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Originally Posted by isell188
I don't even have my PPL yet. I was hoping that i could find a reasonably priced school, that i could finish within a reasonable period of time. i would love to teach flying on the LSA (piper sport) and possibly go in and be a partner on an existing flight school. not sure what the pay is.
You need to learn to fly first. It is not possible to have the proper point of perspective needed to operate or even buy a local flight school without first being a pilot, preferably an experienced pilot. Get your flight certificates then look at this question again. If you are in it for the money, I would not suggest getting into local flight schools. There are many better options in how to spend your time and effort, if take home pay is a high priority for you. Most local flight schools are break-even propositions at best.
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...Also if i did have my qualifications and purchased my own LSA, how many hours could i reasonably instruct at what $$ per hour in a sunny area like Phoenix.
Looking several years down the road, you may be able to flight instruct as a Sport Pilot Instructor. If you provide the airplane and the flight instruction under FAA CFR14 Part 61 rules, you can charge about $30 an hour and maybe $100 an hour for the airplane as a ballpark figure. You will never make very much money doing this. While the per hour figures are not bad, there are numerous problems with flying for a living at these rates. I used to be an instructor at a large Part 141 school and the best instructors defined by billable hours made about $35,000 per annum.
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...Also the ATP flight school and some others i see a lot of ads for, but i just wanted an honest opinion as to their reputation and ablilty to teach well. Money is also a factor, but i saw it runs about 40,000
Really and truly, this subject has been discussed
ad nauseum here at APC over the years. Hit the books for a few hours and get back to us. Also, internet still carries with it the need to capitalize and edit your writing to some extent, although there is more latitude for slop than in legal briefs.