Average CFI Pay/Hours
- Thread starter Beech90
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Inverted25
Well-Known Member
When I instructed full time I got weekly salary plus a per hour rate for hours over 10 a week.
Tommay85
Well-Known Member
At the pilot factory I worked at(UND), average would be about 100-120 hours of pay, 60 hours flight time per month. This takes into account the end of the semester when the work winds down if not goes away completely. I personally averaged about 12-1500 a pay check, so 24-3000 per month. I free-lanced for a bit as well. A good month was 5k, but I had one month where I made less than 1000.
As far as attracting students, it was easy. At UND they just divied them out pretty evenly. Freelance, I was the only instructor for like a 50 mile radius from the field I flew out of.
There was never a shortage of students, but like I said, things dried up at the end of the semester, particularly the fall semester. You grabbed what you could as people went home for Chrismas. The second year I was there, I had ZERO work the entire month of December and first half of January. That was rough. I woud say pilot factory instructors don't have it near as bad as part 61 guys as far as finding work. In general of course. I know there's part 61 outfits that are plenty busy.
As far as attracting students, it was easy. At UND they just divied them out pretty evenly. Freelance, I was the only instructor for like a 50 mile radius from the field I flew out of.
There was never a shortage of students, but like I said, things dried up at the end of the semester, particularly the fall semester. You grabbed what you could as people went home for Chrismas. The second year I was there, I had ZERO work the entire month of December and first half of January. That was rough. I woud say pilot factory instructors don't have it near as bad as part 61 guys as far as finding work. In general of course. I know there's part 61 outfits that are plenty busy.
CLTflyer
Well-Known Member
Currently instructing now, just finished my first year. Hourly making $25 at one flight school, and $35 free lance. Times are slow in NC, flying 35-50hrs a month. So making 800-1300 a month. But I picked up a night job working a few hours a week sorting packages at UPS locally. So it's survivable. Going out and meeting people has brought me a lot of students, fly-in, EAA breakfast's, talking at the FBO'S have got a lot of recurring business.
popaviator
Well-Known Member
I started out at $15 per hour all the way up to my last CFI job where I was on a $1,400 base salary plus $20 per our. The pay scale typically depends on your experience and ratings as a CFI.
Tommay85
Well-Known Member
Some of my UND compadres did. My room mate delivered Pizzas for Dominos just for a little extra spending money. Depends on where you live too. 1500 a month could get you by in the Midwest, in the L.A. area, I'd be surprised.
I'm working as the assistant chief for a small part 141 school, making $20/hr ($23 on weekends), but since it's in Arizona, I get killed on pay during the summer and only make about $1000/mo from about June through September. Once it cools down, that goes up to around $1500/mo, so I'm slightly ahead of a co-worker who went to Great Lakes.
rd757
Well-Known Member
I work for decent sized flight school in SE Michigan and make a base salary with an hourly rate for everything over the initial 20 hours. It's not usually difficult to break 20hrs, but sometimes you do come up short (hurricanes) and are left with just the base pay. Right now through the summer/fall I've made anywhere from 800-2400/mo. The freelance market around here isn't that great, I don't think. There are some flying clubs in the area that have CFI's charging $50/hr and keeping it, but I have no idea what their student load is like.
Pay2
Oberkellner
The two schools I worked for paid $32 and $36 per hour and were able to keep my schedule full. Additionally, I free lanced for $50/hr. For the 3 years I instructed I was able to make between $2500 and $4000 per month. Being in the mountain west it was pretty easy to live off of. My first "real" flying job paid substantially less.
Mark815
Well-Known Member
Absolutely. I worked line at a corporate FBO. I don't know many CFIs who didn't have a side job. You gotta figure, especially if you're somewhere with iffy weather (like here in the Northeast), if you don't fly, you don't get paid. I probably spent 30ish hours/week at times at the airport when I was done working line service, and only got paid for a handful of those hours.
When I was a CFI, I made $22/hr, but only flew around 25-30hrs per month (and that was a good month). When I was teaching, the airlines had just started furloughing, and nobody was getting hired, therefore everyone was teaching. The flight schools were flooded with CFIs, and only a couple of the veteran CFIs ever had a full schedule.
A150K
Well-Known Member
The best CFI/CFII (not me. I charge 45
) at my home field charges 50/hr and trust me, he is worth it.
As a current (for now) instructor sadly enough I'm maxing out the part time payscale at $22/hr. Typically I put in around 120 hours a month, and around 60 of that is flying. 60 hours of ground is usually split up between ground schools (which are 30 hours of pay at our school) and 1-on-1 time with the student. Hope this helps.
To figure out my paycheck, subtract around 20.5% for tax purposes and that includes all the other odds and ends.
rd757
Well-Known Member
The best CFI/CFII (not me. I charge 45
I absolutely agree that the ones that charge (and are worth paying $50/hr for) and have the experience for that pay grade, should charge it. However, they are hiring newly minted ones and charging that rate. I guess if the clients are willing to pay it and feel that they're getting their money's worth, then more power to them.
I work on a sliding scale, depending on the hours billed, which can be good and bad. I'd like to have a solid pay rate for each hour, but if I break 60hrs, it's more than my friend who has a straight hourly (billable hour) pay rate for the amount of hours.