To instruct or to charter...that is the question
Not trying to be smart, but normally when people ask the question, it ends up in being a bitching match about how Company A rips off their pilots, and Company B does the same but in a different way. To save that, it's easier to use the search engine.
morno
morno
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Toronto, Australia
Age: 38
Posts: 33
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Charter is sounding sweeter by the minute. Didn't really want to fly those 152's round anyway.All the instructors around my flying school look bored out of their brains 
Thanks for your input guys
toronto_flyer
Thanks for your input guys
toronto_flyer
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Australia
Posts: 15
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
pros and cons for both. i did about 3 years of both and they both helped me a great deal. if anything instructing taught me to study all over again just when i thought it was all over!! You learn to really know your suff when your made to look like a tool in front of a class of thirty students!!
On the other hand charter was fanatstic for the things yoy learn while flying on your own all over the country with people and aircraft that relly should'nt be doing it!!
Personally i rekon if the airlines is what you want, a solid backround in both cant hurt.
Good luck with your choice......
On the other hand charter was fanatstic for the things yoy learn while flying on your own all over the country with people and aircraft that relly should'nt be doing it!!
Personally i rekon if the airlines is what you want, a solid backround in both cant hurt.
Good luck with your choice......
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Toronto, Australia
Age: 38
Posts: 33
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Think i'll be going instructor, too tied down with family and other stuff to go north 
unless they start taking pilots with 200tt on the east coast...
toronto_flyer
unless they start taking pilots with 200tt on the east coast...toronto_flyer
Sprucegoose
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Hughes Point, where life is great! Was also resident on page 13, but now I'm lost in Cyberspace....
Age: 59
Posts: 3,485
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like
on
1 Post
I have three words to say Toronto, network, network, network! It is not unheard of for people with 200 hours to get positions on the east coast, you just gotta keep looking...
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Enroute from Dagobah to Tatooine...!
Posts: 791
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like
on
1 Post
Toronto_flyer,
This is always a sesitive issue that results in strong statements from people from one camp or the other.
I would like to propose that experience in both fields will actually broaden your skills with people and flying. For some flying jobs which are out there it is the most desirable background! Especially top-tier GA jobs which require a good charter pilot who can also do C&T/endorsement training etc. Not a REQUIREMENT to have a background in both fields but it certainly helps! Of course that is not the fastest route to an airline job though is it...?!
What is really important is to give 100% to either role and remember it is a fact of the human condition that you are only good at doing what you are doing at the time! Read that last sentence twice
This is always a sesitive issue that results in strong statements from people from one camp or the other.
I would like to propose that experience in both fields will actually broaden your skills with people and flying. For some flying jobs which are out there it is the most desirable background! Especially top-tier GA jobs which require a good charter pilot who can also do C&T/endorsement training etc. Not a REQUIREMENT to have a background in both fields but it certainly helps! Of course that is not the fastest route to an airline job though is it...?!
What is really important is to give 100% to either role and remember it is a fact of the human condition that you are only good at doing what you are doing at the time! Read that last sentence twice
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Toronto, Australia
Age: 38
Posts: 33
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Great! Yeah im definitely a firm believer in giving it your all, very easy to pick out the hour-building-dont-wanna-be-there instructors from the ones that truly enjoy what they do and do anything for you!
So networking, everyone says it is the way to make your aviation career. But the question all us low hour newbies need to know is how to get your foot in the door to start with? For example, if i wanted to work in melbourne as an instructor, would i go to all the flying schools and introduce myself, have a chat with staff, etc?
toronto_flyer
P.S. I've also noticed on PPRuNe and at the flying school that low hour instructors get a pretty bad wrap. Not really enticing for someone young who actually wants to be an instructor at heart.
So networking, everyone says it is the way to make your aviation career. But the question all us low hour newbies need to know is how to get your foot in the door to start with? For example, if i wanted to work in melbourne as an instructor, would i go to all the flying schools and introduce myself, have a chat with staff, etc?
toronto_flyer
P.S. I've also noticed on PPRuNe and at the flying school that low hour instructors get a pretty bad wrap. Not really enticing for someone young who actually wants to be an instructor at heart.
Last edited by toronto_flyer; 30th May 2007 at 00:32. Reason: Added other stuff
Didn't mention scenics because they kinda fall under the charter banner,
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Germany
Age: 52
Posts: 36
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
A question for you.......
Do you to instruct for life OR
do you want to fly for life????
If you can get command hours in actual conditions then go for it.....
In fairness it doesn't matter where you get hours (in the beginning) but for your own benefit and the skills that you will come away with afterwards then I would go charter (better in long run). Better command judgements are made (hopefully) in charter work.
Good luck
Do you to instruct for life OR
do you want to fly for life????
If you can get command hours in actual conditions then go for it.....
In fairness it doesn't matter where you get hours (in the beginning) but for your own benefit and the skills that you will come away with afterwards then I would go charter (better in long run). Better command judgements are made (hopefully) in charter work.
Good luck
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Tasman Sea
Age: 66
Posts: 60
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Its easier to be a good instructor if you have some real world experience, but mainly you need to want to do it, and want to do it well. Seeing the look on your student's face as they climb out of the aircraft after their first solo is a wonderful feeling, and knowing you got them there is very satisfying.
It rates with the look on your passengers face after an aerobatic scenic in the Tiger Moth over Byron Bay, when they realize that not only are they back on the ground in one piece, but they've still got their lunch!
It rates with the look on your passengers face after an aerobatic scenic in the Tiger Moth over Byron Bay, when they realize that not only are they back on the ground in one piece, but they've still got their lunch!
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Australia
Posts: 465
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Better command judgements are made (hopefully) in charter work.
Charter lads will always say charter. Instructors will swear by instructing. Both have lead to employment in the airlines. I've done both and don't consider either better.
But don't, whatever you do, consider instructing because you think it is an easy way to get hours. Only instruct if you have a genuine interest to teach.
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: South of the border
Age: 53
Posts: 82
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Here's an idea - instruct if you have the experience, ability, and empathy to teach a student. If you want to bore [double entendre intended] holes in the sky to get some other job, don't inflict your ineptitude on some poor aspiring pilot.
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Toronto, Australia
Age: 38
Posts: 33
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Well it seems like most people are saying charter charter charter, and it does sound mighty good. As I said before, im currently tied up with family, but would be happy to move anywhere up and down the eastern states. With this in mind, would a 21 yr old guy with CPL/MEIR and 200tt have decent prospects of getting a job rather quickly? If I'm much more likely to get employment as an instructor along the eastern seaboard, then that's great too, I would be very happy to do either. Would prefer charter, but dont want to spend the $$$ on the IR and then end up with no job.
toronto_flyer.
toronto_flyer.
