Current and former FSA students...Free time?

[blank18]

Hey.

For part 61 and 141 programs, how many days a week are you flying and how much time are you studying per day?

I know other school offer all the same ratings and more hours in 90 days..the CIME program at FSA is laid out over 9 months, so I would imagine it would be alot less hardcore than the 7 days a week/ 7 hours a day training at these other schools, especially if you do the part 61 training and do your writtens before you come...

Also, whats the life of the instructors there that get hired on after completing the program? Do they have alot of students at once? Do they have more free time than a student? And being an instructor of a student who is doing sim time, how does that work? you can't log those hours as if you were doing a dual lesson in the air, can you? Do you still get paid your hourly wage for those hours?

Thanks..Im looking to go in with my single engine IR to bring down the price of the program a little bit, but want to know if ill have time to do any online college work or have fun with friends/go to the beach etc.

[Crockrocket94]

I am a current CFI here, and yes as a student you will have time to go to the beach, provided you are not in Groundschool and flying at the same time.

It can seriously be as much or as little amount of work as you want. A real motivated person can complete the program fairly quickly. However, someone with poor study habits and little "fire under the arse" can take considerably longer.

As a student you will probably not have time to take college courses. It is a pretty demanding program. Alot of study goes into the lessons and into the stage checks. You need to study your butt off when and if you do your CFI ratings for sure. They along with the Instrument and Private are the most demanding ratings.

As a CFI you have a good number of students. Usually the number of students you first pick up depends on when you get hired, IE is there a new private class coming through? Sometimes you have only 1 or 2 students for a week or 2, then itll jump up to 5 and as of now I have 8.

As a CFI YOU DO NOT have alot of free time. HOWEVER, you set your own schedule. Most students WANT to fly, so you are kept pretty busy. Which is good.

I usually work weekdays hardcore and take the weekends off. Students also need study time as well. I usually fly 4 times a day depending on the kind of flights, like cross-country or local, etc.

Like I said, the program, and CFI life at FSA is what you make of it. It can be as demanding or as relaxed as you want it. Which, remember, can be a good, as well as a bad thing depending on your study habits.