Originally Posted by
Flying Ninja
The FT guys can always try to grab my students away from me. The funny thing is, I get my students as a result of major dissatisfaction from the FT guys and flight schools. So the way I see it, I'm doing damage control for the profession and industry. Rather than someone walking away saying this flying gig sucks because these flight instructors aren't providing the expected service, they're now walking out with a certificate with satisfying flight training for free. Sounds like a win to me. Believe me, I'm not going into these flight schools or advertising free service. It's all word of mouth and referrals. I'm not stealing anyone's bread and butter. They lost it to begin with. I'm just cleaning up the mess at the other end.
Justifying why someone is offering free flight instruction, doesn't change the fact that free flight instruction is being offered. CFI tickets aren't free and mine weren't easy. I have offered free flight instruction in the past too, but it was limited to family and girlfriend(s). As a full time CFI, it ****ed me off when an old instructor (meaning 70ish years old) at our flight school said to a student, "Oh we flew for 1.5 hours and did 2 hours of ground, so just put in an hour and half of instruction on the ticket for me"
Flight instructors are professionals and all of us should charge students for our services to maintain our professionalism (family, girlfriend/boyfriend, etc. excluded).