Super CFI Pay?

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Dude, for $50 he better be the best CFI in the country. Either that or the only on in the city.

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Kell I've been charging $50/hr for a couple years now. I'm even considering raising it, because I don't want to fly as much as I am.

How much would you pay a lawyer?
 
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Probably. My 135 ride cost the company $500.

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Luckly your company paid for that...we can only hope.

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They did indeed, and all of the training too. No contract, no nothing. Believe it or not (I hardly did), there's still a few decent places out there.
 
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Kell I've been charging $50/hr for a couple years now. I'm even considering raising it, because I don't want to fly as much as I am.

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JT, if I could afford it, I'd pay that for you b/c of the years of airline experience, etc that you bring to the table. After re-thinking me previous post, if the other guy charging $50 had been flight instructing for decades, I would probably pay that. Odds are he's pretty much seen or done almost everything in a small plane (and probably some bigger ones). I have a bad habit of jumping on here first thing after I wake up (not that I'm addicted or anything), so a lot of my thoughts aren't coherent, or I look at later and say "Why did I say that?" This is one of them.
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Wonder what the folks at FlightSafety or SimuFlite or any of the simulator trainers get? Are they pulling up the average?
 
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You COULD get paid $30/hr. If you freelance and find someone willing to pay that. Then again, it would probably come out to the same paycheck in the end unless you had a boat load of students lined up.

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There's a local school here in the Nashville area that charges $32.50/hour for an instructor, and the CFI gets $27.50 of it. They actually have quite a few students.
 
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JT, if I could afford it, I'd pay that for you b/c of the years of airline experience, etc that you bring to the table. After re-thinking me previous post, if the other guy charging $50 had been flight instructing for decades, I would probably pay that. Odds are he's pretty much seen or done almost everything in a small plane (and probably some bigger ones). I have a bad habit of jumping on here first thing after I wake up (not that I'm addicted or anything), so a lot of my thoughts aren't coherent, or I look at later and say "Why did I say that?" This is one of them.
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LOL Yeah I've never done that of course
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FSI pays very nice, about 60K is my understanding, but don't think a CFI is going to walk in this kind of job. Most of the instructors I've had at FSI are retired Military or Airline pilots or pilots with vast experience and mechanical backgrounds, and most of them are instructing at FSI because they've lost thier medicals. The best money I made as an instructor was about 60K a year ... as a Military Instructor Pilot.
 
I'm assuming the FSI is the simulator Flight Safety that does re-current training for airlines, corporate, etc. If the CFIs in Vero got $60K a year, some would never leave.
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If the CFIs in Vero got $60K a year, some would never leave.
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Nooo, they pay $60K a year to work there!!!!
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People will pay $90/hr for a tennis-pro, or $110/hr for a golf-pro (both of which the "pro" usually only means they did one or two tours on the pro-circuit, finished last and started teaching) or $80/hr for a car mechanic but then they'll turn around and b*tch about paying a CFI $30/hr.

WTFO
 
True that!

We asked about golf lessons down at the local "Fiddlestix" driving range, and it's like $105 an hour.
 
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If the CFIs in Vero got $60K a year, some would never leave.
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Nooo, they pay $60K a year to work there!!!!
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Must....resist.....the urge.....to flame.........
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Nah, just kidding. I know you're joking.



You are joking, right?
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Well, basically the same crowd that stands in line for a $4.25 venti-sized toffee nut iced latte but is glued to the news when CNN reports that the average cost of gasoline is up $.02
 
Maybe it's referring to 'professional' instructors at places like simcom or something.

I'd bet the senior ones would be up around that high.

~wheelsup
 
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Maybe it's referring to 'professional' instructors at places like simcom or something.


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Reminds me of when I slipped a few days ago when a flight attendant asked if Kristie and I had kids... "No, she's got a job!" (angry stare), "I mean, aww nevermind".
 
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People will pay $90/hr for a tennis-pro, or $110/hr for a golf-pro (both of which the "pro" usually only means they did one or two tours on the pro-circuit, finished last and started teaching) or $80/hr for a car mechanic but then they'll turn around and b*tch about paying a CFI $30/hr.

WTFO

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This is so far from the truth about golf pros. Every pro I have ever dealt with didn't want to play on tour. They just enjoy teaching the game of golf and just being around the golf course.

Many PGA Touring Pros, if not all, have at least one coach. Most of these coaches weren't former Touring Pros either, they just know the game and how to teach it.

I think this pay is all on perception, flight students don't want to pay a 20 year old CFI $40 an hour because he/she doesn't think they should be paid that much. But with golf, teaching pros can demand what they want because they can easily turn away business. They have established a reputation and will charge accordingly because business will always be there for them, especially if they are good and have earned that reputation.

I could be a professional golfer without a doubt, but there is no way in hell I could teach the game of golf to someone. I just get up there and swing, and try to keep my head clear. But it seems like everyone who tries to be a CFI, eventually becomes one, even if they suck. A crappy golf pro won't teach for very long, that is for sure.
 
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flight students don't want to pay a 20 year old CFI $40 an hour because he/she doesn't think they should be paid that much.

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Hey, I'll go with that. I'm 39. Four of the instructors at my FBO are in their late 50's. By your example, we/they should be making over $40/hr. Please drop a letter to my FBO General Manager and let them know.

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But with golf, teaching pros can demand what they want because they can easily turn away business.

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And so should flight instructors. Problem is - we all have to be flight hour [expletive deleted] because we know that if we DON'T settle for very little money, some bigger [expletive deleted] will. The flight schools and students know this too.

That's the problem with your analogy. Playing golf will not kill you if you miss a birdie putt.

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A crappy golf pro won't teach for very long, that is for sure.

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And a truly crappy CFI won't either.
 
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And a truly crappy CFI won't either.

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Where I am at, they do. And it sucks.

And about pay, I feel that most CFI's are underpaid, very underpaid infact. Mostly, that is the FBO's or Academy's fault, but sometimes theirs.

My analogy wasn't the greatest, but comparing a CFI to a teaching golf pro was absurd.
 
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Where I am at, they do. And it sucks.

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Yup. That does suck. Come to FL in a couple of months and you'll have a GREAT one - me!
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At the very least, I'm eager.
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My analogy wasn't the greatest, but comparing a CFI to a teaching golf pro was absurd.

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I don't know that 602 was necessarily COMPARING the two, just making an anology of his own as to what people are willing to dishout absurd amounts of money for and what they're not.

Either way... yes, CFI's are grossly underpaid for what they are expected to do.
 
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