Originally Posted by
RipTide7
Well, just to get a commercial license at FBOs somewhat near me is looking at just over 40k. Not including cfi. Jacksonville gives free housing to its flight instructors and will be hiring instructors in the next year. The financing is manageable, includes room for living expenses and i will be going into this with some savings. Also age 65 does need to work itself out but ""should"" present some opportunity when i actually have enough hours to be looking seriously at regional jobs.
Just a heads up...I'm 99% sure the free housing in Jacksonville is only during the instructor training. So expect to fork over $300 / month and share a bedroom. Typically the first 1-3 months in Jacksonville are spent answering phones at the call center and then you are sent to any one of the locations when an instructor openning occurs. So be prepared to move anywhere in the country. I think the waiting list for instructors has gotten shorter, but it took about 8 months after I finished the program before I got the call from them for a job.
Jobs are hard to come by in the beginning, but they are definitely out there. Just so you have an idea of what to expect, I would say that I make about $1400 a month flight instructing right now. It's tough, but if you have your finances in order, you can get by.