mkat

first post,, longtime reader,i hope this isn't too much of a newbie question,, who are the pilots that get to train the other pilots at the continental pilot training center? are they regular pilots that just wanted to work there? is it hard to get a position there? what is the difference in pay? what is the difference in hours? i understand the pilots still have to fly once a month to keep current,so do they work 9-5 mon-fri, 3 weeks a month and then fly a trip the last week?? anybody know any details?? it seems like training other pilots would be kinda a letdown for a pilot,, but then,if the pay and benefits and regular hours are guaranteed,,well,,it's something else....

Kill Bill

most of the instructors are line pilots. some, however, have been in the training dept for YEARS and only get out to fly a line trip once a month. others are retired line pilots that had an "in" with the training dept and have either kept their position after age-60 or went in new after age-60.

several are good, some are ok, some are excreble.

they get line pay plus an override so they make about 20% more than a line slug. they also get to bid aircraft and bases for pay purposes that they would NEVER fly if they actually had to fly. example: a guy can only hold a 737 captain bid in EWR but lives in IAH so he'd never bid EWR. he worms his way into the training dept. now he can bid EWR 757 captain and get paid based on that even though he would never in a million years bid it if he had to fly it. AND he gets to fly his monthly 2 day trip out of IAH.

instructors have to do, i think, 12 training events per month. it could be a regular instructional period, a checking event, an FTD (non-motion simulator used for teaching flows, etc) or an oral.

instructor schedules are flexible but, like everything else, it's governed by seniority. we are hiring so many guys right now that our sims are running virtually 24 hrs a day.

personally, i'd hate to be locked in a box for 4.5 hours but that's just me. many guys look at it as the first step to a management job.

mkat

wow bill,, thanks for the quick response!.. so a trainer get's paid 20 percent override,and they get to bid on the biggest plane their seniority can hold anywhere,, and still be in houston and get paid that max rate and they only work 4 hours a day 12 days a month!?,, geez, considering all the cuts going around,, it seems like a sweet deal.. is the continental sim running 24/7?? so a relatively new pilot in the training center,,would be low man on the totem pole no matter what his seniority for flying?? and thus,he would get the undesireable hours?? do they still bid eveyr month??

1jetpilot

Woah, Mkat,
You are entering a different world out there. It is not as peachy as one would think. I would rather fly reserve in IAH than to be an instructor. You want to be in ground school all the time?