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Old 02-11-2019, 08:37 AM
  #34  
JayMahon
Gets Weekends Off
 
Joined APC: Feb 2019
Posts: 144
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Originally Posted by Never2Late View Post
Jay-

I got my CFI and CFII done last month. Let me say I LOVE instructing, getting paid to do what I have spent a lot of money doing for the love is amazing. Here is the downside of being a CFI. Yesterday (Sunday) I was at the airport for my first lesson at 6:45am, I left the airport at 9:30pm (add 30 min each way driving to/from airport), I billed for about 6 hours of flight time (and another 2 or so for ground). So when you calculate your income, realize you are not being paid (in most cases) for the 60-90 min in between lessons, so to get to 36k per year you are away from the house for many more hours. Dont get me wrong, I drove home from the airport with a smile on my face. I have always been a work-a-holic and my wife is used to me not working regular hours and my kids are grown. I dont need the money, but if I did along with the long hours to "bill" enough and being away from home, that stress can be a huge downside to family life. EVEN if the wife says she is supportive, they always say that up front, very few actually turn out to be that way (the reason why a larger percentage of commercial pilots are divorced).

My opinion is do the training on the side of a regular job, if you (and she) can handle you working full time and training when you are not working, you are set. Those are basically the hours of a CFI anyway and at least you can use the income form the job to pay for the lessons and not go into the hole financially
I enjoy teaching and training in other capacities, so I have a feeling the CFI route will be a fun one for me. I live near a college that has a growing aviation program but not a lot of aviation in the area, so there is a constant need for CFIs to cover their student base. Some of the CFIs are 9-5 with benefits (new CFIs, not Chief Instructors). I don't need a 9-5, I can be flexible and will try to pack as much flying in as I can.

As for family, I am a family man. The wife's a real winner, we've been married 15 years and she's been by my side through all sorts of life changes. We homeschool our kids, so taking a Tuesday/Wednesday off is just as good as having the weekend (even better, Theme Parks don't get packed out mid week like they do on the weekend).

We're in a transition place anyway, so relocation is wide open. I hope to delay a big step like this until I get on with a regional and we'll stay flexible to take advantage of good opportunities. A lot of the 'horror stories' I read have to do with being locked into one location and being 'stuck'. I'm coming into the game late but with no debt.

We'll see how it goes.
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