CFI Pay Question
 

Hi all,

Out of curiosity, I was wondering if you instruct at an FBO or Flight School, what do you make per hour, and do you still get paid at all for a flight that gets cancelled due to maintenance reasons?

Thanks!

I suppose I'll start...$14.25/hr and no pay for Mx cancellations.

I got paid $11.00/hr for my first CFI gig doing Pt. 61 instruction at an FBO. This was a few years ago. I only lasted 6 months and moved on to another FBO in a different state doing Pt. 61 & 141 instruction. I started at $16.50/hr there for ground/flight instruction, scenic flights, MX flights, etc. We also got paid $8.50/hr for paperwork, talking to walk-in students, meetings, etc. I did some Simulator instruction as a contract CFI for an aviation college and got paid $25/hr for doing that. We didn't get paid for MX cancellations.

The bottom line is, CFI pays sucks. Flight Schools charging $50/hr, while the CFI doing all the work is only getting between $10-$20/hr. To make money as a CFI, you need to work at a school teaching foreign students (TransPac, IASCO, etc.)

I made no less than $20/hr back in the '80's. How did it get so low now?

I work at a flight school just north of Tampa, FL and we get payed $22hr for day flights and ground school and $27 for night flights.. We are a 141 school with mostly foreign students.

2004-2005 I made $20/hr for private, $22/hr for instrument students flying C152's and 172's(old ones). No pay for non ground/flying activities. I did supplement pay by working in the shop for $8/hr and helping the mechanic's with 100hr's etc..

I had 120hrs dual given prior to that job, but even zero-time CFI would've gotten that there, all part 91 small FBO, detroit area.

$30/hour.....contractor basis.

I make $20/hr ground and flight, this is about half what the school charges for my time. No pay for cancellations of any kind. No free flight time to get/stay landing or instrument current. Currency is on our own dollar.

Pretty much any compensation increases that were in the works got killed coincidentally at the time the regionals stopped hiring. :rolleyes:

Base pay was $12 with a $2 raise each for CFII and MEI and any FAA Safety Seminars attended. Max of $25/hr, flight/ground. No mx cancellation pay.

From 17.50 to 27.00 based upon hours worked, there are a couple pay grades in between those numbers based upon hours also. Thats for basic flight training. 2 more per hour for anything beyond private, and finally 15 for ground and sim. Pretty complicated but also pretty good pay.

P.S. No money for Mx cancellations :(

I charge $125 an hour for flight, ground, sim, or consulting time.

I probably take home about $0.10 per hour worked.

While we don't charge for maintenance cancellations, depending on how it was discovered, there might be a ground time bill for some portion of the process leading up to said cancellation. The before flight instruction, the preflight inspection, taxiing, obtaining mechanic 2nd opinion, and obtaining maintenance processes are all learning opportunities and one's certificates are at risk for it.

At my New Hampshire flight school:

FT-$500/pay period (2 weeks). Covers 20 hours of instruction in period. If you log more, you get hourly on the following scale:
20-30 hrs: $15/hr
30-40 hrs: $16/hr
40-50 hrs: $17/hr
50+ hrs: $18/hr

PT-$17/hr, get assigned students by FT instructors. No benefits.


I would say that if you get less than $15/hr (and that's pushing it), something is very wrong. Get paid what you deserve!

Man, I would kill to have a guarantee every pay period. There have been a couple weeks this year with long strings of bad weather that really hurt the wallet. I make $17.25 as a full time 'II, medical paid (good insurance too!). School pays for my currency. I can do MX flights and ferry flights but I don't get payed.... honestly I don't care because I actually get to fly the plane and its free flight time. I'm looking into moving to the San Antonio, TX area this fall if anyone has suggestions on flight schools/FBO down there?

Flight School in CT

$22hr contact time as a CFII w/approx 600 DG , no benefits and you are an independent contractor (you're responsible for your own taxes).

I work at flight school that is on contract with a university they charge 50/hr for private and 55 for all other ratings. Good weather makes good pay checks, bad winter weather is a struggle to get the rent paid.

Only get 20/hr out of it for flight and ground instruction.

I'm getting $16.08/hr of contact time. If you do not have a Bachelor's, it's lower. Each pay period I also get a stipend of $100 that tries to cover the time I'm scheduling and doing paperwork. The other nice benefit is at 50 hrs of contact time in a pay period (2 weeks), you get a 15% raise, 25% raise at 60 hours of contact time. Unfortuneately, I'm down to 1 student right now since everyone went back home for the summer, so I haven't made a raise in a while. Full benefit package with medical, dental, vision. Reimbursement for Medicals. Free unlimited sim time whenever, and free currency/proficiency flights in the airplane. i.e. a couple months ago I got a S.E. Commercial student and since I hadn't done commercial maneuvers in the last year, they paid for a "refresher" flight with a senior IP.

You can also get about a $3/hr raise at 750 Dual given (In airplane AND sim) and another $3/hr at 1500 Dual given. You get $3/hr more if the activity is a stage check (I'm not a check instructor yet).

And no mxt pay. The only time we get paid for an activity that didn't happen is when a student legitimately no-shows (not medically no-shows). The university charges the students a lot if they have an unexcused no show ($200 for first, $400 for second, failure of course for third).

I'm getting $19/hr. I was making $23/hr before I went to the airlines.

I'm going to try to talk him into a little more when teaching in the twin, otherwise I'm going to avoid it. Not worth it.

$30/hr. BUT, summers and the holidays are suuuuuuper slow.

Hey etflies,

I make $15/hr at a school that charges $40/hr for instruction. No pay for mx delays. Oh wait, do we work at the same place?

Hmm...my school charges the same rate for instruction and we make about the same...could very well be that we do? What a small world.

25.00 and hour both ground and flight. I explained to my students outright that if they scheduled 3 hours, they were getting billed for three. I didn't work for free. I didn't bill 2.x or 1.x taking into account pre and post-flight, etc. Any cancellations that were not weather or Mx based ,i.e. no shows, got billed half the rate. Setting the standard up front really helped. Most seemed to understand that they got paid when they went to work, even if they went to the bathroom. Since I only did it part-time, if I was at the school, I was damn sure getting paid for it.

A##hole you say? Hardly. During the summer my schedule was always full.

$34.05/hour regardless of flight time. Guaranteed 40 hours per week. Not contact time but time with the student. Each instructor flies roughly 12 flights per week that average 1.4 hours from t/o to ldg and 1 hour of ground with the student. If we cancel for mx or wx we're still paid as long as we're being productive, ie ground training or admin work. Benefits include medical of various levels and dental.

$35/hour for Primary Student's, $40/hour everything else (instrument, commercial, rental checkout's). Flat rate of $100 for BFR. Contract, and only accept cash.

Wow! where is that?
I'd be happy with a CFI job at the moment

Yeah no kidding...

I make around $30/hour for flight/ground, average around 70 hours of flight and ground per month, so about 140 billable... Every 6 months we get another rating paid for. So far I've gotten my CFI, CFII, and Cirrus Transition Training all paid for. We also get to use our Piper Arrow on IFR days for IFR currency if it's not already flying. We don't get paid for mx/ferry flights, but we're also not forced to do them. Normally I volunteer because I enjoy getting to fly... We also get a monthy cell phone and internet allowance (I think about $35/month).

I'm betting he's a free-lancer based upon those rates.

I'LL TAKE THAT BET!!!
I'll bet he is at Doss in Colorado!
I sent my resume there, and all I got was a postcard saying they received my resume.
I don't have military background, and do not live in CO.
Nice work if you can get it though!
I ended up flying a DA-20 last week. Kinda small for me (I am 6'1, and really no seat adjustment) and the summers must be HOT in that greenhouse!
$25.00-$30.00 hour depending on instruction.
I am also a "contract" CFI and charge $35.00/hr, but that is SLOOOOOOWWWW!

Northeast, Freelance, 1 of 2 CFI's at a flight school that only uses contract instructors. Unfortunately no openings.

I highly recommend freelance instructing if you have the chance...Charge what you are worth. $40/hour is NOTHING for flight instruction, compared to other things people spend their money on. Furthermore, I think $100 is on the low side for a BFR. The costumer is getting 2 or 3 hours of training, and most importantly a signature in his book that allows him to act as PIC for 24 months...For $100 bucks thats a good deal if you ask me.