CFI Pay?

Adam

New Member
I know this is a tough question but on average what does a new CFI make? Do they usually per hour or salary? If its per hour is it flight hours or hours sitting around waiting for a student? Thanks!
 
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I know this is a tough question but on average what does a new CFI make?

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Depends on whether their other job is at Burger King or Home Depot.
 
Adam, where I am from it can go either way. Either you are paid by the flight hour (also included at my FBO is a $100/week base pay you get regardless), or you can be on salary. Personally I would choose hourly pay, because if you go on salary you will probably be required to do other crappy work for the FBO like cleaning hangar floors and vacuuming and washing aircraft, etc. If you are on hourly flight pay, doing those things makes you look good, not like you are just doing your job. Just my opinion though.
 
I'm hourly, and I couldn't pay my electric or credit card bills last month. Second job, here I come.
 
I'm salary. I make $1500/mo. whether or not I even LOOK at an airplane. BUT, I do have to be available (and in the office if I'm not flying) for about 50 hours a week, which sucks. On the other hand, if my combined flight and ground time exceeds 30 hrs. a month, I make between $12.50 (pvt.) and $15 per hour (IFR/HP/Cplx) of flight/ground. That means on a good month, I can pull in $2000 a month. Almost on par with first year regional pay, actually. I'm not getting any multi time, but other than that, I'm getting lots of HP/complex and IFR time, so thats cool. Overall its not a bad gig.
 
Want a good laugh? Check out salary.com. According to them
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The median expected salary for a typical Flight Instructor in Denver, CO, is $76,915.

[/ QUOTE ]Little too urban for you , how about this bustling metropolis:[ QUOTE ]
The median expected salary for a typical Flight Instructor in Amarillo, TX, is $67,814.

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Hint: to look for the salary.com BS for your area, choose "aviation and airlines" from the drop-down, but after that, don't use the drop-down categories. Instead put "flight instructor" in the find box.
 
I get $15 per hour for flight time or briefing. I get no benefits or base pay. I work a second job to pay the rent. But I really enjoy it, It's great to get paid for flying an airplane.
 
Don't get me wrong. I love my job. But in the first three months of it I've averaged about $550/month. Not quite cutting the mustard! I knew what I was getting into. I guess I hadn't mentally prepared as much as I had thought, though.
 
$76,915 for a CFI? Riiight!
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76,915 divided by 52 (weeks in a year) = 1479.13 per week

1479.13 divided by 40 hours (average work week) = $36.99 per hour.

I'll bet you a steak dinner that career.com or whomever produced the results called a couple of flight schools, asked when they charge for CFI's, averaged it out and falsely assumed that a CFI is paid that per hour for an 8-hour workday in a 40-hour week regardless if he flies or not.
 
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I'll bet you a steak dinner that career.com or whomever produced the results called a couple of flight schools, asked when they charge for CFI's, averaged it out and falsely assumed that a CFI is paid that per hour for an 8-hour workday in a 40-hour week regardless if he flies or not.


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Exactly! My FBO charges customers anywhere between $30 and $45 an hour for us depending on the type of instruction...so with that logic, I too would be making $77k a year!
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I'll bet you a steak dinner that .....

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Mmmmm. Steak. Not that I have any misguided ideas about winning it...at least not on this topic
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Speaking of SNA, if you see an MD-90 depart around 12:45-ish on sunday, that's me doing flight 1047!
 
I messed up big time, I didn't know that I could have been paid when I instructed. I paid the FBO $ 10.00 per hr. for single engine time and $ 20.00 per hr. for multi engine time for the flight experience. It was the cheapest way to build flight time quickly and cheaply.
 
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I messed up big time, I didn't know that I could have been paid when I instructed. I paid the FBO $ 10.00 per hr. for single engine time and $ 20.00 per hr. for multi engine time for the flight experience. It was the cheapest way to build flight time quickly and cheaply.

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C'mon. Really??

Sounds like somebody owes you some $$ back.
 
That wasn't in Ohio by any chance, was it? Because my boss WOULD do something like that- charging CFI's to instruct.

Hell, he practically already does...we had to pay to get checked out in all of the airplanes, we have to pay for our own charts and supplies, we don't get a discount on rentals, and we don't get time off.
 
Yeah
I'm kidding, but you see how stupid it sounds yet there are still people willing to pay for a job, go fiqure.

I stoped by the local FBO today and was very shocked to see what they charge for Dual ( $ 38 ) and then what they "pay"( $16 ) thier CFIs. The best a CFI could do is if he/she maxed out multi instruction each pay period is 20K a year, the Chief Pilot told me the average was about 10K a year. I've forgotten how hard it is. I don't see how these career changers can do unless there is some financiall help.
 
Loans, loans and more loans. I will be up to my eyeballs in debt once its all said and done. It was the only way I could swing it, and although I will be paying these loans off for the better part of my life, it will be a lot better than working some crappy 9 to 5 job or something even worse.

The optimal way to do it is to get a pilot slot in the AF or ANG and get hours in return for your service. Not a bad deal at all if you are military material. Im not.
 
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I messed up big time, I didn't know that I could have been paid when I instructed. I paid the FBO $ 10.00 per hr. for single engine time and $ 20.00 per hr. for multi engine time for the flight experience. It was the cheapest way to build flight time quickly and cheaply.

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I think there was a deal like that back in the early 1990's somewhere during the peak of the 'buy a job' shark attacks!
 
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