Originally Posted by
mjssoar
Hey
Muredhawk, I've gathered that pay starts at 15-17 per hour based on experience, and CFI's fly about 80-100 hrs per month.
How many billable hours do you typically earn as a CFI, including flight time, ground, etc? Or, if you like, what does a typical paycheck look like?
I am trying to figure out the pay vs. cost of living equation. So any opinions on apartments and such would also be useful.
Looking forward to learning more about being a CFI here.
This is a fairly difficult question. Yes, CFI's typically fly 80-100 hours a month but the nature of being a CFI really causes instability that is primarily dependant on the weather. Size of paychecks really is something that I am not comfortable in giving a definate answer on especially if it's going to determine whether or not you are coming. On the "safe side" really I am comfortable saying 80-100 hrs and maybe 20-40hrs of ground. Brief time is very dependant on which side you are on. Chinese side will get you more flight hours, less ground and longer to multi. International will be less flight, more ground and quicker track to multi. However, the amount of multi time you will get on the chinese side will eclipse the international side within the same time frame. An example, two multi instructors that started multi at the same time, Chinese IP has 550+ and the international side guy has ~160hrs.
I wanna say that both sides even up on month to month basis but you'll build time a lot faster on the chinese side.
I know this really didn't answer your question but hopefully it will provide some insight at best.