StandardBrief

I think you should let the friend of a friend take advantage of you by letting you pay for your own training to fly his plane. You save him $15,000. Sounds like a good deal...for the guy who owns the plane.

Excargodog

So you want him to pay $15K to get the ratings AND $15K to pay for his own SIC type rating?

Cefiro

I’d just get my instructor ratings and fly a lot. You’re at your friends mercy in terms of flight time and if it’s like any other corporate job I can’t imagine they fly more than 3-400 hrs/year.

At this point the regionals don’t care where you got your time. As long as you have the time and can pass training, you’re in!

rickair7777

Regionals don't care either way, that's a wash.

Pros and Cons...

As mentioned above it will most likely take much longer to get your time in a bizjet. Bizjet SIC will not get you to very many majors, and bizjet PIC will take longer, possible much longer.

CFI experience will make you a better pilot, better crew member, and better CA when the time comes.

Jet experience will typically make airline new hire training easier (compared to an ASEL CFI with 1500 hours).

JasonR

I still can’t figure out how 3 hours of quality dual (9 if you do it wrong) and a bunch of free FAA documents costs anyone $15k? Every time I hear this argument against getting CFI ratings I get confused.

For those without sarcasm filters and/or common sense, I’ll make my point more clearly. Download the free documents from FAA.gov, study the books, teach your dog/pillow/friend all there is to know about flying and teaching. Then fly with a good instructor, spend a couple hours on the ground demonstrating the ability to communicate the basics of flight, get signed off for the test(s).

3000

I was referring to all 3 CFI, CFII, MEI. Taking every check ride into account alone will cost around 4 grand in SoCal. 1300 a check ride. And of course there's the training for each of the 3 ratings.

NatGeo

I just wanted to point out that the CFI route does not cost $15k.

1. A 7 day accelerated CFI rating is $5k

2. For CFII, teach primary students for 50 hours and use the simulator at your school to practice your instrument skills. The CFII will cost you nothing.

3. MEII Don't get this right away. Wait and see if the school you end up working at has Multi planes and if they are busy enough for it to make sense for you to get an MEII. I think an MEII would cost 3-4k.


btw: It sounds like you want that Hawker job a little too much. Are you 100% sure that the job will work out if you get the type rating? It would be a huge waste of money for you to pay for that type rating and than have the job not work out.

TiredSoul

Thank your friend profusely then go get your CFII/MEI.
Don’t think about a jet again till you have your 1200 hrs/ 135 mins.

VegasChris

1300 per checkride? that is insane and I would consider talking to the FSDO about any DPE charging 1300 for an add-on

I am used to west coast checkride prices and costs are significantly lower after the CFI initial. It should go more like this

CFI Initial- 1200+ aircraft rental for 1.5 300 is $1500
CFII add-on 600+ 200 for 1 hour is 800
MEI add-on 600+ 400 for 1 hour is 1000.

so more like 2300 for the checkrides and maybe another 2500 in training time to prepare. Might be another grand if you need some multi time for MEI- which I wouldn't bother with unless you need a lot of multi hours. (see below)

I went to MCI with my flight benefits and did my initial for 900 and did the CFII add-on at home in Vegas for 600.

I am not really interested in MEI because I only need 25tt multi for my R-ATP and I did 12 hours already including my CMEL checkride. So I figure I have enough friends with king airs and twin cessnas to sit in front and get the other 12 hours I need

The CFI initial is the hardest one and really the ground is the hardest part. You can get everything you need including lesson plans for free or nearly free from online sources. You do not need that much training (say 5-10 hours) in the plane to prep for the checkride.

DrSmacFum

This + a 2-3 month wait in Socal for a checkride date