Everyone always talks about the low wages for a first year FO at a regional, but nobody ever talks about Flight Instructor wages. Now I know it is the bottom of the totem pole and they dont need to make a fortune, but it seems as though they are making teh same $20/hr that they were making 10 years ago, even though the rate that flight schools charge has gone up considerably in that time. I can remember when an instructor cost me $35/hr, and the instructor got $20 of that. Nowadays they charge anywhere from $45-$60/hr and the instructor will get $15-$20 of that if he is lucky. Just an observation. Let me know if you agree or if you think I am off my rocker.

 

In this case I suspect the flight schools might actually have a good reason to raise prices and not share it with CFI's...fuel and insurance prices are out of control.

 

I agree on the insurance cost, but any fuel costs shoudl be added to teh cost of teh aircraft, not the instrcutor.

 

The truth is most flight schools are not profitable. The last flight school I worked at was fairly busy for an operation that had two planes and two CFIs, but at the end of the month, we were lucky if we made a $2,000 profit. The manager of the flight school didn't take a cut out of the flight school because he was also the manager of the entire airport and viewed the flight school as a way to keep the airport alive, get students to buy planes from him, and sell fuel.

Now if he was not the manager of the airport, that $2,000 profit would have been his pay which would be pretty low. Between the cost to run a flight school and the lack of customers with the necessary disposable income, there is not much left over to pay for labor.

 

New students tend to compare the cost of aircraft against other flight schools, so the lower you can keep the rental cost, they more students you can attract.

 

"I know it is the bottom of the totem pole and they dont need to make a fortune, but it seems as though they are making teh same $20/hr that they were making 10 years ago, even though the rate that flight schools charge has gone up considerably in that time. I can remember when an instructor cost me $35/hr, and the instructor got $20 of that. Nowadays they charge anywhere from $45-$60/hr and the instructor will get $15-$20 of that if he is lucky. Just an observation. Let me know if you agree or if you think I am off my rocker."

I agree with the price hike thing and how much less the CFI gets by comparison nowadays. I think that you answered it yourself with your first few words. Most people think that CFI's are at the "bottom of the totem pole" and as such, not worth much. Most pilots use the CFI as a starting point to get their hours and move on. Very few stay on as true CFI professionals. As a dedicated CFI professional, this entire situation bugs me, more for how worthless Instructing (as a profession) is viewed, but it's how the system is designed.

I agree that any extra costs that occur due to time/economy should be added to the aircraft rental and CFI's should get roughly half of the school's instruction rate. I live in one of the most expensive cities to live in, and in general, the wages here are lower than in many other parts of the country. What I don't agree with is the "Flight schools are not profitable, so we won't pay our staff the wages they should get" mentality. Some flight schools are indeed profitable. I know what the profitable guys are doing vs the unprofitable guys. I've seen it from both sides.

 

"Now if he was not the manager of the airport, that $2,000 profit would have been his pay which would be pretty low. Between the cost to run a flight school and the lack of customers with the necessary disposable income, there is not much left over to pay for labor."

Probably, probably not. He could have then been able to concentrate all of his efforts toward the flight school and possibly have found ways to make it more profitable.

 

The bad wages would be more palatable if it was possible to get more hours/flight time, but the pool of new students has really dried up even since I started flying 5 years ago.

Like I said in another thread, as bad as the regional pay is, if I went to work for one I'd be able to quit my second job and it would still be a pay increase.

 

The financially successful CFIs I've seen are the ones who've already built up an established clientele over many years and who cater to the affluent/fly-for-a-hobby crowd. That audience is willing to pay a premium for a good CFI.

Another prospect is the CFI who specializes in a particular niche (glass cockpit, tailwheel, aerobatics, etc) and positions themselves as the "local expert" on that topic for their airport.

Everyone else makes the $15-20 or so per hour (some schools in my area pay as low as $8/hr), or struggles on their own to find students. For most in this category, yes regional first year pay would be a raise.

 

Just another example of too many pilots chasing too few jobs. The market is flooded with CFI's and has been for decades. When flight schools can no longer hire CFI's for $10/hour because no one is willing to work for that wage, the wage will go up. Until then, CFI wages, like professional pilot wages in general, will stagnate or regress.