Fill the CV as Flight Instructor

[eikido]

I'm consdering working as a Flight Instructor when i finish school because there are good opportunities.

However, how much do you really benefit from being a FI?
First you never really increase your PIC log? Are there other parts you don't increase so much such as ME, IR? I find ME flying very important.
Second, how much better do you get at flying since its the student that takes the control? I don't want to be a dude who just "did it", i want to become a really good flyer.

How much more does your CV get interesting if you've worked as an FI for say a year?

Eikido

[duveldrinker]

as a flight instructor you are most of the time pilot in command, who else would it be ?

flying is a neverending learning process, for all of us, so believe me you will never stop increasing your own abilities during your time as a FI.
besides, your students donīt just take the controls, the idea is that you bring them to the point where its safe for them to do that.

if you had an other impression of a FI due to the people you have flown with during your training, just acting as "useless weight on the RH seat", ask your money back.

[eikido]

My goal as a pilot is to become one of the best flyers in the world.
Ofcours the absolut goal is very close to impossible, but its the idea that counts. What i'm trying to say is that i want to become a good pilot too. Not just a pilot. I know you can always develop your self as a flyer and i'm one of those guys who love to learn and enjoy mastering stuff such as flying.

I know i'm the guy who will love to fly "the dangerous scenarios" with lots of wind and heavy rain.

What i'm trying to say is, will i learn to fly as an FI as much as if i would as an employed pilot.

Regards
Raptor

[flybymike]

If I were one of your students, I would not care much for wind, rain, and dangerous scenarios....

[17thhour]

I know i'm the guy who will love to fly "the dangerous scenarios" with lots of wind and heavy rain.

haha, I think thats easier said than done my friend.
You should be avoiding these situations at all cost as an FI, one thats teaching VFR anyway, and dont write that on your CV either- it comes across as a bit bold... and i know this is cliche! But: there are old pilots, and bold pilots...

...but there are no old bold pilots

[SNS3Guppy]

I'm consdering working as a Flight Instructor when i finish school because there are good opportunities.

However, how much do you really benefit from being a FI?
First you never really increase your PIC log? Are there other parts you don't increase so much such as ME, IR? I find ME flying very important.
Second, how much better do you get at flying since its the student that takes the control? I don't want to be a dude who just "did it", i want to become a really good flyer.

How much more does your CV get interesting if you've worked as an FI for say a year?

On the one hand you tell us you want adventure and to be the best, and on the other you tell us what's really important is how good your resume looks.

Do you want to learn something, or do you want to look good? Are you concerned about being the best you can be, or about appearances? You appear very concerned about your image...

One of the best ways to learn something, really learn it, is to do it, and to teach it.

Hours mean nothing. If you really want hours in your logbook, falsify them and write them in, and have your picture taken with a white shirt, tie and epaulets with four bars on them...and there's your image.

Experience means everything. If you really want experience, seek out opportunities to broaden your background in flying. While no law requires that you flight instruct, I truly believe that any pilot who fails to do so has missed an essential element in understanding his craft. The ability to not only understand flying well enough to do it, but to explain it to others in a meaningful way, to show others, and then lead others by the hand until they understand it fully is a crucial skill not only in a small training airplane, but any other environment in the cockpit or outside the cockpit in which leadership and dealing with others is needed.

Flight instructing is not about sitting idly by and watching others fly. If you believe this, then you have some learning yet to do.

There is a difference between an instructor, and a teacher. An instructor administers a syllabus, whereas a teacher helps expand a student's mind. The world is in need of no more instructors, but teachers are sorely needed. If you feel you want to flight instruct, be a teacher, not merely an "instructor."

As for dashing adventure and heavy rains and wind...those are small components of the environment in which we fly. I can tell you that from the perspective of an experienced professional aviator, I go out of my way to avoid those things. I can tell you that the hallmark of a professional is to make an emergency routine by adhering to standard practices and by training enough that it becomes an abnormal situation at best. Heart-pounding, sweaty-palmed excitement really has little place in a professional cockpit...and I'm not talking about just an orderly corporate jet cockpit or airline cockpit. I've spent much of my career flying down close to the ground, in the mountains, into large, active fires and other such drama...and always have worked very hard to make each flight as routine and unexciting as possible...that's what we're paid to do. It's not a thrill ride. I can even tell you that as one who was paid to explore the inside of thunderstorms in airplanes...I work very hard to avoid them. If you're seeking to be a master of excitement in heavy rains and wind, then you're seeking the wrong goal, and should stop to re-evaluate your priorities.

As for logging the experience; time spent as a flight instructor is pilot in command time. It's not about inflating your logbook, though if you stay busy your logbook will certainly reflect that. It's about doing the best job you possibly can as an instructor, gaining as much experience working with others, teaching, interacting, learning, as you can in the short time you're doing it. Some do it for a lifetime, and they're to be commended. For many, it's a first job, as it often doesn't pay well...but it's most often the foundation for a lifetime of work as an aviator. As a foundation, as the beginning, it's important that you put as much into it as you can, take as much from it as you can, and learn. Make the most of it.

Hours are worthless. Ink in a logbook. Experience is priceless. Seek experience, not hours.

One can fly the same hour many different ways. Some will fly an hour in an airplane and come away with nothing more than an hour to put in a logbook, and a life that's one hour shorter. Others will fly that hour and come away with a wealth of experience and insight, and a life that's an hour richer...the hour they write (or don't write) in their logbook being the most trivial part of that experience. Go for the experience. Hours...those don't mean much, and they'll come along all the same. I can tell you that when I'm ready to leave this world, I won't concern myself that I should have written just one more hour in my logbook. I will perhaps regret not being able to spend one more hour in flight, learn one more new thing, have one more experience...because that's all that really counts.

How many types of employment do you think you'll be eligible for when you get out of school? Do you think anyone is going to hire you to fly their corporate jet? Probably not. But flight instructing...there's a job you can do, and a great opportunity to boot.

Flying the airplane, the monkey skills of manipulating the controls to go up or down, left or right...these are the smallest and least important parts of being an aviator. We're not paid to drive the airplane. We're paid to make decisions, to think, to exercise judgement. That's what being an aviator is about. What better place to start developing that skill than as an instructor, opening the craft to others, learning it not from a book, but as the teacher? Teaching others to fly is a highly honorable task which no pilot should miss in his or her quest to "be the best."

That includes you.

[eikido]

Thank you very much SNS3Guppy. Very nice post.However don't get me wrong.What i'm trying to say, (i just might not be clear about it) is that i want to become a good pilot. That is what i mean by not being a guy who just "did it" and took flying certificate.It's not about filling the CV. The problem is when looking for a job. They want to see a CV. And the CV will tell you how much experience you've got. For all i care, i don't give a **** about the logbook and CV. But how will they know if i'm good then?I mentioned it to increase my chance of getting a job. I want to work my way up. I'm not the guy who sees a big B747 infront of me. I want to fly those small planes and work my way to bigger ones.BTW, i haven't started flying school yet so i don't know much about flying.When i mentioned about flying dangerously, i meant "master" flying. And flying dangerously will get you closer to mastering flying (i would think so, but i really don't know).RegardsEikido

[foxmoth]

Eikido, some confusing stuff to start with there but it is becoming a little clearer, SNS3s posting says most of it. Flying professionally is about doing as little as possible that is actually dangerous, even flying in bad weather should not be dangerous, just difficult, and the thing to overcome this is training and practice, flying as an instructor will help you become a good pilot, you will be looking and assessing all the time how your student is flying and if he/she is safe and this will end up being reflected in your own flying. If you want exciting flying then learn to be an aerobatics instructor, this is the fun stuff, it will also help your flying, though most airlines will not be too bothered about you having it on your CV, and is something you can hopefully keep up when you move up to the big stuff which most of the time is quite boring to fly in many ways.

[bArt2]

And flying dangerously will get you closer to mastering flying

In fact flying dangerously is very easy, everyone can do that. In fact I personally have known some that were really good at it, unfortunately they are no longer among us.

Might sound a bit rude, and maybee I am exagerating the point you are trying to make. However, once you started flying and gained experience you will learn that it is all about understanding the risks involved and how to avoid them.

Bart

[SNS3Guppy]

When i mentioned about flying dangerously, i meant "master" flying. And flying dangerously will get you closer to mastering flying

Flying dangerously helps master the graveyard, not the cockpit.

And the CV will tell you how much experience you've got.

It certainly doesn't. It describes what you want it to say, but having read your resume, and employer knows no more about how you fly and about your ability and the experiences you've absorbed than he did before he saw the resume.

I've met more than a few high-time pilots who couldn't fly their way out of a wet paper bag.

But how will they know if i'm good then?

You'll be placed in the airplane, or in a simulator, and tested to see if you can do what you say you can do, and to see if you can perform to a given standard.

The idea of being the best is something really best left to movies like "top gun." It doesn't really have a place in the flying world. When we fly, we do it to a known standard...can we maintain the tolerances required for the private pilot certificate, for example? Can we maintain airline transport pilot tolerances? If you hold your altitude, and the next guy holds his altitude, then there really isn't a "best," or a "master." Just two guys that hold their altitude. Nobody then says "Yes, but he REALLY holds his altitude." You either meet the same basic standard as everyone else, or you don't. No need to be "the best," or a "master." Just an aviator.

I mentioned it to increase my chance of getting a job.

You've got to walk before you run. Perhaps the single most common entry level job in aviation is flight instructing. You're not going to have a dazzling array of skills, certification, and experience to net you much else in the industry. Perhaps you can get into a regional airliner...sadly much of Europe puts pilots in a position to be flying the paying public around at a few hundred hours time. I strongly disapprove of that practice...but it's done commonly in Europe and many parts of the world. If you go that route, you will have missed out on some crucial experience which is best gained through the lowly art of teaching others to fly.

[eikido]

So i have a lot to understand before i start.
However:

You'll be placed in the airplane, or in a simulator, and tested to see if you can do what you say you can do, and to see if you can perform to a given standard.

That is what i wanted to know. Excellent.
So are you saying that as a FI, you will more likely gain more experience than an ordinary job?

Edit: ordinary=other (commercial)

Eikido

[SNS3Guppy]

What do you mean by "ordinary job?"

Flight instruction is an ordinary job. It's also most often an entry level job as they gain their first paid experience.

Will a pilot gain more experience instructing? I think you're revisiting that best-of-the-best thing again. It's not really a contest. You're gaining valuable experience. More experience than what?

[porridge]

Operators looking positevely at Flight Instructor Experience

I know of a couple of Operators who look very favorably on people who have gained PIC hours as Flying Instructors as long as they can meet the other basic requirements.
Further to that I know a company who are looking to recruit both Capt's and FO's in the near future who will be looking at solid FI experience as requirement. Good to know that FI experience at last is being valued both as a life skill as well as PIC time!

[eikido]

I'm changing and realizing.

I want to become an instructor because i love to work with people. I think that was subconscious all the time but could not realize it. A person made me realize that when i was at my uncles local 7-eleven a week ago.

If i wanted to build time and work, i could do probably do it in Sweden or in Africa.

Now i feel i want to do FI. Who knows, i might get hooked.

Because as a F/O, i've had the impression you won't work to close with people. Being responsible for a load of people is one thing and working closly with people is another. I prefere the latter although i also enjoy the other a lot too.

The person i met was (almost) in the same position as i am right now. He worked as a computer engineer for 30 years sitting infront of the computer all day long. He quit the high paying job and started as a workout instructor and livs a better life today. I myself will probably not earn as much as a flight instructor as i do engineering today, but i'm not living for the money.


Eikido

[VFE]

The most satisfying compliment I have so far received in my flying career is that I am "a good teacher". Couldn't give a rats arse if I am the best pilot around (I never will be).. the above compliment meant far more in terms of contentment as a professional instructor. You sink into the background more as an instructor, and push your students forward into the limelight and it's this way that you discover a quiet contentment which only a teacher can fully appreciate.

Instructing is all about other people so sideline the skillful pilot aspiration from the equation a little... it ceases to be about you when you become a flying instructor. If you are someone who experiences vanity as a pilot then forget instructing, that's the best advice I can give you and your potential students. Should you choose to give it a go then I wish you every success - the spiritual rewards are many - the financial rewards not so but it's all about balance in life and why am I starting to sound like Yoda?

VFE.