Originally Posted by
TexasTailwheel
The last instructor I flew with charged $60/hr, and he was worth it. I needed to fly with someone who was smarter, and better at stuff and could hold me to tighter and sharper standards. Nothing against the 500-hour CFI's, but I've flown with some of them and I needed a seasoned professional who could tell me firmly how I could improve.
I'm glad you you saw the value in hiring a professional.
I'm an independent in the Los Angeles area ($$$$$) and I'm charging $60/hr handshake to handshake. I've given several thousand hours of flight instruction and countless hours teaching ground / sim. At the risk of sounding arrogant I think I'm well worth it. I'm also flying a bizjet now and hold two type ratings. I think I bring something additional to the table by sharing my real world experience along with success and failures.
The issue is all the other flight schools in the area are charging about what I charge except you generally get a green low time CFI. The unfortunate part is they pay the CFI <$20/hr and they can't wait to leave so they can go fly their shiny CRJ. They never really have a chance to build up their experience as a professional instructor. So if I'm not worth $60/hr then these other instructors are definitely not worth anything close to what I'm charging.
I have trained many students who started at other schools but finished with me when they for one reason or another felt they weren't progressing with their current school or instructor. The bad part is they ultimately end up spending more money due to additional training hours versus if they had just started with me from the beginning. The hardest thing for me personally as an instructor is to unteach bad habits someone learned from a poor instructor.
I don't think spending more for instruction guarantees a better result especially if it's the school charging the big bucks and still employing the same low experienced CFI. I always suggest to prospective students check out different schools and instructors to decide where they feel most comfortable.
But remember just a few hours of wasted instruction (plane rental plus CFI) adds up to a whole lot more than paying an extra $20 an hour for quality instruction. The CFI cost is a drop in the bucket when you factor in all the costs especially going from zero to hero. The same thing irks me when owners buy multi million dollar jets only to turn around and skimp on paying the pilots. They then turn around and spend thousands a year on overpriced catering.
My neighbor teaches tennis. She's pretty good and charges $100/hr. She had a bruise once. I deal with people trying to kill me and expose myself to all kinds liability each day. Go figure.