Effects of the economy

Ruff T

Well-Known Member
I was curious to find out how the economy is affecting some of my fellow CFI's out there. I can say that in the North East - Boston area to be exact, the number of students has significantly decreased, and continueing to fall because now some of the people that could get loans to fund their training are having a hard time getting them. I unfortunately started teaching right before the economy really started to become the number one issue and people couldn't spend money anymore. Right now most of my students only fly once a week, and some twice, which is usually during the weekend. I don't have that many students, so my schedule during the week is very spotty, and it hurts to look at my paycheck. The owner of the flight school that I work at says that we have to be available to work 6 days a week (full time), so it makes it tough to get a part time job cause I try to take any student I can, even if I have to come in for one student a day :banghead:. I was wondering how you guys out there are doing.
 
I was curious to find out how the economy is affecting some of my fellow CFI's out there. I can say that in the North East - Boston area to be exact, the number of students has significantly decreased, and continueing to fall because now some of the people that could get loans to fund their training are having a hard time getting them. I unfortunately started teaching right before the economy really started to become the number one issue and people couldn't spend money anymore. Right now most of my students only fly once a week, and some twice, which is usually during the weekend. I don't have that many students, so my schedule during the week is very spotty, and it hurts to look at my paycheck. The owner of the flight school that I work at says that we have to be available to work 6 days a week (full time), so it makes it tough to get a part time job cause I try to take any student I can, even if I have to come in for one student a day :banghead:. I was wondering how you guys out there are doing.

Is there a slowdown? Sure. Is it related to the economy? Maybe. This time of year is typically slow for the industry. People go back to school, start new jobs, etc. There are typically less new students and more finishing students this time of year. The real gauge of whether the economy is hurting the flight training industry is going to come next Spring and Summer.

I WILL say the credit crunch is not helping things, though that is probably good for students. Interest rates rose for private loans, so even if you qualified with perfect credit and a lot of collateral, it wasn't a good deal.

Instructors and schools need to continue to evolve to continue to attract the potential students.

Michael
 
Not to sound down and out about GA, but from what I have seen, the average man has mostly been run off due to costs prior to the economic down turn. So who is left? Students that are getting loans are not affected. The rich that were coming out are still coming out. In my location, biz-nass as normal.
 
i want a break! i have 40-50 hours scheduled this week (ground/flight) but i also work at a huge flight school with many contract students, but only 2 of my 6 students are contracts.
 
I havent seen a drop off yet in students in California. I am expecting it though. Some of the other instructors at my airport are seeing a reduction in students.
 
i want a break! i have 40-50 hours scheduled this week (ground/flight) but i also work at a huge flight school with many contract students, but only 2 of my 6 students are contracts.


It helps when you work at a huge flight school that has a lot of contract students because you'll most likely have a steady stream of students. It's a whole different game when you work at a small FBO flight school, and the people you get are either rich people that have expendable income and want to learn to fly for pleasure, or the few people that seriously want to fly for a living. But those people who want to fly for a living sometime find it tough to get loans since the credit market is so tight right now.
 
It helps when you work at a huge flight school that has a lot of contract students because you'll most likely have a steady stream of students. It's a whole different game when you work at a small FBO flight school, and the people you get are either rich people that have expendable income and want to learn to fly for pleasure, or the few people that seriously want to fly for a living. But those people who want to fly for a living sometime find it tough to get loans since the credit market is so tight right now.
i know, i did the small FBO thing too ;) i had a hard time staying busy even when the economy was "good". hence why i am at the school now, i can make a decent living and only work 1 job
 
i know, i did the small FBO thing too ;) i had a hard time staying busy even when the economy was "good". hence why i am at the school now, i can make a decent living and only work 1 job


If we had those kinds of flight schools up here, I would do the same thing. So for me to do that, I'd have to pack up my life and move, and I'm not in a position to do that right now :(. So I'll be sticking it out here for a while and hope things don't last this way for too long.
 
I work at a university, so all of our fall students enrolled this spring when the hiring boom was still going on and the economy hadn't tanked. It will be interesting to see what happens to enrollment this spring.
 
I've been up to my ears in work, but some of the instructors at my school are hurting. But I wouldn't peg it down to the economy solely. Summer's over. An active hurricane season got a lot of students out of their training habits. Training prices still haven't retreated from their high-fuel price maximums. We've also had a rush of instrument students lately, which leaves the non-CFI-Is sitting on their hands.

There are too many factors at this point to single out the economy as the driving factor in a training slowdown. That may change as we get a longer perspective. I am concerned, generally, about the credit crunch, but I suspect that will hurt large academies where a lot of students are on loans more than the type of operation at which I work.

Regardless, I gave up on the idea of a stable paycheck some time ago. Bloody students going and passing their checkrides and putting me out of work...
 
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