Originally Posted by
PotatoChip
A good buddy of mine started in aviation, bailed out due to 2008 furloughs etc and became a math teacher, and came back in 2017. He's now a simulator instructor for a large regional airline on pace to make over $300k this year. Home every night.
$300k/year in the sim is entirely possible at a regional, assuming you're hired as a line pilot. This is due to line pilot hourly pay for double (or even triple) sessions with sim override.
But that's a lot of work, and the volume is only available when there's a lot of movement. No movement, it's just recurrent and junior instructors go back to the line.
I have not heard of that kind of money for people hired solely as sim instructors. Also you don't actually need much of a teaching background to get an instructor job, just CFI certs. At an airline you don't even need CFI certs.