CFIs Needed

[flyguy]

Sierra Academy of Aeronautics is opening a new campus for international airline contract training. So far we have contracts with Air China, and Shanghai Airlines. We have leased some facilites at the Old Castle AFB, (now Castle Airport) in Atwater CA. We have dorms, a cafeteria/recreation center, laundry facilities, a gym, and of course classrooms, offices etc. We still need to clean some of the facilities up but they are pretty much ready to go. We had an orientation last week and it looks like the facilities are going to be awesome once they are up and running. The first wave of China Air students will be arriving in the next couple weeks and Shanghai will be arriving in the next couple of months. Once we are fully operational we will have several hundred students and will have to hire more instructors than Sierra Academy is able to produce. As it is we will need to hire 12 instructors for the first wave of Shanghai students that will be arriving shortly, and we won't be able to get them all From Sierra as we've already hired just about everyone who is qualified just for the first wave of Air China students.

If you have at least your initial CFI and are willing to relocate to CA, you are welcome to apply. If all you have is your initial you can finish your CFII and MEI at Sierra for staff rate (hasn't been determined what that will be yet). There are no minimum number of hours required, just the cerificate. We also might need some ground instructors, so if you are currently working on your CFI, you can get your AGI and IGI and teach groundschool while working on your instructor ratings.

You will be instructing in brand new G-430 equipped AMD Alaruses (single engine trainer comparable to a 152) and G-1000 equipped Diamond Twin-Stars. You will not be required to pay for standardization. The pay is $15 for groundschool instructors and $18 for flight instructors. Flight instructors will get $18 for both ground and flight instruction. Housing is FREE if you want to live in the dorms. The rooms are fairly large. Instructors get a room to themselves but share a bathroom with one other instructor. Everyone gets their own sink and refrigerator. You can choose to live off campus but the pay will be the same. One bedroom apartments are about $500 out there. Food is also free if you eat in the cafeteria. Basically you will be living for free but will be getting paid anyway.

The only catch is the students don't speak the best English so it will require some patience. The upside is they are the top of their class and are highly modivated. It is their job to be there and to do well, so you will be guarenteed a steady flow of students who will never no-show and will always show up prepared. You also won't have to worry about them running out of money because everything is already paid for. One other small catch is you will be contracted with the school for 10 months, so you can't just up and leave once you meet airline minimums. After your contract you will be welcome to sign up for another 10 months. I don't know about Shanghai, but if you end up on an Air China team, after 2 ten month contracts and 2000 hours of instruction, you will be invited to become a first officer for Air China. That will require a 5 year contract with Air China but their upgrade time is only about 18 months. This is all optional of course, but it is an interresting alternative to the regional airline route. (787 vs. CRJ) The pay (in American Dollars) is not as much as that of a typical regional airline in the US, but is much higher than the average person in China

This is going to be huge, and I'm very excited to be a part of it. I can't think of a better place for a CFI to be. It is truely an awesome opportunity.

Any qualified individuals interrested in applying, feel free to PM me your resume and I'll pass it along to the Chief Instructor.

[aloft]

What are the prospects for multi time?

[Screaming_Emu]

wow, that sounds really interesting. Too bad I wont be graduating until august

[adreamer]

I might send my resume since I speak Chinese

[flyguy]

Originally Posted by aloft

What are the prospects for multi time?

The students will progress from private, instrument, then commercial multi, so roughyly 33% of the hours you get will be multi.

[flyguy]

Originally Posted by adreamer

I might send my resume since I speak Chinese

Feel free to send your resume, but speaking Chinese won't be an advantage as the Students are forbidden to speak anyhing but English in the classroom or in the plane. They are onlly allowed to speak Chinese in the dorms. In fact we have a Chinese instructor who is not even alowed to let the students know he is Chinese. If asked he is supposed to claim to be Korean.

[flyguy]

I suppose it would be easier to email a resume than PM one. If you guys want you can email them to me at melin.eric@gmail.com and I'll walk it in.

[jeskoe]

I would love to do it, but it would be a 100 mile trip from my house one way. That seems like a bit much.

[Philip]

Originally Posted by Screaming_Emu

wow, that sounds really interesting. Too bad I wont be graduating until august

you weren't around when UND was training chinese students, were you?

Maybe I'll apply, the free food and housing would be enough that I could commute and stay there..

[sleepy3528]

sounds a little too good to be true. free dorms and free food? how are they making money? and when are they looking to hire cfi's... is there a deadline they need them by or? is this all projected? thanx

[flyguy]

Originally Posted by sleepy3528

sounds a little too good to be true. free dorms and free food? how are they making money?

They are charging China Air and Shanghai airlines lots of money.

and when are they looking to hire cfi's... is there a deadline they need them by or? is this all projected? thanx

We'll need 12 instructors right away to start in December-January. That is guarenteed. If you want to talk projected, between the two airlines we'll have over 200 students and will need over 50 instructors, and according to the chief, Air China just asked us if we could handle 800 students. Its safe to say we'll be continually hiring instructors for a while, and starting new classes every few months.

[jeskoe]

flyguy, i sent you a PM

[Philip]

Originally Posted by flyguy

They are charging China Air and Shanghai airlines lots of money.

We'll need 12 instructors right away to start in December-January. That is guarenteed. If you want to talk projected, between the two airlines we'll have over 200 students and will need over 50 instructors, and according to the chief, Air China just asked us if we could handle 800 students. Its safe to say we'll be continually hiring instructors for a while, and starting new classes every few months.

Is the housing assured or one of those "until we need the space and kick you out" kinds of things?

I'm really considering just leaving the house and GF here and living out there for a few semesters, or until I can get to 1100TT.

[jtrain609]

Yeah this is starting to sound more and more tempting. I'm not too interested in living in Atwater, CA but it sounds almost too good to be true.

[mtsu_av8er]

Man, I could jump ship and head that way - we could raise the roof out there, John!!

[Philip]

Originally Posted by John Herreshoff

it sounds almost too good to be true.

thinking the same.

[jtrain609]

Raise it? We'd tear the whole d@mn place down!

[flyguy]

Originally Posted by Philip

Is the housing assured or one of those "until we need the space and kick you out" kinds of things?

It's asured. I've seen it with my own eyes. There's lots of space out there, its an abandoned Air Force Base. They will kick you out after ten months though, unless you sign up fo another ten. I guess you could think of it like a lease on an apartment.

[aloft]

Originally Posted by John Herreshoff

Yeah this is starting to sound more and more tempting. I'm not too interested in living in Atwater, CA but it sounds almost too good to be true.

We get enough JC'ers there, you won't mind that you're living in Atwater, CA!

This doesn't have a real high "scam quotient" as far as I'm concerned; Sierra has been around for a long time, a friend of mine used to instruct for them at LVK when they did the Korean Air ab initio program.

What does concern me is being cooped up in airplanes with dudes who only bathe once a week!

[Philip]

Originally Posted by flyguy

It's asured. I've seen it with my own eyes. There's lots of space out there, its an abandoned Air Force Base. They will kick you out after ten months though, unless you sign up fo another ten. I guess you could think of it like a lease on an apartment.

Huh,
how's the facility? standard crappy dorm and a public shower or what?

[aloft]

More than likely, they are former "bachelor airmens quarters", single occupancy, with you and your next door neighbor sharing a bathroom and shower connecting your two rooms. The facilities are probably somewhat spartan, but it's hard to knock "free".

If you figure 100 hrs flight instruction and 100 hrs ground instruction per month, you're looking at $43,200/year before taxes. Add the value of room and board (which will likely have to be valued as income for tax purposes), and that's a $50-60k CFI job. Not even Lloyd is doing that well!

[CAVOK]

This may be the exact same contract that I was instructing under when I was an instructor. However, my flight school has gotten greedy and since I left has been losing these contracts.

If Sierra has the contracts we used to have, it will be a great opportunity for instructors wishing to build time quick. My first day instructing the contracted students I was handed 4 Air China guys (on top of my 10! domestic students) and it was off and running...flew about 7 hours a day when the weather was nice....if it got crappy, we "visualized" on the white board for the entire 14 hr duty day. You will fly bunches.

The tough parts:
1) HORRIBLE ENGLISH!! It is tough to explain pitch angle and such for straight and level flight on the first lesson when you first must explain what a HORIZON is! And what you mean when you say sky, ground, angle, pitch, elevator, up, down, yes, no....etc.. Doing it while they are nervous, and talking through a crackling intercom over an engine at 2500rpm makes it even worse

2) The Chinese students will say "yes sir" to everything...whether they understand you or not. Making the question, "do you understand?" irrelavent. You have to make them show you.

3) Our students had never driven a car in China, so the normal hand-eye coordination most students have is not there. Does make it easy to teach taxiing. (no pre-programed muscle memory on how to turn a vehicle)

4) Finishing quickly was a matter of pride within their class. So sometimes they didn't want to learn the finer points. Tough to get them to listen sometimes.

5) Some of the toughest instructing you will ever do!!

But it is flying...a lot. So it is worth it. These students already have degrees in Engineering and Physics and stuff, so they are smart...and motivated. Just not the most prone to flying, the term "duck out of water" comes to mind.

Just the other day I recieved an email from a former student. He just finished his A320 training and is now observing for a year until he takes the right seat. Pretty cool to know that I planted the basics in him...now he is flying a 320.

You will be frustrated...but keep it fun and pray you get a student with decent english skills.

[Screaming_Emu]

Originally Posted by Philip

you weren't around when UND was training chinese students, were you?

no, but I've heard some stories. I'm interested in seeing how things go when we start getting the ANA students here, but that would require staying here....and that is osmething I am sure I dont want to do :-P

[GreenDayPilot]

Sent ya my resume... I'll be crossing my fingers!

[KLB]

Originally Posted by CAVOK

The tough parts:
1) HORRIBLE ENGLISH!! It is tough to explain pitch angle and such for straight and level flight on the first lesson when you first must explain what a HORIZON is! And what you mean when you say sky, ground, angle, pitch, elevator, up, down, yes, no....etc.. Doing it while they are nervous, and talking through a crackling intercom over an engine at 2500rpm makes it even worse

2) The Chinese students will say "yes sir" to everything...whether they understand you or not. Making the question, "do you understand?" irrelavent. You have to make them show you.

3) Our students had never driven a car in China, so the normal hand-eye coordination most students have is not there. Does make it easy to teach taxiing. (no pre-programed muscle memory on how to turn a vehicle)

4) Finishing quickly was a matter of pride within their class. So sometimes they didn't want to learn the finer points. Tough to get them to listen sometimes.

5) Some of the toughest instructing you will ever do!!

But it is flying...a lot. So it is worth it. These students already have degrees in Engineering and Physics and stuff, so they are smart...and motivated. Just not the most prone to flying, the term "duck out of water" comes to mind.

Just the other day I recieved an email from a former student. He just finished his A320 training and is now observing for a year until he takes the right seat. Pretty cool to know that I planted the basics in him...now he is flying a 320.

You will be frustrated...but keep it fun and pray you get a student with decent english skills.

He's totally right. I picked up a Chinese....uh I mean Tawainese student this summer. He was tough to train but I finally got him through his private a couple of weeks ago. His english wasn't to bad but it wasn't to great either. They do tend to get nervous during simulated emergency situations. Don't let them get away with blabbering through an emergency instead of speaking properly where it is understandable. And be careful. If you fly with them enough you will start to understand there blabber.

They tend to say "pardon me" alot...like they don't understand your english when they don't know the answer to a question.

Also keep them at ease. One reason my student was so hard to train is because I picked him up from another instructor who consntantly yelled and cursed at the student. He had the student a nervous wreck.

And finally be patient. They come from totally different backgrounds than you do and they wouldn't be over here if they didn't want to do this for a living. If you treat them as you would want to be treated, it shouldn't be a problem.