Pay to play is going to make a huge comeback
 

There are not enough instructing jobs to go around as it is and student starts are in free fall. Starting pilot jobs are going to become very hard to find. Many will be forced to pay their own way until reaching 1500 hours.

In reality we all pay and continue to do so. We pay for our own training and education then pay with wasted years of our life getting to 1500 hours then will have pay more to get an ATP under the new rules.

Once at a regional we pay through the acceptance of cruel wage and working conditions. After many years of abuse we then often have to pay for a type rating to advance further.

So I ask you what is the big deal about paying to reach 1500 hours? What other choice will pilots have? I believe that in a few years it will be the common path on the trail of tears that is modern aviation.

Four years of college $80-160K
University Flight school 80-120K
Pay to Play to 1500 hours 40-100K
ATP 4k?

Regional airline wage 18K per year. :eek:

Does not add up to me.

Skyhigh

I can tell you in the DC Metro area they are trying to get more Flight Instructors at the local Airports. They were swamped at Frederick Flight Center and Advanced Helicopter Concepts in the Spring. Each business has at least 2 more instructors on their books.

I know the businesses at Montgomery Airpark are looking for instructors as well.

I am sure in the rest of the country there are plenty of regions where flight instructor jobs are hard to come by, but when you are right smack dab in the middle of Dulles, Reagan, and BWI, I think it helps.

Not sure where you are getting your info, but there are tons of CFI jobs on the boards right now.

From everyone I've talked to in the Boston area, instructors are hard to come by. I know of more than one FBO as well as a local flight college that are really hurting for CFIs.

I've moved mostly from instructor to charter pilot at this point, but if I had the desire I could full my schedule 8am-sunset year round and fly 1,000hrs/year (a pretty decent haul with New England weather).

The instructors my FBO HAS interviewed recently have been looking for a quick and easy way into our charter aircraft but have no desire to instruct more than the bare minimum required. We've also been asked if we offer a pay-to-play program by a 300hr recent graduate with a wet CFI.

Do not worry yourself where Sky gets his *facts* from; you'll lose sleep trying to figure it out :)
Stats say that student starts are certainly NOT in a free fall.
Another poster had the stats from 2012 in a thread recently.

I have a friend who runs a flight school and he can't hire instructors fast enough to keep up with demand. Another flight school down the road is having the same problem. Once again, Sky is proven wrong while he continues to pull stuff out of his backside.

I use to agree with Sky on most things, but he's wrong on this one. Like others have said, there aren't enough flight instructors to go around right now.