3000 Hour CFI
02-12-2006, 10:21 PM
#11
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jun 2005
Position: Retired
Posts: 2,934
40k and home every night, or 20k and home for five or six nights in a month? For some people the jet isn't worth the cost. I can't say that I wouldn't do the same thing. Money doesn't buy happiness and if you can make ends meet, and be happy doing it why upset the waters?
02-13-2006, 02:23 PM
#12
Prime Minister/Moderator
Joined APC: Jan 2006
Position: Engines Turn Or People Swim
Posts: 39,211
Originally Posted by N6724G
I dont see anythng wrong with waneing to be a career CFI. I like teaching and I love flying. Whats wrong with combing the two. If I decide not to become an airline pilot, I would love to teach aviation in a college or university setting like Purdue or ASU or a community college. You dont make much money. But I am fine living with $50K a year. It al depends on your preerence.
Well, you can make $50K as a CFI (do a little 141 management for example). But the problem with being a CFI and making any kind of money at all is liaibility...do it enough and eventually one of your fromer students will make a smoking hole and the family will sue...and I can guarantee you that the lawyers WILL find an inconsistency in the logbooks somewhere.
BTW, the worst possible thing you can do is give someone an IPC (unless they are a pro pilot)...you basically just gave an instrument checkride, and there's no DPE to buffer you from some of the liaibility. And private pilot IFR is not statistally safe by any measure...
You need a HUGE insurance policy (if you can get one) and if you have any assets, they had better be in a trust.
02-14-2006, 08:06 PM
#16
Line Holder
Joined APC: Jan 2006
Posts: 40
Originally Posted by N6724G
A good question was asked earlier. Whats better? Flying C-172's/182'sflying PIC for a police dept making $38K or flying CRJ's as SIC making $20K?
Flying for a police department probably adds nice health and retirement bennies, plus you're home everynight.
I enjoy flying for work, I chose the CRJ thing but the police thing could be nice, too. Whatever satisfies. Plus, I know a regional capt and a police pilot who both are also DPE's and charge over $300/check ride cash with no expenses. Nice part time job.
and the $50k CFI job is rare but possible as a university adjunct professor teaching mostly classes with some flying. Also, nice health and retirement with that.
You spend more waking hours at work than you do with the people (pets, hobbies, etc.) that you love. Enjoy your work.
02-20-2006, 12:16 PM
#17
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Mar 2005
Posts: 1,888
Originally Posted by sgrd0q
I call this the 3000-Hour-CFI syndrome. It hurts me to see these guys working for peanuts accumulating worthless single engine time. It happens all the time. Not enough multi engine time, and barely enough money to survive let alone rent a multi engine plane. It typically happens at small shoddy FBOs that don't have any multi engine planes for instruction.
Very sad.
I pushed a friend of mine who had a ton of total time to get that elusive 100 hour multi time and apply to the regionals. He did, got hired, and then quit saying he couldn't live in a strange place away from home and the money was less than what he made being a CFI. So he went back to being a CFI.
I guess you have to know what you want and you have to have a plan and you have to pursue your plan at all costs. Most people don't though. It's a combination of inertia, apathy and resignation. Sad indeed.
This industry is hard and the times are harder still. But I don't get the CFI for life guy, or the FO at Eagle for life guy. There are better alternatives. Maybe it is worth pausing for a moment and reflecting on what the options are. What is the best route to the Majors?
Very sad.
I pushed a friend of mine who had a ton of total time to get that elusive 100 hour multi time and apply to the regionals. He did, got hired, and then quit saying he couldn't live in a strange place away from home and the money was less than what he made being a CFI. So he went back to being a CFI.
I guess you have to know what you want and you have to have a plan and you have to pursue your plan at all costs. Most people don't though. It's a combination of inertia, apathy and resignation. Sad indeed.
This industry is hard and the times are harder still. But I don't get the CFI for life guy, or the FO at Eagle for life guy. There are better alternatives. Maybe it is worth pausing for a moment and reflecting on what the options are. What is the best route to the Majors?
So you work as an FO at a regional, upgrade to CPT, then what... maybe go Brown, Purple or have a crack at flying Shamu. Along with all the other regional pilots trying to do so. And when you get there... you are doing the same thing you did at the regional, just making more money. Maybe. My brother at NWA as a senior FO on the Airbus is not making much more than a senior captain at my regional.
I've been flying for over 20 years, as a military instructor pilot, CFI/II MEI, a 135 freight dog hauling rubber checks around in a twin, as a turbo trash FO/CPT, and now as an RJ CPT. I'm actually thinking about giving up the regional airline gig and going back to being a CFI. Yeah, the pay is not as good, but after spending over a year away from my wife and kids thanks to a government sponsored trip to the desert where I got to fly in "unusual" conditions I'm more concerned about making it to my kids' soccer games than the remote chance of grabbing that brass ring at SWA.
Is it worth pausing for a moment and reflecting on the options? You bet. I did that every day for a year lying in my bunk after long missions, looking at pictures of my wife and kids and hoping I would get to see them and hold them again. Hope you don't have to do the same before you reflect on the options in your life. For me, I'll give it up for that extra lap chasing my wife around the house.
02-20-2006, 06:04 PM
#18
Prime Minister/Moderator
Joined APC: Jan 2006
Position: Engines Turn Or People Swim
Posts: 39,211
To really make it as a career CFI and/or DPE you need a lot of energy. You're busting ass all the time.
I'm lazy, I like 15 days off a month and not having to hustle every single buck I make.
If you enjoy instructing and have a manic personality, then it might be for you. Maybe you can do some corporate/135 on the side.
But remember the liaibility...it takes a LONG time at $50K/year to pay off a $5,000,000 lawsuit.
I'm lazy, I like 15 days off a month and not having to hustle every single buck I make.
If you enjoy instructing and have a manic personality, then it might be for you. Maybe you can do some corporate/135 on the side.
But remember the liaibility...it takes a LONG time at $50K/year to pay off a $5,000,000 lawsuit.
02-21-2006, 04:41 AM
#19
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Mar 2005
Posts: 1,888
Originally Posted by rickair7777
To really make it as a career CFI and/or DPE you need a lot of energy. You're busting ass all the time.
I'm lazy, I like 15 days off a month and not having to hustle every single buck I make.
If you enjoy instructing and have a manic personality, then it might be for you. Maybe you can do some corporate/135 on the side.
But remember the liaibility...it takes a LONG time at $50K/year to pay off a $5,000,000 lawsuit.
I'm lazy, I like 15 days off a month and not having to hustle every single buck I make.
If you enjoy instructing and have a manic personality, then it might be for you. Maybe you can do some corporate/135 on the side.
But remember the liaibility...it takes a LONG time at $50K/year to pay off a $5,000,000 lawsuit.
Also, helps to have liability insurance.
Last edited by Blackhawk; 02-21-2006 at 06:18 AM.
02-21-2006, 06:17 AM
#20
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Nov 2005
Posts: 135
CFIs being sued?!?! This is just ridiculous. Does everyone in this country want something for nothing? Is ANYONE held accountable for THEIR OWN actions?
So if I get into a car accident, can I or my family sue the driving instructor I had back when I was 15 years old? If my daughter has bad grades or doesn't do well on her SATs (when that happens in many years), can I sue the school district that she went to?
Where is accountability in this country anymore? Truly pathetic!
And to think that I've been thinking about getting back into instructing.......NOPE!
So if I get into a car accident, can I or my family sue the driving instructor I had back when I was 15 years old? If my daughter has bad grades or doesn't do well on her SATs (when that happens in many years), can I sue the school district that she went to?
Where is accountability in this country anymore? Truly pathetic!
And to think that I've been thinking about getting back into instructing.......NOPE!
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