Great Cornholio

Congrats on the ride man. I moved to the boro about 2 years ago and it has been super cold there this month. I don't care what any one says passing the CFI ride is a big deal and is worth celebrating.

Good luck finding a job. Its a fact of life that when something is new it takes a while to find your groove. It will take a few students until you get your CFI groove. It will take a few months before you get your FO groove, your Capt groove, every time you get a new type it will take a while to get into the groove of that type. Heck even being out of work for a few weeks it can take you a few legs to get back in the swing of things.

I hate the guys that bash new guys for no reason. No one was born with 5000 hours. Everyone started from zero. Its usually not flight time that is problematic its judgment and attitude.

darkroomsource

I am not trying to be critical or negative in any way, so if this comes off this way, please forgive me. I'm trying to understand these hours.

Does this mean you have 168 hours PLUS 33.8 in the simulator?
Which would mean you actually have 201.8 total hours?
For SE, I see 1.0 + 121.8 + 26.8, which totals 149.6, not 154.8, so at most 4.4 of the sim time is included in your 154.8 SE time, and therefore in your total time. Am I off base here? Don't you really have over 200 total time?

Next, 67 PIC seems awful low to me for someone with 200 total time. (or even 168 total time)
If you got your PPC in just under 40 hours, then you've flown PIC about 1/2 of the 120 hours you've logged since then. Somewhere around 35 or so of that had to be for the IR, and 13.2 ME was not PIC, so that's about 30 hours out of the remaining 70, or less than half.
Have you logged a lot of time as a safety pilot?

I'm just trying to comprehend the combination of hours. Thanks for your time.
-Andy

dlb4a

Yes 168 plus 33.8 would equal just over 200 hrs. Technically I do have over 200 hrs, if I were to count the sim time.

Regarding the SE time, I made a mistake and did not type the correct amount of Piper Arrow hours. The TT for SE is accurate however.

Since I did my training at an accredited flight school (Part 141) the flight school's syllabus doesn't havent to match Part 61 (our multi-engine, CFI, CFII, & MEI are all done under part 61). Therefore I was able to get my private and instrument with VERY low hours. During my training the school was going through a trial program where the students would acquire their private and instrument at the same time (1/2 of the students failed on the first attempted; obviously the university diverted from that trial run of a syllabus). I hope this helped to make some clarity for you...?

skydisaster

Congratulations on passing the CFI initial! I would absolutely go straight into the CFII, and if you can the MEI. Then, I would do everything that I can to get hired to instruct at MTSU if that is possible. If you have been a good student along the way, then you are already have far more credibility there, than you do anywhere else. I instructed during my final year in college and left to go looking for a CFI job in the real world with 800 TT and over 400 dual given. It made finding that next CFI job significantly easier.

chuck416

Didn't strike me as arrogant. He was asked a straight-up question, and gave an honest, forthright answer. If he got all those ratings, at 168TT, he's an exceptional aviator among his peers. He's been paying attention in the classroom, and in the cockpit. If that is a reasonable measure of this fella', he'll probably continue to be an excellent "student of the art", in his soon-to-be roll as CFI. Best way to judge an instructor is the quality of his (or her) students. Nobody, but nobody is able to take that first student FOR you, as an instructor. Sooner or later, you have to "man-up", take the right seat, and jump into the fray. And then, as someone on this thread so rightly stated, "you never knew how much you DIDN'T know." Best of luck to you, dlb4a, in your future aviation endeavors.
Chuck

lakehouse

jealousy can hurt, esp at the current hourly rate.

dlb4a

I want to thank everyone for replying and keeping this thread active.

I want to take this time to let everyone know I have just recently gained my first student! I am very excited but yet slightly nervous. The gentleman is an extend family's friend (older man with plenty of time who wants to do something other than golf from what I have been told).

Outside of the standard information I learned during the process of obtaining my initial, can any of you offer advice or perhaps a short story relating to your experiences with your first student!? I am very eager to learn new techniques and styles while I develop my own...

Thanks guys!

Great Cornholio

Congrats on the new student.You teaching at MBT?? I'm thinking of getting checked out there soon...hopefully in the Katana. I will use you if I can...I need to fly for fun soon or I'm gonna lose it.

Anyways its been more than a month so I'm sure you've already done your first lesson with this guy. My bit of advice is to send your first few students up with a different CFI after a few lessons (before the 1st stage check). Try to send all of your students to the same "different" CFI. That way the other CFI can help you identify any weak spots (if any) in your teaching style. You want to send them to the same "different" CFI so they can monitor any trends in your student base. Another main thing to remember is that as a CFI you have to adapt to each students learning style. What worked for one student may not work for the next...

Walkeraviator

I am going to echo what others have said about getting the other two instructor ratings. My story is a little different. I was training at a flight school whose owner liked me very much. He wanted me to get my CFI so that I could instruct for him. He also had a rash of MEI's leaving and an insurance that wanted 100 multi to instruct. Since I had the multi time, I agreed to get my MEI as my initial rating and then got my single add-on. Then I got so busy I never bothered to get my CFII. I then ran off to teh first non-instructor job I could get. A medical operation, which as many of you know doesnt log time quick. So here I am 4 years later with 1400TT, and no CFII and only about 150 dual given. Let me tell you, in this economy even flight schools can be picky. No CFII and less than 250-500 dual given depending on the school, means i am not even marketable to flight schools.

So I repeat, get all thre instructor ratings. Flight Instruct to build time, but remember that you are teaching others to be safe and respect that. Even if you are at a 61 school send you guys to other instructors for "stage checks" to make sure you are gettin the job done. Make yourself marketable as a CFI in case you someday have to fall back to that as a job.

And remember, the flight school I worked at in DAB had a motto: We dont train pilots, We make aviators.

Anyone can teach from a book and get somebody ready to take a test or checkride, but making an aviator requires daily preperation, your own personal study time, and regardless of what airplane/flight school owners say... it requires ground instruction.

I hope your new student is working out for you man.

IronWalt

For 170K someone could go to medical school and get their MD or DDS ticket and make a HELLUVA LOT MORE MONEY. Oh and not have to work weekends AND sleep in their own bed at night.

You do the math