Keep instructing and build your flight time. There is about to be yet another shake up in the industry with high oil/fuel prices and with mergers in the works. You will be better off in the short term sticking it out as a CFI and then maybe trying to get on with a good regional after this downturn. Get on at the front end of the hiring wave. We are still hiring here at Comair, but we are one of the few airlines still hiring and the music could stop anytime -- and you don't want to be left without a chair when it does.

For the sake of your mental and financial health, keep instructing. You may hate it, but you will hate it less than being at the bottom of the seniority list at a regional wondering if you are going to have a job tomorrow.

I believe this downturn will be short lived and hopefully will be back on track next summer. Good luck in whatever you do. Ultimately, you have to do what you think is best for you. Everyone here is going to give you their opinion on what they think you should do, but the buck stops with you! No one really knows what is going to happen (myself included) in this industry. It is all speculation. Don't make any decisions based on rumor and speculation. And if someone says "I heard from so and so....." run the other way as fast as you can.