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This quote from Moski inspired me to start a new post on the topic of what a CFI can expect to make if they decide to go to the next "thing".

Working for a Part 135 operator is interesting. Companies usually make SOME kind of an effort to keep their employees. Not the one I work for. It's not that they WANT to get rid of you, but they know that you're most likely not going to stay, so the general belief is "Why pay them any more than we can get away with and have them still show up for work tomorrow?"

As an ATP-holding Cessna 402C captain flying single-pilot IFR passenger carrying operations, I make $12.80 per duty hour.

Just so you know I didn't type that wrong, that's twelve dollars and eighty cents per duty hour.

Now one thing to consider is that I get paid by the duty hour, not flight hour...so even if I get to work and the airport closes due to fog, I still get paid to sit and watch TV waiting for the airport to open back up. That makes it a little easier to unload the anxiety of "I gotta go fly if I want to get paid!"

"How do you make ends meet?" is the question I would be asking. Well, there's not a lot left over. Luckily there is PLENTY of extra flying to go around and overtime is the norm, which earns you time and a half. I average about 60 duty hours per week, so all the bills get paid, including the loans I had to take out to fund this dream, but like I said, there's not much left.

The pay is horrid, but where else can you fly 7.5 hours, 7.0 of it in IMC and as many as 20 approaches right down to minimums in a single day?

It's a great job and I love the work. If someone said to me "Well, due to industry restrictions, you have to fly for this airline for the rest of your career", then I would be fine with that, but that's not how it is, and I'm looking forward to the next job with either NetJets, AvantAir or Segrave Aviation.

To anyone looking to CFI before going to the "next thing", my advice would be to teach yourself how to live on CFI pay so you wont be disappointed when you make the move with hopes of making more dough, only to have your hopes dissolved.

Feel free to ask any questions...I'm not one to act mysterious with information.

Still smiling, still starving, and still a CFI.

_________________
Inst: "So how far out so we make our initial call-up?"
Student: "10 miles"
Inst: "OK, let's make that call"
Student: "Airport Traffic, Cessna 172, 3 miles east..."

thats about what i get paid per flight hour for instructing at my FBO. when im away on internship (like now) i get about twice that, which is nice. but oh well i like my FBO. I hope to get on charter when I get back, and i believe the pay will be more in the 25-30 an hour range which i look forward to. im not only a starving CFI but also a starving college kids.

_________________
Everyone must believe in something, I believe that I will go flying.

Hi Starving,

We have a 135 operation that most of the CFI's I know end up with for at least a year. Same thing, low pay, intense flying-but the equipment is too great either. It just doesn't appeal to me personally. I feel quite fortunate that I live in an area where a CFI can make a decent living.
Tell us more apart your 135 flying...and where do you want to be in 5 years?

Where do I want to be in five years?

That's a good question. In retrospect, I only took my first flight ever in a light GA airplane in January of '03, so it hasn't even been five years for me in aviation, and I feel like the industry has changed SO MUCH since then.

Back then, you pretty much HAD to have at least 100 multi to get into ANY regional. Nowadays, you just need to have your multi-engine add-on.
I was hired with only 30 hours of multi and that was into a single-pilot IFR captain position.

So the concept of where I'm gonna be in five years depends on where this industry is. I would like to think that I will have been with a company long enough to be earning a living I can get by on and still put some away for retirement. Best case scenario for me would be captain at Netjets getting ready to segue into their international operation. Worst case scenario is I'm furloughed and start a dog-walking business that turns out to be far more profitable and successful than my exploits in aviation ever were (analogy based on an American Airlines pilot in my hometown who got furloughed after Sept 11 and went on to start the dogwalking biz).

I would LIKE to start my own flight school one day, but I just don't see it as a tangible idea. Well, that might be the wrong way to put it. I guess what I'm saying is that there are other pursuits which are far more rewarding. Flight school ownership is a struggle at all times. In order for it to really work you have to be able to offer FBO services like fuel and tie-downs. Aircraft rental and use for instruction alone just won't pay the bills.
That's a whole other thread for another day, but I guess I'm excited to see what the future holds for all of us. These are exciting times to be a junior pilot looking to develop a career.

_________________
Inst: "So how far out so we make our initial call-up?"
Student: "10 miles"
Inst: "OK, let's make that call"
Student: "Airport Traffic, Cessna 172, 3 miles east..."