Damn, so comes down to a ballpark figure of $11ish a work hour(pre-tax) to teach non-native English speakers the foundation of their flying skills from which they will build upon for the rest of their careers transporting hundreds of thousands of people across the world as airline pilots? Seriously, your first student could be the next Al Haynes in the left seat of a stricken and fully-loaded 777-300ER in 2046 thinking back to the original theory of flight as you taught it to him. That's BS. I know, get your time and get out, and I respect the hell out of those of you who do it and make it work, but seriously? Now, what I'm about to type out is not aimed at your nor any other person individually. It's for everyone starting out in a flying career.
Put this into perspective, the importance of what you're doing and how much money the school has to be making from the contracts with these carriers. CFI's make $65-80/hr(pre-tax) out here to teach bored techies, doctors, and the like how to fly for a few weeks at a time before they throw in the towel or become a weekend warrior long enough to get laid a few times and then stop flying altogether. Sure, very few of them fly as much as a TransPac CFI, but I'll guarantee they still come out ahead financially. And these knuckleheads think it's all good in the hood to barely dish out $10/hr to you guys? I swear, pilots are their own worse enemies by taking these jobs. You are your own best leverage. I know everyone wants to move on, now is a magical time where most hit 1,500 and eventually get at least an interview with the carrier of their choice. But why the hell should you have to starve to get there when there are so many options to build time that pay decently and are a lot less work? Yes, I know, seniority is everything. I get that. But even if you need time fast, there are options out there like survey that will work you just as hard or harder but pay you accordingly.
Unity. It is the one thing that can save the profession. Not whining to Joe books-a-10-hour-layover-to-save-$25 Smith about pilot pay or going to the media. Unity. Look at Great Lakes. What's happening there? They have one of the hardest 121 gigs you can find out there, flying through all kinds of terrain and weather in a B1900 with no autopilot. Yet they pay jack poo-poo. Well, now that there are so many options to a pilot qualified for Lakes 121 ops, almost NO ONE wants to fly there and they're going to hell in a hand basket. So, what is the difference between this and that? Logic says if an employer offers a job and no one is willing to do it for the wages, that employer either has to close shop or raise wages to attract qualified workers. You guys are freggin' Commercial Pilots/Flight Instructors. The world is your damn oyster, why would you sell yourselves short like this? Each of us is an individual who makes our own choices and decisions in this life. Does any commercial pilot think all they are worth is $28k a year agreeing to 50 hour weeks? No. There are other options that will lead to just as much networking, knowledge, and stick and rudder skills. It is not take a gig like this or kiss your dreams of professional flying goodbye. If people were honest with themselves and their self worth, these kind of gigs would disappear or pay a hell of a lot better. It all starts with you.
Again, by no means at all is this a slam on anyone there. You guys are CFI's, I'm a 220 hour private pilot. You've already accomplished more than I have in flying. People starting out in this career seem to have blinders, like a train with too much inertia to stop focused solely on getting that flight time wherever they can. In this, they forget that the world doesn't cease to go about it's business. Any one of them(us) could be dead tomorrow so they need to get the best they can NOW while working towards their goals of tomorrow. And that is no one's fault, it is the way most of us are wired. Best of luck, and I do mean that. However, I hope you keep this in the back of your head. I don't know you but I'd bet you're worth a hell of a lot more than that. Try and see the big picture. The world NEEDS pilots. Mass drone transports are at least decades upon decades away. Air commerce keeps the modern world a float. Now who is more important than the people training the pilots of tomorrow?
Know your worth.
