Originally Posted by
rickair7777
I advised a cousin (older career changer) to consider an independent CFI instead of a puppy mill. The CFI then flaked out on him and he lost his enthusiasm for aviation.
With an independent, you need to evaluate their stability and reliability... how long have they been teaching at this location, how many students do they train each year, how old are they, and do they have other career aspirations beyond CFI?
Too many students could mean you'll have trouble scheduling when you need to. If you're training full time and can fly whenever that will maximize your scheduling opportunities. Too few students might mean they have other jobs or businesses which might be a priority to them.
Young, airline-oriented CFI's will not stick around for long at all. If you work with one, need to know how close they are to ATP/R-ATP mins, because they'll be gone the next day when they hit that threshold. They might have R-ATP eligibility at 1000 or 1250 hours based on where they went to college.
That also applies to a small school where Mom & Pop are instructors... they might lose their young CFI's to the airlines, but does it appear that the owners will stick around?
I don’t think at either place I would have to worry about the CFI leaving. The independent instructor has over 2k hrs and does pipeline patrol 3 days a week in the town I live in. She has made it clear she be willing to fly whenever I’m available. Also, the 141 school has mostly retired military guys giving instruction, but then again the instruction would be in a Grumman Cheetah and I’d definitely not be doing an instrument rating in that. But then again, the 150 the independent CFI has I wouldn’t be using for instrument rating either. So much to consider, but you guys have gave me a lot to ponder.