N918KT wrote:This question is for all the CFIs and Sport Pilot CFIs out there. Is it possible to make a living out of working as a CFI or maybe even a Sport Pilot CFI? Or is this more of a hobby or side job that one does instead of making this their main career? There are a few times where I thought that maybe one day if I obtained my Sport Pilot Certificate, I could continue to flight train for a Sport Pilot CFI and work for a flight school specializing in sport pilot training as a Sport Pilot CFI (or at least at a flight school with sport pilot training).
Can you define 'make a living'. I think it's possible at the bigger institutions , like Embrey Riddle, you could 'make a living' as in you can survive enough to feed yourself and pay your bills if you're single and can live cheaply.
From my own experience I worked at a hospital in the Northeast whilst I was getting my licenses etc. As soon as I got my CFI the chief CFI hired me. Since I only ever got paid for the hours that I actually flew, and not the hundreds where I sat around waiting, the pay-check was way too low for me to live on. I was also married with a daughter. CFI pay was chump change basically.
What I did do was spend many hours juggling my schedule into a 'part-time' one even though I was full-time. Needs must.
I shifted my hospital job to a night supervisor position with more pay and less work. The other supervisor and I would take split naps during the shift.
I switched CFI jobs a couple of times. One place tried to work me from sunrise to sunset, literally. I pushed back and the boss always seemed surprised since he thought he 'owned me' . He didn't know about my night job.
I eventually went to a bigger place which had more work rules and scheduled days off. With skill and cunning I was able to juggle my schedule so that I didn't work back to back at either job, at night and during the day. It wasn't easy. All the same it got old quickly and was tiring. As soon as a corporate co-pilot job came along I took it.
Being a CFI for yourself is one thing, working for someone else is another. No doubt there are some great schools with a great work culture. Most, however, believe you will almost sell your soul to build hours and so will have you at their beck and call. It gets old when you're there for a 7am student, have one at noon, and another after work at 5pm and the rest of the day you're sitting there doing nothing and making nothing, probably doing go-fer, make work jobs for the boss…because…he owns you. And for 3 hours pay.
One school I worked at had a traffic report contract at 8am and 5pm. Interesting but tough for me to get to from downtown at 7am after the night shift, and drive 30 miles for the traffic report slot. Basically, I had to fiddle schedules, create fictitious students at 8am who mysteriously cancelled and I forgot to remove them so I could get to work and not let a student down. The lady assistant CFI was nice about it but wagged her finger at me a few times. I figured I had to do what I had to do to survive, look after my family and get the best bang for the buck, for me. If it sounds bad figure the chief pilot was a jackass and an alcoholic , who was eventually fired for being found drunk under his desk at 8am one day. It didn't stop him for trying to bust every CFI's chops and humiliate and berate them every chance he got. He ruined what could have been a good first flying job.
This was my experience. I worked hard, did a pretty good job as a CFI if I say so myself, but I looked out for me and my family because nobody else did. If I lost the CFI job I still had a good paying job with benefits. All my employers didn't know this and thought I would do anything for them to make a buck, including some pretty dodgy things ,which to their surprise I refused.
Having been a student paying hard earned money for lessons, I tried my utmost to give them quality training and their money's worth. Many times the boss would just say get them in the air in marginal conditions so he could make money. One time I refused a plane because of a bald tire and the other CFI blew the tire on the second landing with his student and they went off the runway into the weeds.
It's tough to make money in aviation, as a business owner and as a pilot. My advice is to go into a CFI job with your eyes open, a good dose of reality, and a high level of personal integrity. I found instructing hugely rewarding on a personal level, and through hard work got me along the career path as a pilot, but as a job on it's own I personally couldn't make a living on it. As in home, car and family.
In most cases it's not so much a job as a rite of passage.
Just my two cents worth.