Sport Pilot Talk

Hello everyone. I've been working on my sport cfi with a school that would allow me to instruct after obtaining the rating. I'm about half way complete with the training and have found that flight training at the school has been very slow lately; the future existence of the school may be in jeopardy. Would you continue on with the training or if you had funds available possible pursue a commercial and cfi rating? I truly like light sport, but I realize this is just as much as a business decision as a personal one. Thanks.

The two options are not mutually exclusive, Mo. There's no reason you can't complete the CFI-SP, and still continue on later for the commercial and Subpart H CFI. The experience will pay off some day, in ways you cannot now imagine. No amount of education is ever wasted.

Mo, what you do seems like it should depend in part on the nature of the other schools. Are the other training programs nearby? How many of them are there? How many offer SPL training such as you hope to do? If there are other schools offering SPL training, are they healthier over all than the one you are training at now?

Often, a flight school will tend to hire a qualified instructor who has formerly been a student because they have confidence in the training s/he has received, and because the school has come to know the person and believes there is a 'fit' with their instructional program. So that's one potential advantage of switching now vs. later. Is the trend at your existing school long-term, or is this a near-term dip in a generally active school? (I would think we're now in the season where schools would become more active). If the school you are at consistently has few SPL students, where are your instructor hours & opportunities going to come from?

I'd weigh all those factors in such a decision. I agree with Paul that the near-term and longer-term goals you have are not mutually exclusive. But depending on your A's to the Q's above, you may have some near-term decision making to do.

mhaleem wrote:Hello everyone. I've been working on my sport cfi with a school that would allow me to instruct after obtaining the rating. I'm about half way complete with the training and have found that flight training at the school has been very slow lately; the future existence of the school may be in jeopardy. Would you continue on with the training or if you had funds available possible pursue a commercial and cfi rating? I truly like light sport, but I realize this is just as much as a business decision as a personal one. Thanks.

Marketing is VERY important for flight schools. I think that if I can ever sell my Taylorcraft and swap it out for the plane I want, I'll be able to at least sustain my family and I on the pay. If they don't have many students, the question is why?

Ryan

Mo,
Think 'business-wise'. Is this Sport CFI job your main source of income, or a supplement? I ask because back in the day when I was a CFI there was no way I could manage a wife and kids on CFI pay. Instead I worked 3rd shift and instructed 3 days a week on my days off. The extra cash was good and so was the flying.

I looked at the 'business' of running my life and family and not just the business prospects of the flight school. Just as well as one school tried to leverage my need to build flight time with giving me all sorts of crap jobs etc In the end they leveraged me out to another school and I didn't look back. They assumed I would just suck it up but they didn't know I had a regular night job so I didn't "need" them.

In your case, I would be realistic and figure where the students will be and where the demand is. The current market for Light Sport and PPL flying is very slow. I know because I've been trying several schools in my region. One CTLS school just closed and I thought they were quite busy. Another one, which has a C162 which I'd been flying, is pretty much a zero in customer service. $130 hr and they can't be bothered to pull the aircraft out of the hangar or check when customers are coming in. Okay, so they lost my business and the plane is hardly flying. Go figure.

If I were you I would work on the CFI which provides you the greatest return whether it be $$, flight hours, or job satisfaction...hopefully all three. Do what is best for YOU...I'm pretty sure no one else is going to worried about YOU, unfortunately. Looks like you already know that your school isn't doing that well.

It's not personal...it's just business!

cheers, Howard.