ysslah

I've been instrucing over a year, and I know for a fact that this job is not for me. It sounds like pretty bad at this time, but I really can't stand instructing anymore. If anyone knows where to find non-instructing job, please let me know. I would like it to be central florida area, but I'm willing to move pretty much anywhere

GrummanCT

If you have been instructing for over a year on a pretty regular basis, i'd imagine you have 135 mins? Go to a 135 freight. I believe flightexpress is in your neck of the woods.

erok3848

where are you instructing now? why is it so bad?

beechbum

It depends on your career goals. If you want to fly single pilot all your life, I'd look at traffic watch jobs, or banner towing. If you want to fly a jet for a corporation or fly for an airline one day, I would recommend looking at a different career field because you aren't going to like that once you realize what you have to do. I say that because if you ever upgrade to a Captain on an airplane that requires a crew, you will be doing lots of instructing. There will always be new folks coming in, and that is who they learn from - the Captain.

I'll re-ask the question...why do you hate instructing so bad? Is it dealing with people? Is it the pay? Is it the type of airplane you are flying?

USMCFLYR

I would think that instructing in the CFI/II or even MEI world would be quite a different story than being an **instructor** when acting as a Captain/PIC in a corporate jet for instance don't you?

USMCFLYR

beechbum

Sure it's different. I have done both. In one instance you are teaching how to do S-turns across a road and rectangular patterns. Maybe picking out good land marks and teaching how to intrepret an altimeter. In the other instance, you are explaining mach tuck, or maybe how to properly use the weather radar when deviating around embedded thunderstroms. You will be teaching what the temperature in relation to ISA has to do with what cruise altitude you can achieve and how that affects fuel burn.
So, of course the material is different, but you still have to have the patience to work with people and allow them to learn. I have learned that if you can't stand flight instructing in SE pistons in the beginning, you aren't going to like it any better in a turbo-prop of jet. Remember, First Officers are Captains in training!

USMCFLYR

I agree with the continued training aspects of what you are saying and that FOs are CPTs in training - but just because someone doesn't enjoy teaching the S-turns doesn't mean they would not enjoy the *other* aspects of training/teaching. I don't know why - but I know some of my peers doen't like the early stage FAM students when they are first learning to fly the aircraft to include aerobatics and instrument approaches but won't turn down a BFM or Fighter Weapons flight. They are instructing in both but the material is certainly a world apart. I would think that someone might not enjoy sitting in a C-152 on a hot and bumpy afternoon for the third time that day teaching the landing pattern; but that same person might not mind talking the details of high altitude flying or mach tuck as you say on a coast to coast flight at 430 in the comfort of a Citation X cockpit.

USMCFLYR

PS - for those of you who are about to say that the cockpit of a Citation X isn't comfortable - I assure you that it is all relative
Also - I love instructing; though I was never an CFI anything. I might give that a shot in a few years.

GrummanCT

YGTBSM. Okay, so if someone gets burnt out on primary flight instructing, they should look into another career, because there is no way they can function in a crew environment?

Condescending.

proskuneho

I have yet to fly something larger than a CJ2, but I imagine that some of the students that I encounter will wash out before they can be instructed by a captain at FL430. I actually think that instructing is usually enjoyable and rewarding, but every once in a while I meet a student that I KNOW is not made to fly. I am the type of person that tries to be uplifting and encouraging, and I have always invested extra effort to help my students succeed. There are just some people who are not motivated, they have no passion. I take the success of each student personally. The problem is that sometimes they don't. That can throw a wet blanket on instructing.
Most of the people that make it to larger & faster equipment were willing to put in the hard work to get there, and so they will not be as much of a drain on their teacher - even if they are slow to learn. When you are a captain, you usually only have to deal with each "student" for a short time and you don't have to worry about his/her simple mistakes impacting your CFI pass/fail rate. It is not easy to maintain the "gold seal" standard, especially when some designated examiners make up their own rules.
I also know that some pilots are not satisfied with the quality of maintenance at their company, but it can't be worse than some of the shade-tree mechanics at certain flight schools.

USMCFLYR

I can understand this completely. That is one way that I am very lucky! All of my students are extremely motivated and willing to put in an enormous amount of hard work to succeed. Although I too work hard to motivated and prepare my students for success, I am also charged with keeping a high standard of quality. That has always been one big difference in military flying and civilian flying that I learned a long time ago when I was learning to fly. The CFI can take as much time as required to get a student up to a standard where he can pass a checkride. As long as the student is willing to keep paying - the CFI is willing to keep instructing. In the military - you have to learn the material in a given amount of time in a given amount of flights (with some slop of course which changes depending on the *needs of the service*). In the last 2.8 years - we have sent a handful of students up the chain to make the decision whether they should continue in their chosen profession. Not all make it.

Back on thread - I did some check flying and some flying jumpers because I didn't think I was ready to instruct after finishing my ratings so I never got a CFI/II/MEI. Plus - I was ready to get out of college and move on and didn't want to spend another semester in school.

USMCFLYR