Advice for new CFIGs

My number one bit of advice is don’t instruct for free. My club expects the instructors to work for free. It’s the main reason I don’t do my CFI-G. I feel that the student should pay for it. $40 per hour is a pretty reasonable rate. Leave the club out of it and have the student pay the instructors directly.

On Wednesday, November 7, 2018 at 9:42:58 PM UTC-5, Charles Longley wrote:
My number one bit of advice is don’t instruct for free. My club expects the instructors to work for free. It’s the main reason I don’t do my CFI-G. I feel that the student should pay for it. $40 per hour is a pretty reasonable rate. Leave the club out of it and have the student pay the instructors directly.

- I received free instruction over many years in several clubs. Now I pay it forward as a part-time unpaid CFI-G. It's a good way to keep the sport going. My advice is: instruct for free, but limit your instruction activity so as to allow yourself some flying on your own. Instructors that "never" get to fly their own glider end up "burnt out".

On Wednesday, November 7, 2018 at 9:42:58 PM UTC-5, Charles Longley wrote:
My number one bit of advice is don’t instruct for free. My club expects the instructors to work for free. It’s the main reason I don’t do my CFI-G. I feel that the student should pay for it. $40 per hour is a pretty reasonable rate. Leave the club out of it and have the student pay the instructors directly.

I disagree. Getting paid for it makes it a job, jobs suck. There is a circular problem, the less CFIs the less fun it is to be a CFI. Instructing is great when you have a large pool of instructors taking turns. I don't have an answer beyond encouraging those that you think would be good at it to go for it.

I am associated with three clubs in the Pacific Northwest. (I’ve towed at all three and flown gliders at all three) Two of them do training one is cross country only. Of the two that do training one has free instruction the other has the students pay the instructors $40 per hour. (I think the students can double up for ground) Both clubs are located next to a large metro area.

The club that has free instruction is barely able to have one instructor available for their two L-23’s and one 103. Occasionally they have two instructors. Frequently they have none. They have two tow planes but only use one 95% of the time.

The club that has the students pay the instructors usually has 3-4 instructors going every weekend. They’re easily able to keep their two 2-33’s, three L-23’s, Grob 103 and two tow planes very busy.

Neither club has much problem with available wing runners and mandatory Field Managers.

So you tell me which club is offering better service to their members especially students? There’s that old saying, “You get what you pay for.�

On Thursday, November 8, 2018 at 11:25:40 AM UTC-5, wrote:
On Wednesday, November 7, 2018 at 9:42:58 PM UTC-5, Charles Longley wrote:
My number one bit of advice is don’t instruct for free. My club expects the instructors to work for free. It’s the main reason I don’t do my CFI-G. I feel that the student should pay for it. $40 per hour is a pretty reasonable rate. Leave the club out of it and have the student pay the instructors directly.

I disagree. Getting paid for it makes it a job, jobs suck. There is a circular problem, the less CFIs the less fun it is to be a CFI. Instructing is great when you have a large pool of instructors taking turns. I don't have an answer beyond encouraging those that you think would be good at it to go for it.

I completely agree.
44 years instructing because I like to do it.
Money would not make it a better experience for me.
UH

wrote on 11/8/2018 8:25 AM:
On Wednesday, November 7, 2018 at 9:42:58 PM UTC-5, Charles Longley wrote:
My number one bit of advice is don’t instruct for free. My club expects the instructors to work for free. It’s the main reason I don’t do my CFI-G. I feel that the student should pay for it. $40 per hour is a pretty reasonable rate. Leave the club out of it and have the student pay the instructors directly.

I disagree. Getting paid for it makes it a job, jobs suck. There is a circular problem, the less CFIs the less fun it is to be a CFI. Instructing is great when you have a large pool of instructors taking turns. I don't have an answer beyond encouraging those that you think would be good at it to go for it.

Nooo, it's a job if you are an employee; if you are boss, like doing it, AND you
are getting paid for it - Be Happy! Use the money to pay for car repairs or the
other things that need doing, but you don't have the time to do because you are
instructing. My wife thought was a clever way to go flying instead working on
"honey do's".

I instructed for our club for 16 years, learned a lot, had fun, club grew, and I
always charged for instruction. No one ever complained, and one student even gave
me a $150 tip after he got his license!


--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
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https://sites.google.com/site/motorg...ad-the-guide-1
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http://soaringsafety.org/prevention/...anes-2014A.pdf