the other kind. That's just the way it is.

It's been a few years now since I did any kind of instructing, & even more since I flew any kind of single-engine bugsmasher. If I were to jump into a lightie tomorrow, I'd probably be dangerous. It's a different kind of flying, requiring different skills that I just haven't practiced for quite some time. Airline pilots are no better than any other kind of pilot; they just worked hard & got lucky - a fact that is often lost amongst some in this industry who think that because they now fly jets, they're better than everyone else.

[cimore000]

I dont want to instruct for a few months and expect a job from rex. I plan to instruct for 8 years or more part time. I don't want to ditch my future normal job since I see so many stories about jobless pilots and it just isnt worth it.

This is directed to the idiot who said 'You wont get anywhere with a few months of instructing'

[The Bunglerat]

This is directed to the idiot who said 'You wont get anywhere with a few months of instructing'

Oh dear. :ugh:

So Cimore... From looking at other posts, I see you're doing Year 12 - & you're also considering going to university & studying paramedicine. For your sake, I hope you get in, because when you seek advice from aviation professionals - & then resort to petty name calling when you don't like their responses, not to mention the naive attitude you appear to have about your flying prospects in general - I'm thinking that a flying career may not be for you.

You say you want to get a job with Rex/Qlink. But you also say you only want to instruct part-time. You can't have it both ways. Either get serious about your career goals & recognise that reaching them will take a lot more than the token efforts you propose, or resign yourself to the fact that part-time instructing is all you can expect (if you even achieve that much). From where I sit, it seems to me that Nomorecatering was just saying it how it is.

[Trojan1981]

Mate, stick with Paramedicine. Get your Intensive Care postgraduate certificate and get onto the helicopters. It's far more exciting and fulfilling than any commercial airline job. If you want to fly as well, then do your licence, you'll at least be able to afford it and live a comfortable life as a Paramedic.