Instructor job situation over next 12-24 months

[laurie]

Hello all,

I am interested in your opinions on the demand for FI's in the next year or two....

This type of question has come up often before, but please bear with me - I am interested in gaining the FI rating in preference to the instrument rating, but feel a little in the dark about the chances out there of the 'big break'.

The feeling coming through from other forums within pprune is that airline recruitment is going on, the situation generally improving...My thoughts were that there are bound to be a fair amount of instructors out there who will be part of that movement, and will need replacing.

Lastly I had heard some contributors even going so far as to say there may be an instructor shortage, brought about by the extra expense and greater regulation of JAA licencing? Any thoughts?

Looking forward to your discussion of the above.


Cheers,


Laurie.

[MJR]

Hi Laurie,

There are plenty of high hour ATPL and fATPL instructors around at the moment all waiting for the job market to open up. When this happens the demand for instructors is likely to increase.

I dont think the £5k to get a FI rating puts many people off but the requirements to maintain the rating puts off airline pilots who wish to instruct in there spare time.

We have recently seen jobs advertised on this forum so they cant be that hard to get if you are prepared to look around.


cheers

MJR

[robione]

Laurie, i was in the same dilema about 18 months ago and chose the instructor rating.I got a job instructing which lasted all last summer up till just after (9/11} then it dried up.Jan this year i went off to Bristol and did my IR, and ive recently gone back to instructing p/t.IMHO at this stage i think u need both.When the self improver route was done away with the introduction of the Jar licence, and you could get a cpl/ir with 200hrs thats all well and good.But the bottom line is how many people are getting jobs with these low hours?. They are far and few between, especially in the current job climate.Most airlines seem to be saying 1000hrs+mcc at the mo, somebody correct me please if im ill informed,that seems to be the fig when they are recruting.At the moment recruting appears to be stagnent with little movement.Getting some more hrs under your belt is certainly not going to hinder your prospects of getting a job,but have the opposite effect.It doesnt go a great way to helping when it comes to doing your ir in my experience,but my log book is a little thicker now and im sure that keeping reasonably current helps the situation.Ask yourself what are my options here?

1. Put the ir on the licence and stay with low hrs in the hope that things improve enough for airlines to employ low houred pilots.

2. Put the instructor on and get some more hrs,then the ir later whilst waiting for things to improve.

Well 1 u are going to need to get an airline job.2.more hrs is defo a good thing in this climate whilst waiting for it to pick up, and u will have some fun flying whilst doing this.

Like i said earlier, you need both,which way u choose to go is up to you.It rather depends on your personal curcumstances, whether you can afford to live on an instructors salary or not.I cant thats why im only instructing part-time. I could go on for ages about what i think u should do, but who am i to offer advice, this is all about your personal position my friend and what u think will help it in the long run.Ive got both now and the hours are ticking up slowly but surely.I dont think in the very short term things will improve enough for airlines to be employing low houred pilots, i think all the more experienced ones will be swallowed up first and the low houred ones at the back of the que.These statements are merely opinions and again i think its about your present position of what u can and cant afford to do,which way u go about it i think really doesnt matter at this moment in time, cos i really dont think that the job market is going to turn overnight . Its ironic that with the introduction of the Jar licence and the end of the self improver route, that so many people are considering and doing instructor ratings to get more hours,when the licence was supposed to do away with this path.We are all trying to make ourselves more marketable in this climate, more than the next bloke, and ithink more hrs will help.I dont think there will be any instructor shortage because lots of people are doing the rating to try and get more experience because of the state of the job market currently.There may be a little movement in the airline job scene,but thats all it appears to be,LITTLE.My guess is that if you do your ir first as soon as you have done it you will be thinking, what can i do to improve my chances of getting a job.Yes some more experience-instructing.If u do the instructor first, ive got to do my ir now.Curcumstances will dictate which way to go if u choose to do an instructors that is.Good luck to you.

[laurie]

Thanks both,

Having to get the IR within the 36 months is the worry....I am in no rush to be off flying airliners - the guiding concern is that I have the money for "either/or" at the moment, but not both!

If I went straight for the instructors rating I would hope to be earning sufficient to be able to demonstrate to the bank I could handle the loan for the IR....

I am tending more towards the Instructors rating as it is something I really want to do in any case, and as you point out Robione - pretty desperate odds of getting any work as a low timer CPL/IR for the next fair while...

Nice to hear what others have thought and done whilst in this position though,

Cheers

Laurie.

[MJR]

If you become an instructor at a school that does an approved IR course you MAY! find they give you a preferential rate, but dont hold your breath and even then it will still be expensive.

cheers

MJR

[J-Heller]

MJR,

Any names of places you'd mark out for such an arrangement, or a chance of? I mean places where you could reasonably expect some concession towards IR, even help with getting through it for the possibility of instructing the IR syllabus later on...

Thanks,


JH

[covec]

You might try Tayside Aviation at Scone (Perth, Scotland) for the CPL/FIC.

Likewise, same airport, Tayflite for the CPL/FIC/IR.

Excellent companies, both. Most importantly THEY LISTEN to you! Give 'em a call.

I did the BCPL & FIC with Tayside & the IR with Tayflite. I cannot overstate how good these guys are! (No - I'm not an employee or employer!)

Good Luck.