I left the regionals a year ago to work at FlightSafety, after spending 9+ years in the right seat. I enjoy working at FSI. The corporate culture is much different than what you'd experience in the airlines. I get paid a LOT more, the benefits are much better (401k, health etc). We have several bonus programs now and for 3 months straight I earned an additional $1200/month. I'm home every night. Our center has excellent management who cares very much about the morale of all who are under this roof. I've had clients scheduled for training when something came up at home, no worries, not even a personal day needed. We have monthly "fun" things we do courtesy of our fun committee, like a company golfing day etc. The pay is very competitive, although yearly raises aren't a whole lot. Lots of opportunity to move up within the company and within your center.
Each FSI center, while adhering to the corporate policies and of course regulatory requirements, operates independently. The center managers have a tremendous influence on the type of corporate environment within that building. We have a great center manager, who focuses on employee satisfaction. I've heard other centers aren't so lucky. The Center manager also controls staffing, so in some cases a center may staff less to boost the profit margin and make themselves look good on paper to corporate. But this process is slowly changing at the corporate level, as FSI corporate level management is taking serious notice to instructor morale.
My only complaint about FSI, is that yes, when times are busy we are stretched thin in our department, and must work 6 days on. The end benefit is that if working hours are high at months end, I get a bonus of $1200. I work in a relatively small program, so we tend to ebb and flow between busy as slow. Other programs can be very busy and if management does not staff properly, you will get frustrated.
Overall, I feel as though FSI is a great company to work for. My starting salary was 2.3x what I made in the airlines and I get to see my now 7 month old son every morning, have dinner with him every night and get to sleep in my own home with my family every night.
My suggestion is to ask around at the center you want to work at. Try and guage how morale is, because it really varies from center to center. I work at a center where 100% of our business are corporate clients. I can see the centers that do mostly airline training would be much more conducive to the airline type of life with scheduling, morale etc.