Graduating in May, need advice on CFI training

JaceTheAce

JaceTheAce

Well-Known Member
I graduate from UND this May with a BBA in Aviation Management. I will have my Commercial Airplane Single Multi-engine Land certificate with Instrument rating. I plan on working on my CFI as soon as I move back to California, but I still have several options to choose from.

Option 1:
I can stay at UND for the summer and complete initial single-engine CFI training which includes the following "estimated" flight costs:

Instructor Time 65 hrs
Decathlon 1.5 hrs
Warrior 14.5 hrs
Arrow 16 hrs
Flight Course Subtotal $6,410
Add CFI Ground School Tuition $1,713
FAA Written $90
Required Laptop Lease Program $400
Total $8,613 :banghead: yikes!!!

Option 2:
Live with my father while I earn my CFI and CFII certificates. I plan on nailing this out all in this summer. I am estimating that my flight costs at a local FBO/flight school will be around $4,000 to $6,000, based on going rates of instructors and aircraft.

Option 3:
Have my dad earn his CFI certificate again so he can train me (his CFI certificate expired in 1999). He's still very sharp in his aviation knowledge and shouldn't be too much of a cost to get him back into gear and take the checkride all over again. I doubt this will be an option now that he seems busier and busier with running his company, but it's still a possibility.

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As you can see, VERY expensive to do CFI at UND. If I go to an FBO or local flight school, I can save a considerable amount of money. With UND, tuition expense is added by $1,713 for the summer because the CFI course requires a 5-credit ground school. I'd need 1 more credit to obtain student loans in "full-time" status.

Keep in mind I don't plan on instructing at UND, so I don't need to get my CFI here. I want to get out of North Dakota ASAP and get experience different airspace environments, Part 61, different weather, etc. My only best option at this time seems to move back to California.

I do have an advantage in that the appraisal job I've had for the past 6 years will still be available to me - a big help to me in ensuring my financial situation is stable. My employer in San Diego allows me to keep my job wherever I move to by telecommuting, which I've been doing since I moved from San Diego, CA to Grand Forks, ND. Cost of living isn't so much an issue (you pay to live in good weather), it's the overal cost of flight training and getting the best flight training that concerns me (which is why I'm leaning towards the FBO route).

Any advice is appreciated! :)
 
If I were you, I would go with the second option. It just looks like the more reasonable one out of all. You can work while you are earning your rating and start instructing as soon as you have the CFI down. Eventually down the road you can earn your CFII and MEI and mainly focus on onstructing than anything else.
 
I'll tell you that it is hit or miss in getting a good CFI instructor here. There's a lot more good ones than bad, but one of my friends is pretty screwed for passing a stage check right now. It's his fault for not learning the stuff, but it's also the instructors fault for letting him progress through lessons as far as he has without making sure he learned anything. His instructor was close to moving on, infact was hired by horizon in December, so I think she might have been distracted by that. Which is pretty sad.

UND is more expensive because there's two blocks of training. The first is to bring you up to "CFI standards" as UND likes to call it. You should be able to fly to those standards already since they are just commercial pilot standards. The first block was a HUGE waste of time and money in my opinion. The lesson plan developement and practice instruction doesn't happen until the second block. Some do make you start teaching right away, which again is a waste of time in the first block in my opinion. Lesson plans take forever to put together and I would have definitly gone crazy if I had to do that for 30 lessons instead of 14.

I'd go with one of the options of moving back to California given your situation.
 
My student set a record for lowest course cost ever with current rates applied. Passed both stage checks and completed the course with bare minimum 25 hours.

I combine several briefings for him also. He spent just $5,000 (doesn't include tuition, but he was taking 18 credits, so you could say it was free).

But if I were you Jace, I'd go somewhere and get all three knocked out right away. I'm not sure what you want with your career, but you can't beat having your MEI, CFII, and CFI.
 
stuckingfk said:
My student set a record for lowest course cost ever with current rates applied. Passed both stage checks and completed the course with bare minimum 25 hours.

I combine several briefings for him also. He spent just $5,000 (doesn't include tuition, but he was taking 18 credits, so you could say it was free).

But if I were you Jace, I'd go somewhere and get all three knocked out right away. I'm not sure what you want with your career, but you can't beat having your MEI, CFII, and CFI.
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Thanks man, appreciate the advice. I think the plan will be to do my training outside of UND. I can't wait to start CFI training. :)

My goal is to become a corporate pilot. I am not leaving the airlines out as a possibility, but I am aiming towards the corporate route. Flying a King Air or Citation would be awesome! :nana2:
 
JaceTheAce said:
Thanks man, appreciate the advice. I think the plan will be to do my training outside of UND. I can't wait to start CFI training. :)

My goal is to become a corporate pilot. I am not leaving the airlines out as a possibility, but I am aiming towards the corporate route. Flying a King Air or Citation would be awesome! :nana2:
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get it away from UND. the first block wasn't a total waste for me since that knowledge i had forgetton and then i learned how to teach, but other than the first block wasn't really worth it
 
JaceTheAce said:
Thanks man, appreciate the advice. I think the plan will be to do my training outside of UND. I can't wait to start CFI training. :)

My goal is to become a corporate pilot. I am not leaving the airlines out as a possibility, but I am aiming towards the corporate route. Flying a King Air or Citation would be awesome! :nana2:
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You mean Slow-tation? :) Unless you're talking the citation X of course. :D
 
JaceTheAce said:
Thanks man, appreciate the advice. I think the plan will be to do my training outside of UND. I can't wait to start CFI training. :)

My goal is to become a corporate pilot. I am not leaving the airlines out as a possibility, but I am aiming towards the corporate route. Flying a King Air or Citation would be awesome! :nana2:
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I say option #2. Or pay ATP $32k for the "luxury" of skipping instructing!

:rolleyes: ;)

Oh, and good thing you have some really good corporate networking contacts over on that "other" site!

:)
 
nearly anywhere.

ATP's quoting 8-10K for the CFI.

seriously I don't see why you couldn't do the course for less than 3,000$easy. A cheap 150 or 172 to learn and instruct from the right seat for a few hours and then a few hours in a hi-po/complex airplane to finish up. I'd say you should have it in less than 10 hours in the airplane easy.

The CFI is 99% knowledge. You don't need to waste money in the plane when you should be hittin books. Your commercial shows you know how to fly, all you need now is the instructional knowledge.

Go back to CALI, study and study hard. Be done in a month.

Plus i don't think the CFI is the rating you wanna rush through in a 14 day course.
 
Texasspilot said:
nearly anywhere.

ATP's quoting 8-10K for the CFI.

seriously I don't see why you couldn't do the course for less than 3,000$easy. A cheap 150 or 172 to learn and instruct from the right seat for a few hours and then a few hours in a hi-po/complex airplane to finish up. I'd say you should have it in less than 10 hours in the airplane easy.

The CFI is 99% knowledge. You don't need to waste money in the plane when you should be hittin books. Your commercial shows you know how to fly, all you need now is the instructional knowledge.

Go back to CALI, study and study hard. Be done in a month.

Plus i don't think the CFI is the rating you wanna rush through in a 14 day course.
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Exactly what I intend to do. There's a cheap 152 available that I could be doing my CFI in. There are other options as well with flying clubs and freelance instructors. I'd rather study on my own than go through an intensive 5-credit university CFI ground school course. I'm just giving myself a safe estimate and going with around $4500, but my goal would be to make it around $3000.

After that I could be instructing and after getting a bit of instructing experience get my CFII.
 
meritflyer said:
Dude, its $5995 and 14 days.

EDIT: That includes all your books as well.
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Cost: $5,995 to $6,995

Designated Pilot Examiners’ Fees
Examiners’ fees are not included in the course cost. These fees range from $1100 to $1350 depending on the location and are payable directly to the examiners in cash only.

so 5995 + housing + examiners fee + food + tax = 8000$ easy and thats if you complete the program in there minimum time.
 
Pretty self explanatory, but make sure you get a good instructor for CFI wherever you do it. My instructor wasn't the most exciting person to fly with, but he knew his crap and made sure I did too. When I got to the checkride (and now with real instructing) I'm extremely thankful he made me work so hard.

What made me think of this was seeing the "$xxxx for 14 days thing". I'm not saying it can't be done right in such a short amount of time...but just make sure you're not only training for the checkride.
 
Texasspilot said:
Cost: $5,995 to $6,995

Designated Pilot Examiners’ Fees
Examiners’ fees are not included in the course cost. These fees range from $1100 to $1350 depending on the location and are payable directly to the examiners in cash only.

so 5995 + housing + examiners fee + food + tax = 8000$ easy and thats if you complete the program in there minimum time.
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I wouldnt say 1100-1350. You initial with the FAA is free. I paid the DE $300 cash each for both add-ons. ACPP students get housing for free. In Vegas you can get a cheap hotel for $59 per night.

Nevertheless, I still say its one of the best values out there.
 
meritflyer said:
I wouldnt say 1100-1350. You initial with the FAA is free. I paid the DE $300 cash each for both add-ons. ACPP students get housing for free. In Vegas you can get a cheap hotel for $59 per night.

Nevertheless, I still say its one of the best values out there.
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Do they take care of the room if you are an ACPP?
 
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