Originally Posted by
IronWalt
TP,
For those of us with an instructional background, how tough is it to wind up as a sim instructor down the road? And how is the pay in comparison to normal line pay? Can FOs be hired into the training dept?
Thanks for your past insights,
Walt
Hi Walt:
The answer is, yes F.O.s are now being hired into the training department as sim instructors. I'm not actually sure what the pay deal is, I'll have to check on that. The training department needs instructors right now so there is lots of opportunity and I would say that will continue for quite some time into the future.
A lot of guys come into training and then leave after a few years. Line pilot schedules are better in some respects, but worse in others. The line pilots can easily get more days off in a row and prior to vacation than an instructor. Instructors don't do night turns in general and have many more nights at home than a line pilot. From that point it's better when a guy has a young family and wants to be in town more. Until this month line pilots could make just as much, or more than an instructor on the 777 by doing a bit of overtime. Starting this month and probably lasting for quite some time the instructors are working very hard and will be doing a lot of overtime.
TP