Originally Posted by
tlove482
Being a CFI, you usually won't have the extra money to grab those 100 dollar hamburgers and you don't get paid for that time on the ground.
I have done both pipeline patrol and flight instructing to build time. Both offered valuable experience, each in it's own way. I've also flown divers. I'd have to say that's the least valuable experience of the 3 types of flying I've done.
Flight instructing isn't for everyone, but the industry almost forces you to do it in order to get the flight times you need to move on.
I disagree. Grabbing a quick bit to eat at the local airport restaurant is not expensive, and is not a "$100 hamburger" since you're not paying for the airplane. It's more like a $6 hamburger, which even I could easily afford when I was teaching. Besides, 90% of the time my students insisted on paying anyway.
More importantly, by breaking up the cross countries your students learn more effectively since you are able to review what happened on that leg and apply the lessons learned to the next segment. Just rushing through everything creates a lot of frustration for both the student and instructor, and takes a lot of the fun away. Plus, taxiing in and out of FBOs, checking weather along the way, etc. is a HUGE part of the learning process. I recall instances where I had to cover for other CFIs that skipped over this with their students, and the students were absolutely clueless about ground ops. Many times these were students getting close to the checkride, so that is just an unacceptable lack of knowledge.