FlightSafety Pay
 

Anybody have an idea what the instructors get paid? I have heard they start around 70K but I would like to know what it is after a few years. Is it 74K after 10 years?

Thanks

About right from my experience. Got hired in 2006 in SAV to the G450 program. Starting pay was 70K salary, no overtime. After settling in a bit the talk was senior instructors were making a whopping 75K IF they had earned multiple signoffs to teach the various courses and became examiners and such.

Really a quandary, great people, great facility, top notch course wear and support but a slave ship with little advancement potential or long term reward. Right before I was hired the retirement was replaced with a small match 401K system.

I left at the first opportunity and glad I did. You can more than double your income with a quality corporate gig or after a few years in the 121 airline world. OTOH, if you lose your medical or are semi retired it is a better gig than a non aviation job. Good luck.

Had a friend there who recently left and they worked him as much as they could..with no extra money. He had nothing good to say about the place. Not sure about the other sim companies. I have rarely had a good experience with any of the FSI's I went to.

Pay is right on, plenty of room for advancement, titles, and more responsibility but salary is pretty flat. I worked in Columbus, which is basically a net jets training center, except for some part 91 and the global is busy from outside too. Wether by choice or inability to keep instructors it is run thin. I frequently had last minute schedule changes, shifting day/night schedules and last minute loss of days off for call out. Really nice folks with a few exceptions just like anywhere. Hopefully the moral of the clients has improved now that nj is hiring and has some movement, however I found the attitudes to be prevalent. They have a two year contract last I heard. Overall good experience and a type rating, but for quality of life and pay Im much happier in the 121 world.

I worked at a Center with four tiers, each paying at different levels, but not sure which.

I instructed in the C90/200 program. It has been several years, but I think I started around $58-60k. When I left (2 yrs later) I was around $65k-ish, maybe a little more.

FWIW, they are hurting really badly for instructors there now and one of my buddies said it sounds like FSI is getting ready to adjust salaries quite a bit in favor of the employees. No ideas on numbers, or if it'll even happen, just what he told me.

Was there from 2006 until last year. DFW. Got tired of the tap on the shoulder Friday telling me I had to come in Sunday to teach International Procedures for one client. Then tuesday for one client. Then thursday for one client. Hey, why don't we put all these guys together on wednesday? Nope. One word FSI never says - at the expense of instructors - is "NO."

I was even told Texas is a right to work state so If I didn't want to do it I could leave. And I did.

Got roughly 2% a year raise. No profit sharing bonus about half of those years. Every salary level has a "cap." Once you reach that, no more increases.

FSI also starting requiring instructors to sign a two year retention contract to prevent the grab and go type rating. This happened last Feb when I was leaving.

Programs vary - some work you like crazy.

If you want to go back to flying it's the kiss of death. Great contacts, no recency of experience. I interviewed at several Fortune 50 companies and they all said the same thing - my lack of recency eliminated me. In fact, when I went back to 121 ops my current employer required me to go BACK to a regional for 200 hours before they would give me a class date. Not many would be willing to regress to that salary to leave FSI. That should tell you something.

One would think that a company owned by Berkshire Hathaway would have more funds to invest in than the dozen or so offered in the 401K.

Would any "on the side flying" have mitigated this?

The location I worked at had a strict no-fly policy. You could rent a plane on your own, but that was it. Supposedly, we could submit for approval, but sounded unlikely it would ever have been approved. It really sucked because we'd hear of friends at other centers that could do contract stuff all the time.

Now that they're hurting for people they have eased up on the outside flying rule according to friends there. Sure would have been nice at the time. :(

Thanks for the response KingAirDriver,

I am guessing Flightsafety is concerned about potential lawsuits in the event of an accident.

Another thought that came to mind concerning Flightsafety,,
I'm wondering how they will do competing for pilots. I suppose they could staff with retired airline pilots, but that might difficult to run a biz with employees that only want to work one day a week.