Weekend flight instructor

[Will Peavy]

Can anyone give me an idea of the time and monetary committment involved in earning an instructor's license? Also, is it feasable to do on weekends only? I'm not in the position where I would want to quit my 9-5. But I crave the adventure of flying and am wondering if spending weekends working towards being a flight instructor at a small local airport could work and help pay for the habit of flying over the long run. Any ideas/insights/info is appreciated!

[SteveC]

Are you starting from scratch, or do you have some ratings already?

[Will Peavy]

I took some lessons about 10 years ago, but wasn't able to finish. So basically I'd be starting from scratch now

[riot shields]

so you have no ratings yet?
it'll take you a few years and a lot more money if you can only commit to only once or twice a week. i see quite often people who fly that much get their private license in about 2 years.

[Will Peavy]

Thanks for the reply riot. Any idea specifically what the total cost and time required would be to get to the instructor level?

[Will Peavy]

Also, riot howcome so many people take two years to get a private license? I was assuming that if I fly for one hour a week I could get a private license in about a year.

[SteveC]

Private in one year flying once a week is probably a good estimate in my opinion. If you can squeeze your time somehow and go twice a week (maybe 3 hours per week) you can cut that down to 4 - 5 months. Just stay ahead on your studying and do plenty of arm chair flying in between flights.

[killbilly]

Originally Posted by Will Peavy

Also, riot howcome so many people take two years to get a private license? I was assuming that if I fly for one hour a week I could get a private license in about a year.

You might consider doing it more than one hour a week. When I was taking lessons for a while, I found that once each week wasn't enough, because I was re-learning some of the stuff from the prior lesson and then adding on.

Most instructors I talked to then recommended at least 3 days a week to make the learning stick a little more. YMMV.

[jonnyb]

Originally Posted by Will Peavy

Thanks for the reply riot. Any idea specifically what the total cost and time required would be to get to the instructor level?

A good estimate is probably around 20K for private, instrument, commercial-ASEL and initial CFI certificate. Maybe a little more if you complete the multi-engine, instrument commercial ratings.

[riot shields]

also depends on if you do it at a part 141 school. you are probably better off doing it 141. private it does not really matter, but for instrument and commercial it does. i'd pan on about 60 hours for private if you can only come in like once a week. it gets more expensive the less often you fly. instrument rating you will need a lottt more flying if you do it part 61, commercial as well.. maybe..

if you do it part 141 and you are an awesome student, come in a lot and actually study you can get your private in ..35 hours, instrument 35 moree hours and commercial in 120 hours.
odds are that won't happen. i've yet to see it.

be careful what the flight schools tell you, they'll do anything to get your business

[FLpilot]

Originally Posted by jonnyb

A good estimate is probably around 20K for private, instrument, commercial-ASEL and initial CFI certificate. Maybe a little more if you complete the multi-engine, instrument commercial ratings.

$20k is low. More like $30k-$35k plus your CFI if doing it part 61.

If you only flew one hour a week, it would take you 5 years to reach the commercial mins. At that point, you could start working on your initial CFI. Best thing to do is figure out a way to fly more often, or save for each rating and bang it out in the evenings and weekends. It is hard to give a complete lesson when the student tells you that he/she can only fly for an hour (when .3 is spent on the ground taxiing) and the practice area is 20 miles away.

[jonnyb]

Originally Posted by FLpilot

$20k is low. More like $30k-$35k plus your CFI if doing it part 61.

If you only flew one hour a week, it would take you 5 years to reach the commercial mins. At that point, you could start working on your initial CFI. Best thing to do is figure out a way to fly more often, or save for each rating and bang it out in the evenings and weekends. It is hard to give a complete lesson when the student tells you that he/she can only fly for an hour (when .3 is spent on the ground taxiing) and the practice area is 20 miles away.

Maybe, maybe not, it totally depends. I wasn't counting the cost of obtaining the flight time to meet commercial pilot certificate requirements, just the costs of training.

[MCP]

The issue with doing the weekend thing isn't the "1 hour/week x total # of weeks = liscense". The issue, and I can tell you from personal experience, is that by going only 1 hour (or a few hours) a week there is a chance that you may have to be retrained on some things you already went over. You can have a great memory, but doing something for one hour or two hours, and then waiting a week, can be tough at times to remember or become proficient at.

Let's say it takes you 55 hours to get your PPL and you fly 1 hour per weekend (just for sake of the easy math). That would equal 55 weeks, BUT, lets say you need more help on a few different things. Even if you only need 5 extra hours worth of training on miscellaneous subjects, that's another 5 weeks to your training time. Also, add in possible schedualing conflicts, weather, personal time off (sick, family vacations, etc..). Let's say a storm blows in and last for 1 week. That 1 week storm would not only cause you to lose your current hour for that week, but it would also put another week of time since your last hour. Now you have to remember a lesson from 2 weeks prior and learn some newer things as well....ouch!

Doing weekends only can be done, but it makes it a LOT more difficult (IMO). If you could squeeze in 3 days a week, that would be the minimum I would go, especially after personally doing the 1 time a week and a few times a week thing.

[PWMURPHY]

Will:
I won't comment on cost as I did what you are proposing more than 25 years ago.

But I did the private in about 9 months. Two lessons scheduled per week. Expect there to be cancellations so it will take longer than you think.

It took me 2 more years to get the instrument, commercial and CFI done.

I went into debt (mostly credit cards for the initial private and instrument) to do it. Then I worked weekends for 7 years as a flight instructor until I finally got to do this aviation thing full-time. In those years working part-time, I flight instructed for upwards of 500 hours each year, so my friends did not see much of me during that time (unless they wanted a flight lesson).

I have never regretted that decision, even though I left a very good, secure, career in education to do it. There were many lean years that included once getting paid through being given use of a car for several years after I left a flight school. Chrysler LeBaron. My wife loved that car until it was stolen out of our driveway in FL - but that's another story!

Pat Murphy

[Will Peavy]

Thank you for all of your responses. I see not everyone agrees on everything, but that's allright. It's good to hear different viewpoints.

I work 6 days a week, so one afternoon session a week would be the most I could commit. I imagine 3X a week would be a lot of fun, but for now it's either once a week or nothing. ... I've been researching more and thinking flying may be something I would have to wait until retirement to do (when I could throw myself into it), or at least until the kids are grown.

[ChrisH]

Originally Posted by SteveC

Private in one year flying once a week is probably a good estimate in my opinion. If you can squeeze your time somehow and go twice a week (maybe 3 hours per week) you can cut that down to 4 - 5 months. Just stay ahead on your studying and do plenty of arm chair flying in between flights.

I agree. If you don't have time during the week, don't just settle for flying for one hour on the weekends. Talk to the instructor, and arrange two lessons per weekend. Instead of each flight being 1.5, make each flight 3 hours, even if it means taking a break between each 1.5 for lunch, or just to stretch. Fly on Saturdays, and Sundays if you can. If you can fly 3 hours per week, you can have it done in around 3.5 months.

[Murdoughnut]

My advice to anyone who's not in a particular hurry to build their ratings would be to either purchase an aircraft, or purchase partial ownership (i.e., club membership). It can be difficult to find a club arrangement, but if you do, it'll probably save you $10k easy. I pay $50 per hour wet for my 172 (plus initial $1,300 buy in and $100 a month for tie down/insurance). As long as I fly more than two hours a month, I'm saving money on renting. I usually fly 4-5 hours a month so I don't have to go into debt. When my tax return comes in, though, look out.

[secretapproach]

To jump start my training, I took a week off work and flew every day. On day six I was able to solo. After that I went back to work and my progress was slowed, of course, but I'm really happy that I devoted that first week only to flying because it laid the groundwork. I ended up with my private after about six months

Originally Posted by SteveC

Private in one year flying once a week is probably a good estimate in my opinion. If you can squeeze your time somehow and go twice a week (maybe 3 hours per week) you can cut that down to 4 - 5 months. Just stay ahead on your studying and do plenty of arm chair flying in between flights.

[flyguy969]

The reson I would suggest flying more than once a week would be that things may come up (family, work, ect) and now that day you planned on flying is out the window and now its gonna be two weeks till you can fly next. Also, flying is NOT like riding a bike. There are concepts, ideas amd procedures that you might forget. It took my girlfriend and I 10 months for our PPL and that was coming often. Some issues we ran into was weather (4 times until we could do our first solo) instuctor being booked. Whatever your choice the best of luck!!!

[skydog]

I have no idea of the time or the cost in your situation. But I can tell you that doing one or two training flights a week, it will take a lot longer to attain any one certificate and rating than if you did several flights a week. If money is not an issue then: Step 1) pass the PPL written. Don't go near an airport until that is in the bag. Step 2) Find an FBO/flight school that is willing to work within your needs. If because of work you have to fly at 5AM or at 6PM, then find an FBO who can consistently provide and airplane and instructor at those times. You may have to plunk a big bag of money on the counter to entice them to do this. Step 3) Fly as often as you can, every day if you can manage it. No sense in letting skills that you learned today erode away by not flying again for a week. Step 4) As you attain each certificate or rating, take a break! Allow some time to enjoy your new privileges, and not be in training mode. Get your PPL, then, a year or two later, get your IR, and so on. Since you are not interested in airline flying, there is no hurry.

Now if money is a problem: Same steps, but make sure you save or otherwise have the money in hand that you need to get it done. My guess is you will need around 7K or so to get your PPL

[TurboTravis]

Once one has the CFI/CFII ratings and owned there own aircraft, could they work as a CFI on the weekends independently? Or are there certian insurance/buisness minimums that need to be met?

Travis