Originally Posted by
yamahas3
Not directed at you, HermannGraf, but I'm going to get on a soap box here because I see this statement (or those similiar) very often....
... and its dead wrong.
It seems to me that the only people that say building time as a CFI is worthless are those who have never been CFIs or have never been 121 Captains.
The biggest thing about being a CFI is that it forces you to be ahead of the airplane. Every minute of every flight. You're in a situation where someone is sitting next to you trying to invent new creative ways to kill you with little notice. Secondary to that, the experience you gain as a CFI is invaluable as a 121 captain. Simply being used to having someone less experienced than you in the cockpit flying the aircraft. Knowing how far to let it go before its "too far."
CFI time is not wasted time. Even if you do 1000 hours of nothing but pattern work. Yes, you going beyond CFI work (ie: 135 freight) will even moreso develop and round out your skills, but the CFI step is not a step that is worthless by far.
You are right that it is not worthless and I can agree that you learn a lot from it but only to a certain point and not in flying skills and as you mention part 135 or military experience gives much more than work as CFI for 2-3 thousend hours.
I have met many former CFI pilots that done up to 1500 hours being instructors that said themselves that they had not touch the controls at all for hundreds and hundreds of hours and that they lacked the flying skills that the amount of hours should represent and that they lacked the confidence that the hands on experience gives you......