Quote:
Originally Posted by PRS Guitars
I completely disagree.
I would advise students to stay away from instructors that don't charge for ground time. It basically tells me that that don't even value their services or are purely in it to build time. It's unprofessional.
I also would advise students to avoid paying $40 per hour (or whatever rate) for a CFI that only gets $8. If the school is keeping more than a few dollars per hour that's a red flag.
On the other side of the coin, it's disappointing to see CFI's willing to work for nothing while the school makes money off their back. It's bad for the profession, and sets a presadence that unfortunately finds its way into the 135/121 world. A CFI should not feel guilty or bad charging an appropriate rate from handshake to handshake.
Handshake to handshake, it's how a lawyer would charge, right? And we are just as good, right?
But then what is pro bono service? And why does the ABA recomend, if not require, in some states that lawyers provide 50ish hours of pro bono work per year?
Not every client or student is rich, lawyers know that, CFIs should too... if theyre just as good as lawyers.
I wasnt rich. A lot of my students were not rich, most were on student loans. Not one of my CFIs were. There is no reason to say im going to charge you for X amount of ground hours regardless of their apptitude and situation.
If I had good students that were trying and studying, I didn't charge them for ground. Period.
And it's not ruining the profession. After all, I don't see any airline pilots setting the parking brake and walking off a plane because they weren't paid to walk to the gate, review the paperwork, talk to the gate agent, maybe a passenger, and preflight.
For all the talk about ruining the profession, the only thing that comes to mind is pulling up the ladder.