Stirrin

Hi I'm a 21 year old PPL currently working on my Instrument rating with about 235tt (lots of light sport time). I have passed my instrument written with a 95. To continue my flight training I need to secure loans. I am planning on doing all of my instrument training part 61 in a 172m. I then want to continue on and get my commercial, followed by the CFI and maybe CFII. All the ground school is through King Schools. I'm a fairly quick learner and don't think I'll need any more training than the average guy. I also know a very good free lance instructor who will possibly take me through the instrument rating. Now my problem is that my family wants to know exactly how much this who ordeal is going to cost me in loans. So I have been putting together a spreadsheet with my projected costs to get to the CFI stage. All the night flying, cross-country and PIC requirements have been met, so I don't have to do any time building. I will not worry about any multi engine stuff for now; it is simply too expensive. So far I have:

INSTRUMENT

Instrument dual ~30 hours x $140 4200

Ground instruction ~10 hours x $30 300

Examiner fee 500

COMMERCIAL SEL

Piper Arrow Dual ~15 hours x $180 2700

Ground instruction ~5 hours x $30 150

Written test 130

Examiner fee 500

CFI/CFII

Not a clue. This is my problem. I don't know what is required to get the CFI/CFII as far as flying and ground school is concerned through part 61. I am aware that this is a very tough rating with a high failure rate. I also know it involves a lot of lesson planning and book work. I do not know if that can be done alone with only a few hours with an instructor before the test or what. If at all possible I want to keep the price of these ratings below $10k. I just do not have access to the funds to go to a 141 school, nor do I really care to pay off those loans. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

FLTLVL410

Budd I would say go for your pilot certificates first and then when your done look into schools like Flight Safety and others that are offering training to people to acquire there CFI's as long as they sign a contract with them to instruct for a year or two. Why pay for the certificates when you can be paid.

JamesNoBrakes

No, you need to get a job and not worry about getting done in 2 months. Your quality of life will be far better for doing this, rather than paying for it for 10+ years and never bring able to enjoy your early years/start building financial security.

web500sjc

You could make the CFI relatively cheap if you are motivated. For the flying you could try and condense it by doing your commercial from the right seat and practice "instructing" the maneuvers you are doing. If you are able to do that (big if) you could get by with three hours of instruction for the CFI check-ride and a spin flight.

The majority of the CFI is ground work. Most of the ground work can be done on your own, basically take a task from the Commercial, Private, and CFI PTS and write a lesson plan for the task, each and every one. Then practice teaching those to family- get advice from your instructor on good teaching techniques, Buy the oral exam guide, use sheared air for the written tests.

But CFIs are a hot commodity right now- If you are willing, there is a flight school in florida that will pay for an initial flight CFI.