Advice wanted from former/current flight isntructors!!!!
 

I orginally posted this in the flight training section but thought some of you regional guys may be able to help.......
I'm new to the flight instructing world and am wondering how many hours you guys/gals typically logged per month. I just started in January (and I know the season is still early for us on the East Coast) and I've logged only 60 hours. I'm on pace for 35 hours this month (and yes I do work full time). The flight school is a little on the smaller size and is not associated with a FBO. We have 4 airplanes (two of which have G1000 cockpits and don't fly as much) and 3 full time instructors. When summer hits, we will have 4 or 5 full time instructors plus renters and the same amount of aircraft. I'm considering looking for another job as I'm not a salaried employee and really need to be flying more to pay the bills. Any advice will help. Thanks

I racked up 1100 dual-given in 24 months, so I averaged about 45/month (California).

But I took plenty'o time off for military/family stuff and also had some admin responsibilities.

If you are aggressive, you could probably do 60-90/month depending on location. Also many places give work preferentially to the instructors based on their seniority...the longer you stay, the more work is available.

Thanks for the advice. My goal is for at least 50 hours per month. Hopefully May will be better then April. Being new to this, I really don't know what is a good or average month for a flight instructor. I've been asking friends and my former instructors and they said during the summer around 60-65 is a pretty good month.

WOW...Rick that is awesome...

My CFI during the PPL days had 1,000 dual given after 6 years as a CFI...There must have been some issues with him...I did notice he was quite timid about expressing himself and don't recall a single time he stood up for himself...I stayed with him because I felt bad for him...I hope he makes it to the airlines...


I still feel bad thinking about the pay and treatment he put up with....


-LA

I am doing about 65 to 70 hours of dual given per month at the Flight School I work for. It is a University program with quite a few students though. It being in Utah some months can be worse than others because of weather. On a bad month I give 45 - 50 hours of dual.

CFI Time
 

Working as a CFI can be long and depressing depending on where you work and what the business environment is like. And you haven't even thought of the twin yet !!!!!

SkyHigh

I flight instructed at a busy school in Indiana, no university programs just people who wanted a new hobby. I racked up about 800 hours a year. We had 9 aircraft, 4 full time instructors and 7 part-timers.

I'll be out of the flight instruction business in 7 days (also in Indiana). Over the past 12 months, I put in about 650 hours. There are only two instructors with 4 airplanes. Through the summer were the busy times. November through about the middle of March I averaged 35 hours. March through the end of October I averaged in the upper 60s to lower 70s. I don't know if this helps. A book I'd recommend is "The Savvy Flight Instructor". It is a great book for the new flight instructor to get a good foothold on the business. Best of luck to you. Things get better through the summers. Stick to it if it is what you want.

4 airplanes and three instructors is okay. you can build good time with that. but if the flight school is getting more instructors in the summer, then that is bad news. my experience on the east coast was a really slow winter, but things really started to pick up as it got warmer. Like about 20 hours a month during Nov, Dec, Jan and Feb to upwards of 100 during the summer months.

141 school, NJ, just north of EWR (10 airplanes, about the same # instructors, not associated with university programs) = averaged 50 hrs/month, 0 multi. I left after 4 months, as it was heading into winter and I could see the writing on the wall.

61 school, FL (30+ airplanes, 40 instructors not assoicated with any university programs) = averaged 67 hrs/month, 2-3 multi per month including flying a navajo part 91 from the right seat. I left after 6 months - I earned too little ($12/hr) and the school was damaged in the hurricanes.

141 school, New Mexico (~12 airplanes, 8 instructors or so, associated with a pilot training program) = averaged 86 hours flying per month, 23 of which were multi. I grossed about $27.5k (~$2400/month pre-tax) at the school over the course of 11.5 months (from Sept to mid August the following year) and logged 985 hours. I also had full benefits. While I only flew 86 hours per month, I also billed about 50% more than that doing ground and sim, and made quite a bit in overtime some weeks.

IOW, find a strong university program allowing for you to log a substantial amount of time including multi, and give you a decent paycheck. Had I known that early on I'd have 12 more months of seniority at my present company. It's worth moving for a great CFI gig...(I moved 2,400 miles for the one in NM).

I used to fly an average of 80 hours a month and in the summertime over 100 hours. I worked at a big flight school with about 70 instructors and over 500 students. But flying that much kills your social life and you get burned out pretty quick.
Each instructor had 12 to 13 students, who had to fly a minimum of 8 hours a month each. if you were a ground instructor or a CFI instructor you had 8 students.
As far as multi time goes, we had contracts with Chinese airlines, which included between 45 and 60 hours of multi time per student.

;) worst job ever.... get out while you can... students suck ha i'm an optimist

Thanks again for the input everyone. Skyhigh, I've been somewhat fortunate about multi-time. I've found my way into a SIC contract job for a Part 91 operator flying Cheyennes (K-mart King Airs) and 421's. Company policy is to have two pilots. A good friend is a the full time pilot there and is nice enough to split legs.

OK, just make sure you understand about logging "SIC" time in an airplane that is not certified for two pilots or operating under a regulation that requires two pilots (you can't log it...)

Understood. I'm not logging any SIC time (as that is a dangerous road to go down). I'm logging PIC when I fly my leg. The other pilot logs PIC when he flys his leg.

Does the flight school you work for market it self or you? How are you picking up the flight time/students you have now?

If you are just sitting on the sofa, I'd say you can do much better as far as getting flight time, if you realy are marketing your self and the flight school is marketing it self and you still have these mediocre results, I'd say get out and find another flight school.

If you're not doing much marketing yet, hang in there and grow your bsuiness Read the "Savy Flight Instructor" as someone suggested in an earlier reply, become an AOPA, EAA and NAFI member, get listed on websites, contact highschools, colleges, and setup a booth in the local mall 1 day per week. Get businesscards printed up, etc.

Goodluck!