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Flight Instructing

Asked by: 4067 views Flight Instructor

Hey askacfi.com!

Great website! I thought this would be one of the best places to ask a question.

I am currently employed as a public school teacher.  I've had the aviation bug since I was a kid and I am currently pursuing a PPL.  I've recently thought about leveraging my skills as an educator and becoming a part time flight instructor on the side.

I enjoy teaching and would love to teach people how to fly, but without giving up my "day job" as it provides a great lifestyle.

With summers off as well as other major holidays, would a part time flight instructor role be possible? (e.g., weekends, evenings, summers). I'd be doing it for the love of teaching and flying and not "hour building".

I am aware of the costs associated with training and have considered that this is something I would keep up for the rest of my working life.

Advice/thoughts?

Thanks!

 

 

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3 Answers



  1. DrATP on Aug 26, 2012

    Yes! I am a college professor but have taught flying nights, weekends, and summers for almost 20 years. For a while I also flew for a part 135 (charter) company. Teaching flying has added more to my life than I can express.

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  2. Jim Foley on Aug 26, 2012

    While I do not have personal experience with this, I can speculate based on my interactions with many flight schools that it may be harder to get hired and assigned students with non-standard availability. Probably not impossible, but I foresee it being a possible issue. An easy solution, in theory, would be for you to own and instruct in your own aircraft. This would ensure you always have a plane available for your students, and you would have more freedom for scheduling lessons when the work best for the two of you. Like I said, no experience first-hand with this, but just some thoughts on the matter.

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  3. Bob Watson on Aug 27, 2012

    When I looked into this (a while back), I found that the flight schools were much more welcoming if you started the conversation with “I’m a CFI and I have several students who’d like to start taking lessons from me…” At one point, one flight school had more students than they had planes, so they asked if I had a plane I could put on lease-back.

    The bottom line is, “yes, such an arrangement is possible, but every FBO’s situation is different.” So, just start asking around. If the first place doesn’t jump, go to the next one until you find the best fit.

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