pilot602
If specified, this will replace the title that
wheelsup said:You sound like a stage check instructor.
"What if you were flying all alone, at night, and the weather suddenly went from VFR to 0-0, which was totally unforecasted, and you didn't have any IFR charts with you and your flashlight batteries died and your headset broke and your radios are only picking up static? Do you feel lucky?".
Unfortunately, life is full of "what if's?". The same flight school he would be instructing at could lose 80% of their fleet in a hurricane, like mine did.
CFi'ing is probably the safest way of "time building" that we do. But in the long run, you're working toward an end goal of XXX hours to be hired by XXX company. As with anything in life, there are risks invovled...but I'm not really sure thats the issue here, or maybe it is? I dunno.
Just like investing, there are ways to make more money or get to your goal faster. They're just riskier.
~wheelsup
The number one sign of a good pilot is "always having an out."
Sure life is full of what ifs, but that doesn't mean you go through life with a laisie faire attitude. It behooves anyone, especially pilots, to always have a plan b, plan c and plan d.
A low time pilot with a few hours in a jet is about as marketable as a square tire.
Just an interesting note, everyone in my class and 98% of the pilots at my current employer were active CFIs. Not trying to prove that CFI'ing is the only way to do things but those kind of numbers say something.
And another note ... CFIs is far more than time building. You're learning skills that will serve for a very long time. I don't believe everyone should instruct but I don't think it's a bad idea if everyone tried it.