How much does a CFI make?

"Larry Fransson" wrote in message
news:newsgroups-

I guess this begs the question, how in hell do they pay their bills?

I lived with my parents for the two years that I was instructing.
Others I knew were married and their wives who also had an income.

How long do they have to do that in order to start making decent money?

Thanks for the information, Larry. Currently I'm starting the
IFR/ME/Commercial/CFI/CFII path and taking Cisco and Novell certification
courses (fallback) concurrently. Already have my private and a four-year
degree.

What torques me is that every career-oriented site talks about how much
money you make as an airline captain. I don't think I'd even -want- to do
that, but there isn't much info out there about other non-ATP flying jobs.

I did a P-38 video shoot with Jeff Ethell right before he died. Now, that
guy had the coolest flying job this side of the Collins Foundation pilots.

-c

In article ,
"gatt" wrote:

What torques me is that every career-oriented site talks about how much
money you make as an airline captain. I don't think I'd even -want- to do
that, but there isn't much info out there about other non-ATP flying jobs.

What's even better is that those big salary numbers are going to start
shrinking very soon. They already have, actually. It was well
publicized that United pilots took a major pay cut. Another major
airline recently asked its pilots for a 23% pay cut across the board
along with a few other things. That was rejected out of hand, of
course, but that's the direction things are going. If Richard Branson's
proposed discount airline gets off the ground, it certainly won't get
any better.

I'd also like to know where Kit Darby (Air, Inc. - aka www.jet-jobs.com)
is getting his information. He's putting ads out there saying that
hundreds of airlines are looking to hire 7000+ pilots in 2003. I'm not
sure I see that, but whatever.

There are plenty of non-airline jobs out there. You just have to get to
know people and keep your ears open. That's how I got my current job,
and I have a line on another that might be an interesting move up. A
lot of those jobs are being held by out of work airline pilots, though.
Our two most recent hires were furloughed by United and American.
They'll be with us for at least two if not three years.

--
Larry Fransson
Aviation software for Mac OS X!
http://www.subcritical.com

When I took training at Wiley Post (PWA) airport in OKC, the owner of the
rental planes was the CFI and got the whole $20/hour for instruction. I had
a couple other instructors there and paid them similar and they also kept
the entire amount for training. The owner got his rental fees.

When I got some training at McCreery in McAllen, TX (MFE), I paid $25/hour
if it were their rentals or $35/hour for instruction in my own plane. I'm
not sure how much the CFI got of that.

I also took CFI's up in Iowa, again what I paid them for the instruction,
they kept. Some of the smaller airports with a CFI around usually aren't
working for a flight school or FBO and get to keep all they're paid. Check
out the bulletin boards (Not BBS!) at the airstrips...

YMMV!

I've noticed that no one is quoting an "Annual" amount. Sure they charge
$25-$40 per hour but what does their Form 1040 say? I knew a guy once who quit
instructing to become a janitor. I thought it was sad that he would try to
live on $7-8,000 annually for years. I loved flying when I got my license at
21 but knew I wanted to make more than I saw people making. Sometimes I wish I
could fly everyday but I also like what I do for a profession. I admire those
who keep at it, following their passions.


Trip



In article ha8_a.128723$YN5.86441@sccrnsc01, says...

When I took training at Wiley Post (PWA) airport in OKC, the owner of the
rental planes was the CFI and got the whole $20/hour for instruction. I had
a couple other instructors there and paid them similar and they also kept
the entire amount for training. The owner got his rental fees.

When I got some training at McCreery in McAllen, TX (MFE), I paid $25/hour
if it were their rentals or $35/hour for instruction in my own plane. I'm
not sure how much the CFI got of that.

I also took CFI's up in Iowa, again what I paid them for the instruction,
they kept. Some of the smaller airports with a CFI around usually aren't
working for a flight school or FBO and get to keep all they're paid. Check
out the bulletin boards (Not BBS!) at the airstrips...

YMMV!

I've noticed that no one is quoting an "Annual" amount. Sure they charge
$25-$40 per hour but what does their Form 1040 say?

When I was doing full time CFI-ing, I think the best year I had was about 14K.
My best year working as a pilot was significantly better than that, but not
enough. So, as of May of this year I gave up flying and now am partner in a
small business. The money is tight, but the company is growing and by this time
next year I'll be in a good spot and be able to fly for fun on my terms.


-John
*You are nothing until you have flown a Douglas, Lockheed, Grumman or North
American*

ost (Ditch) wrote in message ...
I've noticed that no one is quoting an "Annual" amount. Sure they charge
$25-$40 per hour but what does their Form 1040 say?

When I was doing full time CFI-ing, I think the best year I had was about 14K.
My best year working as a pilot was significantly better than that, but not
enough. So, as of May of this year I gave up flying and now am partner in a
small business. The money is tight, but the company is growing and by this time
next year I'll be in a good spot and be able to fly for fun on my terms.


-John
*You are nothing until you have flown a Douglas, Lockheed, Grumman or North
American*


I used to fly for a living but got tired of being on call 24 hours a
day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Plus, I only made about $22K a
year. Flying was a job instead of a love. So, I went in programming
and now make around ~60K and I get to fly whenever I want on MY terms.
I don't fly as much, but when I do go out, it's like my first flight
all over again (as well as my skills).

With that said, If I could make even $40K a year flying, I would go
back into it in a second. However my life goal is to make more a year
than my age (38 = $38,000).

Most instructors I know have rich parents, or living dirt poor. Most
are young (under 25) and have been to one of the aviation schools. In
this part of the country, you don't see many 30+ year old full time
instructors. They have either moved up to full tie pilots or gone into
another career field.

I believe the spirit of the barn stormers is alive in todays
instructors. Instead of sleeping under the wing, they sleep in their
cars.

It depends. Ok, you want something more real. There are two types
of places a CFI can choose to work at. The big schools that keep you
busy and work you a lot of hours will pay in the area of $10/hr. Make
sure mom and dad keep sending you checks. A small FBO or club will
charge the CFI around $5/hr. So if you charge $30/hr, you keep $25.
However, a small FBO or club is unlikely to provide more than 2 hours
a day of teaching to a full time CFI, so you make more money and more
hours working for peanuts at the big schools.

However, most FBOs and clubs will wave the fee if you find the student
yourself. This is what I do when teaching with the local clubs. If I
find the student and bring them to the club, I keep the entire fee.
However, I have the overhead of paying club dues when I never rent
myself.

-Robert, CFI



(Peter Gibbons) wrote in message . com...
I know I will probably get alot of 'it depends' in response to this
question, but I guess I'm curious when a flight school charges a
student $25/hr for flight instruction, what chunk of that actually
goes to the CFI?

And realistically your average CFI is not flying all the time. Figure
in weather delays, ground school, etc - what would a 'good' yearly
salary for a full-time, low-hour CFI be?