So it seems that there are opportunities out there to make a decent living at flight instructing full time, but the drawbacks are long hours and possible, if not certain, burnout. I have done most of my training at a 141 school that has a pilot training side and a corporate side. A few of my instructors from the past have been pulled from the training side to go to the companies corporate side. Obviously the coolness factor for most of these guys to be in their early 20's and flying right seat on a Hawker 800 has to be up there. Most that I have spoken to have said that their pay has decreased for about the first 6 to 12 months transitioning to the corporate side.
I guess my main concern is that I am now 36 years old and am just jumping into my passion of flying at this seemingly late stage. The thought of burnout seems inevitable as a flight instructor, but the personal rewards seem to be greater than flying some of the other avenues of the industry.
It seems as flexibility is the key when getting into the aviation industry.
One other question that I have is when transitioning to a new company, for example...if I were flight instructing (and I know this is truly optimistic, but for the sake of conversation) and making $55k, do you have any bargaining with companies as the airlines, or cargo to start out at that pay? Or do you basically fall back into freshman status and at the low end of the wage tree when hiring onto the regionals, cargo companies, etc.?
Thank you in advance for your advice.