Flight Schools

sm203900

sm203900

Well-Known Member
I have recently graduated from a 141 flight school and I am search of flight schools in Northern Ohio. My main question is about a place that i have been recently hired at. It is a part 61 school that requires you to pay to be checked out in all of their airplanes, who only pays you when you are on instructional flights, not including demo, maintenace, charter flights. I am looking to fly for a reputable flight school, but do not feel that it is right to be asked to be there forty hours a week, if not more, answering phones, and bugging people to go fly for free. I understand that CFI's are often underappreciated and underpaid, but i was wondering if this seems that it is extreme or just part of the business. I am in need of building flight hours, but at the same time I do not believe that i should be playing the role of the salvation air force...any advice that you can give me is appreciated
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Charter flights? If you're flying charter flights, please tell me this school has a 135 cert. When yuo say demo, what kind fo demo? MX flights? I won't do that crap for free...
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the flight school itself, does not have a 135 certificate, but they have a related business that does. I know that CFI's do not make the greatest living, but I think that it is bad when a place expects you to run their offices and do all of the business work while waiting around to get maybe one flight a day, and if you do not get a flight you have worked 8 hours for free
 
I have a flight today at 1300, so I'll show at about...1245. Nothing for free.

OK, instructor meetings, I do for free. That's it.

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It is a part 61 school that requires you to pay to be checked out in all of their airplanes, who only pays you when you are on instructional flights, not including demo, maintenace, charter flights.

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If you are flying as a required crewmember, you should be getting paid for it.

If you are doing ground instruction, then you should be getting paid for it.

CFIs don't get paid much, but you should be gettting paid for when you are actually working.

This place has a wee bit of an odor (if you know what I mean).
 
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OK, instructor meetings, I do for free. That's it.


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Um, they should at least have cookies or donuts at those meetings. Nothing for free, there better be food involved if money isn't. After all, CFIs need to eat somehow!
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As far as demo and MX flights for free, hell no I wouldn't do it for free! I assume by "demo" flight you mean discovery or intro flight? Well, they can technically log that flight as instruction, therefore you're giving instruction, therefore you should be PAID for instructing. Same thing with ground. If it's loggable in the log book, it's loggable in the accounts payable book.
 
That does not sound like a good arrangement to me. I am a fulltime flight instructor, and I set my own hours. The only thing that my boss asks is that we do not make the time off excessive so that our students do not suffer. I am not expected to answer phones or the like, we have front desk personel that handle those jobs. If I do any office work, I am to fill out a timecard saying what I did and I will be paid, if I fly a maintenance flight I am paid. Full time instructors are given standardization flights for free (although if the airplane requires an extensive checkout, ie. our Garmin 1000 course or not meeting the make and model requirements for a twin, we must pay for all but an hour of flight time that would be the normal standardization flight). That being said, part time instructors do pay for stand flights, since most do not fly with our students regularly thus do not bring much income to the school. The only thing I am not paid for is my weekly CFI meeting, but I that doesn't bother me, and I cannot think of another flight school I would rather work for.
 
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OK, instructor meetings, I do for free. That's it.


[/ QUOTE ]

Um, they should at least have cookies or donuts at those meetings. Nothing for free, there better be food involved if money isn't. After all, CFIs need to eat somehow!
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Well, we are fed at the meetings, and that's what counts!!
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.
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OK, instructor meetings, I do for free. That's it.
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How about six to eight hours of CFI meetings not paid!
And you must be there or your job maybe "evaluated"
 
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How about six to eight hours of CFI meetings not paid!
And you must be there or your job maybe "evaluated"

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I wouldn't do it....an hour and a half every two weeks!
 
You should be compensated for all work and please don't work for nothing. If you are required to work behind the desk, take the trash out, move the aircraft, refuel, you get the picture, you is pay due. Don't let the ba$*#rds get you down!!!
 
Sorry, that it has taken me so long to respond, but things have been crazy. I have indeed left that flight school, after their last dumba$$ request. They wanted me to fly a 152 with the right brake inoperative, i cannot imagine a place that is more negligent. Currently I am looking into other areas of aviation and flight instructing on the side. This place takes the cake, when i quoted the FARS about safety and so forth they looked at me as if I was speaking a foreign language. I forgot who is responsible for maintaining aircraft in an airworthy manner, oh, that is right, it is the owner/operator. And who is responsible for determining if the aircraft is airworthy, oh, that is the pic, not worth my safety/career to make sure that they can save a few bucks by not contracting out the repairs, oh and they got pissed that I would not fly it....exact words were "that is fine, I'll find a real pilot to fly it".
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Hey, if you don't mind, PM me (or post here, I don't care) the name of that school. I live in the same area and am wondering if I've instructed for this gem of a flight school in the past....Thanks.
 
SM,

Glad to hear you're out of there. You weren't down in Georgia, were you? JK That's the same crap that the flight school I just quit was trying. Extremely shoddy mx. Had an oil leak and knew about it and told mx people not to fix it. The tach went out when one of my former studs was soloing so they finally had to take it to the shop and found a crack in the block. Now the flight school is basically out of business...the jerk of an owner is still selling gift certs, though, even though he can't pay to fix the a/c.

Oh yeah, maintenance flights he didn't allow. So, right after 100 hour I had to fly with a stud. One of the last straws. His name will be handed over to the FAA soon!
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Good luck out there and fly safe.

tx
 
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