CFI question

I'm seriously considering getting my CFI in the next month or two, I just have a quick question. I don't want to kill myself working through college, I'll be a freshman this year, have my CSEL and those things. Is it possible to have two students at a time whole instructing for a company. I'm in no rush to build massive amounts of hours as I have four years till I'm even done with college.

Is it reasonable to just take it easy through college? I'd also prefere to have every other weekend off to visit the girlfriend of two and a half years.(Assuming it all works out). Are employers understanding of this? Ihave no issues working week days, but as I've said... I just want to take it easy from now on, I've already worked myself as hard as I can these past three years.

Weekends are prime time for flight students. You might be able to get away with it in a college environment just due to classes being during the week. In my expereince I needed weekends as make up days for bad weather, cancelation, mx etc. I dont know how I wouldve finished all my students were it not for weekends. Outside of colleges, I would think most employers and students are going to want weekend availabilty. Of course you might find an exception.

I get the weekend thing, I guess I would be out of town every four to five weekends and over school breaks. I'll see what I can find out about the employers in the area.. Another consideration is that I may be living in Hawaii next summer if things work out. I'd be pretty hard pressed to turn down that opportunity, especially since I'm so young at this point. I'm just caught in a bind, between the career path, and the being young and not having to stress over being employed.

Back in the day, I worked for a college flight program and we could set whatever schedule we wanted. I worked on the weekends because I was hungry for flight time and cash, but I could've taken off as many weekends as I wanted.

When I worked as an instructor at an FBO, I told the boss from Day 1 I would only work Mon-Fri. I said I wanted to have Saturday as a day off, and Sunday reserved for flying skydivers, so I wouldn't burn out on teaching. I knew this might be an odd request, but I assured him I'd be VERY flexible with my Mon-Fri schedule, working early mornings, late nights if needed, etc. I also had a bit of leverage, because by this point in my career, I had a solid track record, with 600-700 hours dual given.

He agreed to it, and I turned into one of the busiest instructors there. I told my students from the start how I wouldn't be available on the weekends, but I'd do whatever I could to accommodate their schedules during the week. A couple students opted to fly with other instructors, but most stuck with me. Weekend flying isn't as big of a deal as many people make it out to be.

And to answer your original question, sure, taking on one or two students at a time is very doable. It can be a bit frustrating when you hit the inevitable learning plateaus with them, since you have nowhere else to focus your energy as an instructor, but the upside comes when you can always remember exactly where they're at in training and devote a lot of attention/prep time to them.

By the way, if worst comes to worst and nobody wants to hire you under your conditions, you can always freelance. Pass out business cards for flight reviews, start your own ground school class, that sort of thing.

In my opinion I think the biggest factor here is where you will be instructing. Are you attending an aviation college? If so there is almost certaintly going to be a flight department that you can work with. At San Jose State we have a small flight school dedicated solely to students and grads, and instructors are not forced to be there on any particular day at any particular time. If you have a student, you show up, if not, then you don't. Even at more intense places such as ERAU I'm sure they're more accommodating with schedules. If you're not going to an aviation college you could try looking in the local area and see if there are any flight programs. I would also recommend a school like that because all of your finals and midterms will be around the same time, so you'll have time to hit the books since all of your students will be doing the same...well some of them at least.

In terms of being able to do it...that depends on your mindset. I remember just starting college (I just graduated in May so it wasn't too long ago) and my best memories come from freshman year. I had nothing to worry about except getting to classes, meeting new people and having a ton of new crazy experiences. It sounds like you're already ahead of most pilots so you may want to consider taking a year off and enjoying college...trust me it goes by quickly. However, if all you want to do is teach, then the simple answer is yes, you can do it. But be prepared to make some sleep sacrifices and be willing to give up on more than a few nights of fun.