How do you get by?

socapilot

socapilot

New Member
All this statistical talk of flight instuctors earning $70K a year is bull. Not even in the UK you earn more than £15K full time. How do you Flight instructors get by on around or less than $10K a year?? If you got a wife/husband and kids and a house to maintain, how do you do it? I'd really like to hear any personal testimonies.
 
A hard working, and very understanding spouse. No kids. And very careful budgeting. I knew what I was getting into, so I paid off everything before getting started, and then paid cash for all of my training. I could not imagine doing this with kids and debts. It would be more stressful than it's worth. When I go back in my head and think about it, every flight instructor I've known, with a few notable exceptions, has had some kind of secondary support, either from family, investments, retirement, or a second (sometimes third) job.
 
I have a full-time job that is flexible so if needed I can leave work to go fly, then return back to work.
 
I work at FSI, and have averaged about $20k a year since I started here. I guess the big secret to surviving as a CFI is not to work somewhere where the weather is bad or there are no students.
 
call mom and dad and ask them to push their "golden years" or empty nest years back another couple years. If they agree you get to live there for free. once you get a regional job beware because the 1st year pay isnt much better and the parents get call blocking because they want to enjoy their retirement/empty nest in peace.... whew.
 
I buy canned cat food and dog food! Tasty meaty meals for a quarter if you get it on sale. MMMMMM!
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