Originally Posted by
Learjet FO
Don't go broke for ME time! Get the MEI with your bennies! With the CFI shortage, you'll be drowning in ME time. A retired veteran MEI with some college will get as much or more cred as an aviation "science" degree at any place worth flying for. No offense to aviation science degree holders! I have one too! An aviation science degree and a buck will get you a cup of coffee.
I agree with don't go completely broke getting ME time, but on the other hand it's really hard to get...
I've been a CFI for 3 years and about 1000 dual given, and I'd say at no point in 3 years of instructing have I been drowning in ME time... and I didn't have my first multi student for almost two years.
I know it depends on where you teach, but if someone has a way to get to 50 ME time while working on their ratings I'd highly suggest it. A lot of FBO flight schools don't have a twin, or if they do, private and instrument instruction is their bread and butter and the twin will likely not get rented out a whole lot. The university program that I teach at has a multi course with only 10 hours... and not every student even ends up getting their multi, so I estimate probably only 5% of the total hours flown in our fleet is in one of our twins. But having your 50 multi opens more doors, and if you can't find a good time-building job that gives you multi time, at the very least you meet the 50 hour min for the new ATP cert. A lot (I would say the vast majority) of aerial survey, traffic, jumpers, etc, are being flown in single engine planes.