In article , Tom S. wrote:

"Dylan Smith" wrote in message
...
In article , C J Campbell wrote:
Until then, I am afraid that flight instructors will be either be people
who
are retired and who can afford it, like me, or those who simply live
lives
of quiet desperation.

Unfortunately, I think you're right.

I have considered flight instructing, but because of issues like having
to work for free, and the poor pay, I'd never do it at a flight
school. I'd only do it freelance.

And right there is a main issue: If you want to work for someone else, don't
bellyache, go be self-employed.

In an ideal world we could all do that. At the airport I learned to fly
at, we had a flying club (http://www.bayareaaeroclub.org) which did
instruction. But the instructors didn't work for the club - they were
just approved to instruct in club planes. They made the arrangements for
payment with their students, and were freelance, having club resources
to use. In that arrangement, you can actually make a living and support
yourself on flight instruction. My instructor took home two and a half
times more than those at the flight school next door - and he charged
the same as the flight school (and he charged for groundschool - which
IMHO is perfectly fair).

However, that doesn't exist at the vast majority of airports. The planes
are owned by the flight school, and your typical 18-23 year old
instructor isn't going to be able to afford their own plane to give
instruction in (unless Daddy's rich). They don't have the experience yet
to seriously go freelance either (virtually all the freelancers I've met
had at least 600-700 hours of real world flying before starting
instructing, and hence had something to bring to the student over and
above the neophyte instructors the flight school had.

I now have over 1000 hours, and I'd be happy to instruct - I consider
that I have a reasonably broad experience of real world GA flying.
Indeed, I'm going to aim at instructing in gliders on Sundays - not
for money, just for the glider club.
Unfortunately, the island I live on is a dark and forbidding place in
the winter, where the sea crashes over the sea walls and rain goes
horizontally, or Mannannan lays his cloak to protect us from the Scots,
so flight instructing for a living just ain't gonna work!
(I say this as of course Mannanan proves me wrong and the morning sun
breaks over Bradda Head)

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"