chicago area cfi jobs
 

anyone know anywhere that is hiring or have insight to operations(good/bad).

ive been told palwaukee flyers is one to stay away from. when the wx is bad, the owner has the students do "taxi practice", to burn up the hobbs.

I have been looking for a Chicago CFI job for about 6 months, and despite applying to just about everywhere, I have not heard anything back. I have almost 200 hrs of dual given and CFI/CFII/MEI, but no one seems interested. If you ever find something, please let us know!

BTW, I second the Palwaukee Flyers comment.

I work at a flight school out of MDW...I'll check to see if we're hiring for the summer. Also, I just had a buddy of mine just move up here from COS, and he landed a job in Waukegan (not really chicago, but chicagoland none the less) at Skill Aviation. If you dont have a car, you're pretty limited to a few airports, but there are quite a few flight schools in the area.

Jelloy - I came across Skill Aviation a while ago. How is your friend liking it there? Are they kind of big on having previous experience in Diamond/glass cockpit airplanes? I have no Diamond time and next to no glass cockpit time, but it looks like it might be a decent place to work. Thanks!

I tried over at DuPage at IAA and they are not really hiring either. There is a American Flyers also at DPA but I havent gone there. Also regarding PWK, Ive heard that they have been trying to Alienate GA for quite some time. No evidence to substantiate that... just what I've heard.

there are flight schools at Chicago Executive (PWK) not sure if Palwaukee flyers is the same as Windy City flyers but I have friends that work there and love it. Theres a couple of flight schools at MDW but they are not very big operations (1-2 aircraft) then Dupage (DPA) has American Flyers and Illinois
Aviation not sure about either's hiring situation. Then there is Clow (1C5) A&M aviation, they're not hiring. Aurora (ARR) not sure but check it out. and Louis (JOT) Louis University is there with a flight program so they pull from they're students but you might want to check it out. [note: the last three airports area all an hour drive outside of downtown chicago in the west and southwest suburbs.]

IlliniPilot - thanks for the list. Unfortunately, though, I have applied to all of those schools and none of them were hiring. At least my resume is with all of them. I thought I had an in at Windy City, but it didn't work out. I also have done some training/rental out of American Flyers and Illinois Aviation so I thought I might have an edge on other CFIs applying there, but apparently not. I just don't think anyone is hiring.

thanks for the input everyone. just checked out an airport in Lake in the Hills Airport (3CK) and they're not hiring either.

My buddy who works at Skill had only about 400TT, and no previous Diamond or glass cockpit time at all...Toss your resume in!

oh, kill aviation? have fun.....

you forgot the 's' on skill. just typed to fast didn't you. by the way, why do you call it kill. what happened.

oh i'm just bein silly, they are a good school. I just did not have the best experience there - but that was for other reasons. The have some kickin airplanes and a very structured program.

Chicago insights from a Chicago CFI
 

I currently instruct at one of the KDPA schools - I'm lucky to get 25 billable hours a month and I was hired December of 08 (I think I was only hired because I did all of my training through there). If you got picked up anywhere in the Chicagoland area, make sure you have a 2nd or 3rd job to pay the bills!

Had to respond to the comments about Palwaukee Flyers (or 1-800-I WILL FLY, Chicago Executive Flight School, or whatever name he's going by today). It is run by someone with the initials of JK well known as the biggest scheister in the area. I was actually once a student there who just couldn't "quite get ready for solo" a few odd years back - and had confirmed from one of their former instructors recently that they won't let students solo until they have SPENT $8000 (no, not just on account, but actually expended). The part about the "taxi lesson" is true - I paid for one not knowing any better (before chat boards like this were fully up). Oh, they also make you get your own insurance before you solo (this is a REALLY shady tactic and no other school I know of does this). This is not for the reason of a high-performance, retractable, G1000, etc high value aircraft but for a beat up C152! They feed off those who don't know any better; if that's what floats your boat, be my guest but be aware of the stink that may stick on you from working there...

That operation is NOT the same as Windy City Flyers at Palwaukee. Good people at Windy City but, as a student, I felt they made things just a little too difficult. In fairness, one of their managers put the bug in my ear to think about being a CFI. I think they're having the same problem finding students as well - they attempted to expand out to Schaumburg airport and I have gathered that has not gone well for them.

I've heard some good things about Skill Aviation at KUGN but they're a little far out (near the WI border). Beware of anything at KMDW - surrounding neighborhoods are like a crime-ridden demilitarized zone and remember that Chicago has a defacto handgun ban so forget about having a fighting chance if the brown-stuff hits the fan.

I'd agree that having a car in the Chicago area is a must.

I'm at one of the KDPA schools and we get resumes all the time...usually for them to go right in the trash. I quietly confirmed 2 other Chicago area flight schools are doing the same but I won't dime them out on the forums - one could conclude most are doing that and NOT "keeping them on file"; if CFI's suddenly become needed, they'll look for them or train them in house.

Yep, Chicago is pretty slim pickings for CFI positions. Give serious though to relocation if it's at all a possibility.