Originally Posted by rickair7777
Also, the question of aircraft maintenance comes into play...many CFIs join all of the local clubs to maximize their student base...a typical club may have airplanes owned by many different people, each of whom is responsible for their plane's upkeep. Well, not all of these owners do everything they are supposed to, and you may not have time to stay up-to-date on the logbooks of every airplane on the field (you are responsible for this...taking anyone's word for it is not good enough). The big risk here is flying a non-airworthy airplane and getting violated. This is largely avoidable if you own your own airplane or limit yourself to a few airplanes you know well.
Good Luck!
Yes, this is the big issue for me. I thought about doing some CFI work again on the side to suppliment an air national guard income and I find myself hesitant to get myself into this can of worms. 6 years ago when I was single, looking for flight time and an airline job, I was willing to "take the risk". These days, I can't justify that risk. As much as I'd enjoy teaching again, I'd have to find that golden job working for a place that didn't fool around with maintenance and operated two or three fairly new aircraft to do it again.
You would be amazed at some of the things these small flight schools will do to make a buck. Operating aircraft that are clearly unairworthy without batting an eye. I left an FBO after 2 weeks because of this. When I confronted the owner about an issue with an aircraft, he basically blew me off. This aircraft had a GPS installed in it that was not entered in the weight and balance form in the logbook. It looked like it had been rigged up half-a$$ed besides. A major no-no. That was the straw that broke the camel's back. It was not worth the $13/hr I was making.
As far as joining the military simply to be an instructor goes, I wouldn't necessarily recommend that for many different reasons. You will not be a "life long" instructor in the military. There is a certain point in an active duty military career as a pilot, where you just won't fly a lot anymore because of leadership positions. You're an officer first. You may be able to spend 5-6 years as an IP in a weapon system flying a lot, but flying is going to taper off after that. You may be able to get a white jet UPT instructor assignment in there also (or a FAIP assignment - First Assignment IP), but we're only talking 3 years here. Hardly "life long".