Avgeek7248

Hello all, I am a current CFI/CFII with 650 hours of experience. I have been instructing for 5 months now and while I enjoyed the gaining of hours and the students I instructed I don't enjoy the job itself. I find myself in certain months just sitting in the right seat being a safety pilot at the company I am at and while it is easy pay and hours I am not becoming a better more experienced pilot and I am not enjoying not being able to do much flying. Here's my situation. I can either A). Grind out the 1,400 hours I need to go to Republic as a flight instructor which will take about 10 months with weather in the GA state at the moment. B). Fly for a fractional, part 135, or freight operator as an FO till I reach CA and earn my hours that way. I am leaning towards plan B because I just get so bored as a CFI only teaching part time then having to do time building flights with students as a glorified safety pilot. I want to get to the airlines quickly but have realized on the way I don't want to arrive ill prepared as a CFII who has minimum actual time and no experience in the flight levels, deviating from weather, or truly operating in a crew environment. So, I am asking you wise aviators for assistance. Any and all advice is welcome and feel free to PM me as well. As always, Blue skies and Tail winds!

Kstoves

Dude you think instructing is boring? You’re also complaining you don’t fly enough?

Once you get to an airline you’ll likely takeoff, set the autopilot and then land. If it isn’t your leg to fly you may just literally sit there.

Regardless, given you’re timeline if you can get that kind of time in 10 months just stick with instructing. It would be a pain to start a new job, learn a new plane/company just to leave them almost instantly

TiredSoul

Sorry to say it’s time to understand that flight instructing is a job you need to take seriously and it’s not a time building gig.
If you’re just sitting there staring out the window you’re doing your students a disservice.
I learned more about flying in my first year as CFI then I did during my Private and Commercial combined.

QuestairVenture

You will loose so much time changing gigs that you will regret it. Plus small freight companies that you would qualify for only get 3-400 hours a year and their pay is a good bit less than the regionals.

Challenge your self to find new ways to make instructing exciting again. Dig deeper into the details, try different scenarios and approaches. Not only will this sharpen your skills but the students as well.

Avgeek7248

The problem is I do teach students and I do it quite well. The problem is I don’t enjoy it anymore plus the company I am at restricts us CFIs to safety pilots since we are 141 and operate with Chinese students. We fly night cross countries where we are explicitly told not to teach and only to act if necessary to keep the flight safe. Depending on the student depends how much I am allowed to intervene. I understand what life at the airlines will be like. I just wasn’t sure if it was worth staying here and being a glorified safety pilot half the time or to go somewhere like cape air or plane sense and get better experience and enjoy it more. Thank you for all the replies.

PRS Guitars

I agree with the others about being a CFI.

Additionally, I’ll just add, be patient. You’ve only been at it for 6 months. You’re looking at about another year. That is nothing in the grand scheme of things. Seriously, you need to take the long view in life and especially this career. I like to say “ you can stand on your head in a bucket of feces for a year” just get it done. Embrace it, and own it, then you will enjoy it and do well.

Additionally, sounds like you’re building hours quickly. Might not be so great somewhere else.

TiredSoul

Any chance of getting your MEI?
Concentrate on Instrument students?

Avgeek7248

I think I will just embrace it and grind it out. I have been getting my hours twice the speed as most of my fellow CFI counter parts. I am working on my MEI so that will also mix up the quality and type of flying.

Stoked27

Avgeek, I’m just curious, it sounds like you’re doing ‘supervised solos’ for foreign students. You mentioned that you’re getting more flight hours than your CFI counterparts.

From the time I’ve spent in airspace around common foreign student training areas I’ve noticed a trend of (more often) communication difficulties on the radios which lend itself to those students choosing unfavorable runway choices at uncontrolled fields, lack of situational awareness of where other aircraft are in the traffic pattern, etc.

Do you feel that the high volume training you’re involved with everyday are equally as safe as your CFI counterparts that aren’t getting as many flight hours? I’ve had a couple hair-raising experiences in those types of environments (due to the language barrier), so if I’ve made any incorrect assumptions or interpretations from what you’ve communicated I apologize.

Avgeek7248

The language barrier can make things difficult sometimes and some students lack the awareness and English skills necessary to communicate with ATC. That being said a lot of times it’s the instructors fault for not allowing them to do radio calls in the first place so they end up in their instrument stage scared to death to talk to ATC. I would say it’s a little more nerve racking sending them on solos but they only fly be themselves in private curriculum so most of the time theirs a CFI in the right seat watching out for traffic and constantly helping them with whatever they need work on.