Some additional information on being a flight instructor at DCA.
Schedules are different at each location. The satellites (Jacksonville, Fort Lauderdale, and New Bedford, MA) typically work on a normal 5-6 day schedule, usually Monday thru Friday or Saturday, depending on whether or not the instructor wants to work the extra day. The main location at Sanford, FL (SFB) works differently. At SFB, instructors bid for their schedules depending on their seniority in their current assignment. The bid is for a 5-day work schedule, but many work an extra day. The choice to work the extra day is the instructor's.
Instructors sign an agreement that gets them an interview at the end of 800 hours of dual instruction given in airplanes. As most instructors are successful on this interview (currently Comair and Chatauqua are hiring), they typically leave the Academy around the time of that interview and start class within a month or so of that date. In special circumstances, instructors not hired by an airline may be asked to stay on. One such situation might be if that instructor was designated as a Check Instructor, had a good employment record, and requested to stay on. In some circumstances and for exceptional instructors, the Academy has been successful in getting the instructor another interview at another airline.
Patrick Murphy
Director of Training