Krasnall

I know many of you were/are students or know students at Pelican FTC, Hillsboro Aviation and Phoenix East Aviation. There are many comments on the internet about these schools, but I'm especially interested in the current situation, chances of getting hired as a CFI after finishing training, number of students... I would be grateful for any information.

aloha1985

As far as I've heard from colleagues over at Pelican now, things are going terribly slowly, and few are being hired. Many students are opting to leave immediately after they complete their CPL-IR-ME. Even when hired, they're looking at well below 50 hours a month. I'm not at Pelican any more, so I can't say anything certain about the current situation - but I left early (before visa expired) because the last couple of months I was earning well below what I needed to survive..

Krasnall

Thanks! Guess it's a result of NEIA bankruptcy...

Two more left then. PEA's admissions officers state that they hire all of their students. On the other hand, Hillsboro Aviation seems to be a better school (with definitely better value for money), but even their admissions says they give employment to ~70% CFI students. Is it true?

polazarus

As far as I know the situation is the same at PEA.
But by the time you have finished your training the situation will have changed anyway, for worse or for better, no way to tell.

Guttn

Lesson 1 - in aviation there are no guarantees, except that money will flow at an amazing pace from your bank account

A good pointer would be to look at how many, or rather how few, people are going for a pilot education at the moment. Very expensive and daring education, with pretty slim chances of landing a job that can pay any bills. That`s the hard truth. It`s really a locked situation; the airlines aren`t hiring, neither are most regionals, then the small operators, all of which the aspiring, jobbhunting CFIs are looking for... which in turn leaves them instructing for a while longer, and new instructors looking for an instructing job... well

Wesker

Of course they hire everyone one after graduation, that looks good in their papers. But that you can't pay your bills becuase you're not flying enough, that's not one of their problems

RAHelland

I have also heard what Wesker is saying, from instructors that has been there.

Photon85

I instructed at PEA for a little over a year.

It's true that they hire all their students as CFIs. Some get fired if they mess up (know of about 3 Norwegians who got fired over the last 3 years).

There's a lot of senior instructors over there though, as there aren't a lot of hiring going on, and I averaged out at about 40 hours a month, which was about average for PEA at this time

Guttn

An average of 40hrs a month? That would make 480hrs a year. Not much at all, especially when you are on a visa program. In the good old days we used to fly triple that amount as CFI. But, as I understand, we were not limited to the flightschool which provided the visa as is now. We could seek CFI employment anywhere in the US, but were still limited to the time remaining on the visa (J-1). So, after 2 years in FAA land, we would come home with anywhere between 1000 and 1600 hrs total time. Some were lucky and got a lot of MEL time as well. Some even got turbine time, as their flightschool also had a part 135 operation, and they would let CFIs fly F/O from time to time.
People get fired "all the time" if they mess up. Depends on how badly, but it isn`t easy to get hired at another flightschool nowadays, as the number of pilots who are training is at an alltime low, and there are fewer flightschools around. Hopefully, some years down the airways... There will be, perhaps not a pilot shortage, but a pilot recruitment scenario where you again can be treated as a potential longterm employee, and not as a way for an airline to get out of paying for your training.
Fingers crossed for that one.