FI Shortage
 

Hello All,
Other times that the salary for FIs have been discussed on PPRuNe, it seeemed as though the new PPL FI was hourly paid and did well to make 12K p.a.
Is this beginning to change? Perhaps the hiring by airlines is finally impacting the FI market. I heard today that Cabair needs a shed load of FIs - all categories and experience levels, UK and international locations. They apparently are offering 100% sponsored FIC courses, incentives for rated FIs to join and assistance with getting into an airline career after contract. Even the dreaded winter on flight pay only is being addressed!
It does seem as though this only reaches the guys who instruct on their way to the airlines - I wonder what its going to take to get the package right for career trainers who have families to keep. Anybody see any signs that T&Cs are getting better for this group too?
TT

About time they realised they're not going to keep instructors on the pay system they've been operating. Personally I would sooner instruct in a flying club environment than one such as Cabair's but it's horses for courses innit.

VFE.

There is a chronic shortage of FI's at the moment, especially those who can teach further stuff such as IMC, Aero's etc.

Is it having an affect on salaries? Not yet, but it will!

Thread in the other place says that Cabair Elstree has closed due to lack of instructors.
AOPA's latest edition of GA magazine also reports the instructor situation as dire.

some places in US is offering free housing for their FI if you work for them, and some other places put you on salary instead of flight per hour.

FI Shortage
 

I checked and Elstree is struggling for FIs but open. It seems Cabair is a victim of its own success at getting FIs a route into the airlines - you'd think that would ensure a steady supply of FIs for them.
I liked the comment about preferring to work in a club environment - I too preferred to instruct when the emphasis was on having fun - didn't like club politics though!
I wonder if guys who have gone to the airlines will be a good source of part-timers?
TT

anyone know what sort of package they offer?

They have been after instructors for months at Denham and Elstree - they called me often enough after I left for pastures new.

Do not really know what the answer is apart from offering salaried positions for a couple of career instructors to help keep the ship afloat at those airfields. If you attract the airline wannabe's then you're always going to be keeping the business on the edge surely?

All that aside, I think this is another clear sign that the aviation industry has really started to pick up it's feet, which can only be a good thing for all pilots, no matter where they stand on their respective career ladders. :)

I predict a time soon when unrestricted PPL instructors will be earning more money than some of the low cost carrier FO's in their first terms - I already do and I'm not even proper full time!

VFE.

Tell me about it?
 

Tiller Torquer,
Thanks for the info...im interested in the 100% sponsored FIC courses...Do u have any specific information about this? I am intersted in doing the course if I get sponsorship?
Thanks for any responses.

Check FI Course post
 

Hi Adverse Bump,
Check the other thread called 'FI Course'. Gives you some idea on the retaining cost and per hour rates.

Cabair info
 

Hi Vic1
I think that Derek Edwards on 0208 236 2400 will give you the latest - but I think there's a range of options available depending on how long you see yourself being an FI. I got the impression that some of the details of the new package are still being worked out but you've nothing to lose by starting the ball rolling.
Hope it works out for you
TT

Going back to the origional thread, the shortage of instructors is really begining to become noticable. At the club im at, the last instructor has just left for an airline job, leaving the place hung out to dry really, in the peak season!
To be honest though the place is run by complete to****rs with no idea how to run a flight school, let alone retain instructors! So they have brought the mess they are in on by themselves!! HOWEVER, this is fantastic news if you look at it closely....
These types of c***s who run schools and think they can pay instructors pitance and treat them like crap are now paying the price for this!! They will sink in to the ground and so they should!!!
Now on the other side of the coin, more attractive packages for FI' s are now being introduced by good well managed schools which is going to generally improve the conditions for instructors accross the board. The tide has turned now I think and the time for the FI to be recognised as an important assest in the flying world is showing through. Long may conditions improve. Something had to give and I think it has.

A note for school managers and CFI's reading this thread.

You know exactly what is happening in the UK training/club flying industry and many are facing increasingly difficult staffing problems.

You probably have noticed the huge traffic we have in ads from recruitment agencies and airlines over the last few years. There are places where these guys can advertise far more cheaply than here. You have quotes from or use those sites so why take the PPRuNe route?

The reason is entirely hard nosed and commercial - there are too many jobs compared to the numbers of qualified, competent pilots actively searching for work on those sites.

PPRuNe, however, is where everyone voluntarily comes every day. This is an especially important point when you consider how qualified instructors consistently express how undervalued they feel. You'll see the same airlines and agencies advertising here year after year because the psychology is entirely turned on its head and it works. It works and it happens this way:

The mountain has come to Mohammed rather than the supplicant scanning the jobsites and it effectively prompts those not presently looking for a change to apply. Opening up a whole new and huge window to applicants who never normally see your cheaper ads works. If you lose just 3 hours of training turnover that's the ad that could have prevented the situation happening in the first place.

We don't actually care whether you advertise or not. PPRuNe appears with or without ads and the years without were far simpler. No one gets any commission and the money goes back into expanding the site.

At different times some of you will remember this post. You know folks are here more times in an hour than the job sites see in a week. There is an important and proven advantage in approaching potential employees where they chose to be everyday rather than expecting them to come looking for you. Is it a shift in the way you're used to thinking? Yep, but every page you read is topped with ads from those who've realised folks feel flattered when it's you that makes all the effort to reach them. People feel entirely differently if they are effectively being headhunted.

Regards
Rob Lloyd

An innocent question
 

As a member of a flying club that is short of instructors.... anyone know of a couple who would be interested in some part-time work at a pleasant airfield in the West Midlands?

Could you please email me details of the school and job?? I may be available part time in a couple of months.

Regards

It is certainly evident that there is a shortage.

I hope it lasts... but my SpidySense is tingling. House prices are starting to drop, interest rates bite, bond markets panic and postponing the PPL or doing less hours this year is one of the first things people do to cut back.

Or, it could be that with the baby boomers all retiring and cashing those fat 25% tax free lump sums there will be a queue of people at the school doors wanting courses and their own aircraft.

Both equally possible.

WWW

please see similar threads

Newly qualified FI job opportunities.
 

Ok, with this shortage of flight instructors, how easy would it be to get a FI job when you have just qualified from flight school with no instructing experience? I.e CPL/SE/ME with FI rating and 250 hours TT, but no Instrument rating :confused:

I am contemplating instructing before I head for the airlines/corporate world as I genuinely like to teach. So I may forego the Instrument rating in favour of the FI rating. Then add the IR when I can afford it later on. But I would hope instructor positions wouldn't be pitched too highly in terms of experience requirements. After all, I would be just starting out.

Well I know of 2 schools who offered 2 individuals a job before they had even qualified, and both are low hr'd guys

D.

Ok, does anyone know any flight schools who have a sponsor program for obtaining the instructor rating with them and then landing a job?