I was wondering what average monthly CFI pay is? I have searched the boards and it seems like $15-30/hr. is the range, however I know that a CFI doesn't work a 40 hr work week, so just curious what take home pay would be like for the month. Thanks!

When I worked for a school, my best month gave me 120hrs and the usual was about 45-50 hours at $25/hour. The worst months were usually between thanksgiving and mid feb/march when I'd start rethinking some life decisions and looking for belongings to sell. lol but then came the summer!

This.

I work at a part 141 school. I usually get 25 - 30 hours per week on payroll during good flying weather. Nonetheless, I've averaged 100-120 hours a month over the summertime and 50 - 80 hours during the winter (In Ohio). That's with 12 - 16 hour workdays 5 days a week and 6-8 hours on Saturday, so be prepared for some hard knocks if you want those kind of hours.

Take-home pay is usually $1600 - $1800 per month.

Thanks for the info!

And if you aren't getting paid for ground time, you need to talk to your boss. You should get paid the same per hour for ground time as you do for flight time.

Agreed with Centerline. Ground is critical but many CFI's minimize it to speed up their own flight hours or because they're paid less/not at all for it.

I worked 40-70 hour weeks as an instructor, a bad month was $1200 before taxes, a good one was $1600. But that was less than all the surrounding flight schools. If you're around $2000 or better a month, I think that's decent for an instructor (though still not what the profession, skill set, and responsibility deserve).

I instructed in the "metro" Detroit area, and that winter was rough. I think I had a few bi-weekly paychecks in the $300 range, luckily I saved up during my busy season and had no issues.

This was in 04-05', I was getting $20/hr, and we did get paid for ground.