I have a question for everyone here on which is better: quality of time or quantity of time? Just as a little background, I have my commercial and multi certs with 285 hours total time and 65 multi. My long term goal is to fly for the airlines, although I would like to teach I’d be willing to take any job that would put me closer to my career goals.

I was originally planning on going to ATP’s CFI/II/ MEI program next February, and then hopefully find a teaching job where I could build time quickly. I have always heard that becoming a CFI, working a teaching gig for a year or two (or more) and then going to the regional’s was the tried and true ‘best’ route for ending up at that job at the major airlines. Also, as I stated before I wouldn’t mind teaching, and in fact if I got hired today at another pilot job I would still want to get my CFI to teach on the side.
Since I made these plans (although nothing is set in stone yet) I have been presented the possibility of doing some charter flying at the FBO I currently work line service at. The FBO has a King Air, a C-310, a twin commander, a SR-22 and a Bonanza that they do 135 charters in and/or operate part 91 for aircraft’s owners. One of their pilots told me that their business has finally been picking up recently and they might be willing to bring me on part-time, if and only if, I got my CFI at the FBO. The part-time flying would entail mostly right-seat in the commander, king air, and 310 - and might eventually lead to some PIC in the Bonaza, 310 and Cirrus when I meet insurance requirements. I know that the commander and 310 do not have a working 3-axis autopilot so they need a SIC legally. I don’t know the details on if/how I would log time in the king air. One of my co-workers was extended this offer to fly part-time in addition to his line service duties last summer. He told me he averages about 15-20 hours per month, about half as SIC in the commander and 310 and the other half as PIC in the Bonanza. So I am not looking at the prospect of a lot of flight time, but some multi and multi turbine thrown in. One of our customers owns a 152 and lets me borrow the plane for the cost of fuel. I've been flying that about 5 hours a month and I would probably continue do so if I stay here.

The part that bothers me the most is that they want me to get my CFI here. They don’t even have a complex plane that I can take the checkride in (because of insurance I minimums). They suggested I take the ride in the 152 and then rent a 172rg from an FBO 100 miles away to do the required landings and whatnot that has to be done in a complex plane. They are really pressuring me to make a decision quickly of whether or not I want to do this and work to get my CFI before Christmas, or be close to getting it by then. The sudden pressure is what bothers me the most, and there isn’t even a solid guarantee that I will get any flight time even if I do this. Hell - I don’t even know how I will scrape together the money so soon unless I charge it all on credit cards. I work two jobs, the winter weather is setting in and with the holidays I don’t really know where I will get the time for this even if I find the money.

When I told a CFI friend about this he told me that he thought this was a bad idea. He said the SIC flight time is questionable for future employers (which I have read here in these forums and heard elsewhere). Also, his biggest concern was that if things did not pan out with getting flight time, it would be a lot harder for me to find a CFI job after getting my CFI in such an ad hoc way. He acted like the combination of doing this independent of attending an actual flight school and doing the checkride in the 152 and only using the complex for the bare minimum would look bad to a prospective employer. Also, he brought up the point that rushing to get this done so quickly, and with instructors who don’t teach much anymore (and god knows when their last CFI student was) would increase the likelihood that I could fail the ride – and I know its already a tough checkride even with the best preparation.

So my question is: if I take this opportunity will this more ‘quality’ flight time get me closer of my goal of flying for the airlines? Or is logging SIC time in a single pilot plane (albeit mutli-turbine) really ‘quality’ time at all? Would I be better off going for my original plan of going to a pilot mill getting my CFI certs and applying for teaching jobs that will hopefully get me much more time each month? Although I haven’t asked for the details on pay, but I know my co-worker is on the clock at his minimum wage line service pay rate and gets something like a $50 per flight bonus on top of the wages he clocks, so this isn’t financially much (if at all) better than instructing, and the FBO is too broke to have us work full-time. With the new 1500 hour rule I know that if I go the FBO route it will take forever to build that kind of time, and unless I’m hireable at an airline before the law goes into effect it will take literally years for me to build enough time at that rate. I’m sure someone on this forum will tell me that once I have my CFI I can find students and teach them if I need additional hours, but I’m trying to be realistic and if I stay in my current town it is unlikely to yield much, if any, time. This town is fairly small and there is already a small flight school on the field – two instructors and two planes - and I know they are struggling to find enough students to keep their business afloat.

Thx for reading and I would really appreciate any constructive comments/opinions/advice.