Rewards of flight instructing (temporary/career)

[kloee]

What rewards do you get being a flight instructor and is it satisfying? Does it make you happy being in aviation OTHER THAN THE CRAPPY WAGES!

[Shiny Side Up]

If you don't already percieve there to be other reasons to instruct other than the excellent financial reward as you've already posited, then no one else will be able to convince you of them. People instruct because: a) It does offer good monetary compensation (unlikely), or b) They're morally bankrupt in a unique fashion (likely) like the rest of the mother-rapers, father-stabbers and father-rapers (!!!) on the bench that instruct as well and derive some sort of intangible compensation for their time.

[lownslow]

I really enjoyed my time instructing and looking back on it I wonder if I'll ever have it better than I did back then. For the most part I was working half days from Monday to Friday teaching some of the best students in the country and making a great wage while I did it. As with anything else it is what you make it so dedicate yourself to being the best you can and don't sell yourself short.

If you only want to start instructing solely to quit ASAP and do something "better" do not, I say again, DO NOT even begin instructing. It's patently irresponsible and a terrible disservice to the aviation scene in Canada.

LnS.

[Colonel Sanders]

I got into it for the groupies. Still looking for them.

[Bushav8er]

I got into it for the groupies. Still looking for them.

You're obviously not hanging out in the local bar wearing a flight suit - with gold bars, aviator shades and a big watch Try it, you'll like it.

[lownslow]

I got into it for the groupies. Still looking for them.

Find a girl at an airshow who is looking impressed by a C-130, strike up a conversation and tell her you fly a C-one-fifty.

LnS.

[Instructor_Mike]

Personally, I got into instructing because when I finished my commercial (about 3-4 years ago) instructors were in high demand due to Maylan coming to town and a good shuffle at higher levels. Unfortunately I ran out of money which slowed me down a lot and when I did an interview at a local school I was one of about 30 interviews for 2 positions :-/ Took me 2 years of spamming emails around to get a job but I love it now.

Yes the money is basically poverty level (depending on the school activity, weather, maintenance etc) but as long as you can wade through it on Kraft dinner it's a way to build time and experience. The schedule sucks too because it's all based on how many students you have and when they can/want to book. I don't schedule days off anymore but I usually get 1-2 from lack of bookings so I can do groceries and laundry. You will also get students that will blame you for not learning or understanding the material. The worst for me was a student that told me he could fly the aircraft just fine and if I didn't "pick" on him so much he would be able to do even better. My comment was that he was more than double flight test standard in altitude and that was of course my fault (to him) You need to have the desire to teach as well because if you don't you will just waste your time and money on the rating and your students time and money.

Now with the bad out of the way, I honestly enjoy it when I do fly. First there is the fact that you learn a LOT as an instructor. Not just in the sense of the regulations and new evolved theory of flight, but the experience of flying multiple times a day and getting to feel what the aircraft does to a point that you know what the aircraft will do when the student acts (or doesn't) to a situation which makes the connection to flying much more instinctual. There is also the joy of watching a student succeed be it a first solo or flight test. It gives me the warm and fuzzy feeling when a student returns from either with the huge grin on their face knowing that I was a part of that. Doing discovery (or introductory) flights and taking someone up for their very first plane ride, letting them feel the controls for the very first time, witnessing them getting bit by the flying bug and then taking them all the way to flight test.

In retrospect I'd probably be much further in my aviation career if I had done my multi-IFR and worked a ramp instead, but I'll get my mulit-IFR eventually and move up. Until then I'm satisfied with the path i chose and where it has taken me. A large part of the decision is dependent on your desire to teach and patience with people that don't learn quickly.

I got into it for the groupies. Still looking for them.

Find a girl at an airshow who is looking impressed by a C-130, strike up a conversation and tell her you fly a C-one-fifty.
LnS.

HAHA. Even if you are only a rampie you still get a uniform. Lots of great times and stories for another time

[JMACK]

What rewards do you get being a flight instructor and is it satisfying? Does it make you happy being in aviation OTHER THAN THE CRAPPY WAGES!

Kloee when you have to teach it you will learn it better than you ever would other wise! The rewards when your student gets it AWESOME.

You may be looking at instructing on C-150 today but maybe L-39 like CS tomorrow. My instructor, the guy that had the patents to get me through basic flight now instructs on the 777.

I'm in my 3rd decade of flying and I still love instructing. It is on jets now much in the sim and then out with the students doing IOE or line indoc all over the world.

You will get what you put into it!

Like all things the money gets better!

Cheers..........J

[Panama Jack]

I do a few hours of flight instruction a year during my holidays, and I enjoy it immensely. Sure, if I had to do it full time it would be different but I like it because I don't have to do it-- it allows me to connect back to my grass roots of aviation, showing somebody new the joys that flight can bring into your life, getting satisfaction of watching them progress and become pilots themselves and being able to smile and say "that's some of my work." I also learn something new about flying and about myself through my students, and have made some new friends along the way. Of course, there are also the benefit of having somebody else pay for the flight.

All the instruction that I do is for recreationally goaled flying-- I am not interested in instructing Commercial, Multi-engine or Instrument Students. The reason that I did not go into this type of instruction is because I found the pressures and the pay levels which my friends were facing for one of the most important jobs in aviation (the formation of future pilots) repugnant. Flying is supposed to be rewarding and fun and that it what I try to bring to the cockpit classroom.

[trey kule]

it's a way to build time and experience

I am going to say it..This is whats wrong with flight instruction today, that was not the case when the BCTP started the industry.. And I dont buy the whole....yes, but I do a great job while I am here...I simply have not witnessed that to be the general case. The majority of instructors are hammering out resumes almost from their first day of instructing, or when they have gotten the multi IFR rating. They simply are not in it to teach..My hats off to the instructors who decide to make a career of it. They should be given medals for providing quality instruction under the most difficult circumstances.

Like JMack, I still get to do instructing, but to suppossedly fully trained pilots. (note : My instructor rating lapsed 25 years ago..Not necessary for what I do) It is frustrating to see the systematic errors in their basic training. These are sharp pilots, who get it quickly and then do things correctly, so it is not the pilots, but the whole training system in Canada, and the instructors are the front line people in that.

If you like to teach and get satisfaction from seeing someone stumble into the FTU who can hardly chew gum and walk at the same time, and then in a short while fly a plane solo....instruction is for you. If you like to see your students meet standards of skill AND KNOWLEDGE,. instructing is for you.. If you want to impress you students with fantasy scenarios, pontificate wisely about SOPS, turbine aricraft, and your career aspirations...please find another job.
One of the best indicators of a good instructor is one who keeps his hands on the controls to a minimum, and lets the student actually practice the boring (to the instructor) basics to get them right.

My rant is over.

[Shiny Side Up]

All the instruction that I do is for recreationally goaled flying-- I am not interested in instructing Commercial, Multi-engine or Instrument Students.

In general I've lost a lot of interest in teaching a majority of the career oriented students as well, but mostly because so few of them are really interested in flying and more interested in merely fulfilling paper requirements. So many treat it as you just have to show up, pay money and you get paper. That's not to say that all of the recreational flyers are gems either, but there are more within that crowd that I can associate with the way they think about airplanes.