Originally Posted by
VegasChris
So a little update.
CFI checkride is scheduled for next week. Will probably do CFII right after. So I do plan on teaching, not sure if I want to go to a local school with a few students, or teach in my own plane or a rental as an independent cfi.
I still think splitting time in my plane doing long cross countries is going to be the way to gain the most hours quickly per day.
I talked to recruiting at NGPA. They said get started with the pilot pathway program now and start asking about taking the next step when I am about 4 months away from being qualified.
I've done both flight school and independent. There are plusses and minuses on the independent side.
It's great being your own employer. It's great being able to charge time for your plane *and* deduct it as a business expense. It's great charging a reasonable rate and receiving that full rate, rather than receiving one-third of what the flight school charges for your services.
Unless you already have a source for students, though, finding students can be hard. Advertising doesn't have to be expensive, but you'll need to put some time into it if you take the cheap route.
You're also going to have to convince someone that you, as a brand new CFI with no flight school oversight, are going to teach them well. That will be the hardest part of all.