Primarily for general aviation discussion, but other aviation topics are also welcome.
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By seanxair
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1876208
TLRippon wrote:I wonder if there is such a thing as a career flight instructor anymore. Anyone who started working as an FI in their early 20's and made a career out of it until retirement. Someone who didn't have another job in-between or before?


I know one such person. Properly decent chap and a good instructor by all accounts but probably makes a meagre living.
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By RisePilot
#1876420
Helicopter instructors net circa £65 per hr. However, helicopter training and aircraft costs are double that of fixed wing; so the “double it rule” for helicopters still applies.
By Lefty
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1876449
I understand that microlight instructors earn between £30-£40 per hour, can anyone confirm?
At 90Kg I’m not best suited for flying microlights.
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By StratoTramp
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1876453
Luckily theres been a weight increase to 600kg on some of them haha. :lol: (lucky for me too as I weigh about the same). :cyclopsani:
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By T6Harvard
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1876456
seanxair wrote:
TLRippon wrote:I wonder if there is such a thing as a career flight instructor anymore. Anyone who started working as an FI in their early 20's and made a career out of it until retirement. Someone who didn't have another job in-between or before?


I know one such person. Properly decent chap and a good instructor by all accounts but probably makes a meagre living.


I think he has over 14,000 hours. How he remains sane I have no idea!
By TopCat
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1876457
T6Harvard wrote:
seanxair wrote:
TLRippon wrote:I wonder if there is such a thing as a career flight instructor anymore. Anyone who started working as an FI in their early 20's and made a career out of it until retirement. Someone who didn't have another job in-between or before?


I know one such person. Properly decent chap and a good instructor by all accounts but probably makes a meagre living.


I think he has over 14,000 hours. How he remains sane I have no idea!

The trick is not to remain sane, but to conceal one's insanity.

One is completely impossible, the other merely almost.

Instructors: consider yourselves rumbled :pirat:
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By lobstaboy
#1876469
Lefty wrote:I understand that microlight instructors earn between £30-£40 per hour, can anyone confirm?
At 90Kg I’m not best suited for flying microlights.


Yes. Though this is countered by flying tending to be more restricted by weather.
90kg is ok in most modern micros, but if you’ve got a heavy student there might be a problem, yes. I managed ok and I’m 90kg.
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By TLRippon
#1876492
A former colleague of mine popped in for a cuppa last night, he is an FI in Ireland. He was surprised to hear we we didn’t get paid for briefings, they do. They also get a chunk more per flying hour.
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By Pete L
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1876494
Lefty wrote:I understand that microlight instructors earn between £30-£40 per hour, can anyone confirm?
At 90Kg I’m not best suited for flying microlights.


The new 600kg class should be fine for you. The Breezer - an LSA but a 600kg microlight I doubt will be much different (GtE may disagree) - has a 100Kg seat limit.

Can we call them macrolights? :D
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By kanga
#1876507
T6Harvard wrote:
seanxair wrote:
TLRippon wrote:I wonder if there is such a thing as a career flight instructor anymore. Anyone who started working as an FI in their early 20's and made a career out of it until retirement. Someone who didn't have another job in-between or before?


I know one such person. Properly decent chap and a good instructor by all accounts but probably makes a meagre living.


I think he has over 14,000 hours. How he remains sane I have no idea!


Phil Matthews at Cotswold Aero Club started as a teenage dogsbody at the same Club and went through the PPL - ground FRTOL instructor - IMC/BCPL/AFI (whereupon he quite the previous 'day job') - FI - .. route. Now 25,000h+ (a huge proportion of it ab initio SEP), CFI, ME/IR Examiner, HCAP, .. all with the same Club. His sanity has even survived encounters with me over decades :wink:

https://www.flying-start.org/phil-mathews/

All-round good, amazingly unflappable, bloke :thumright:
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By foxmoth
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1876884
Some interesting points about hour building and ex airline instructors. I did my instructors rating in the days of hour building (700 hrs to CPL) and loved instructing but those who loved it moved on because there was no money in it so you ended up with the good guys moving on and a lot of instructors who were not interested instructing just for hours (thankfully these also moved on once they had the hours -often more quickly). With Covid I have seen a number of airline pilots move back into instructing and a number just gaining instructor ratings to keep the experience level up, I have to say most of these instructors are actually ok, most who do this are pilots who enjoy flying rather than just being in it for the uniform and pay as I find a number of airline pilots are these days!