Fuller: Focus on training can help GA...

[Jim Logajan]

I think there are a lot of CFIs that must not be giving much instruction at all, since there are almost more CFIs than there are student pilots.

An astounding 94,000 CFIs:

http://www.faa.gov/data_research/aviation_data_statistics/civil_airmen_statistics/2009/

With only about 613,000 active pilots and 1/3 of that number being private pilots that probably aren't getting much instruction beyond a flight review every other year, there probably aren't a whole lot of instructing hours to go around.

If each of the annual 72,000 students gets maybe 20 hours dual (taking into account "drop outs",) that is ~1.44 M hours there. Add in ~210,000 hours for BFRs (~2 hrs every 2 years) that is ~1.65 M hours/year/94k CFIs, or ~17.5 billable hours/year/CFI. I suspect a single CFI needs 50 times that number to make a living of it.

Clearly there are either a lot of unemployed CFIs or many of the certificates holders never had or have any intention of instructing. With all that competition I would have expected the cream to rise to the top. My very local and limited experience is that it appears to have.

 

[Trapper John]

An astounding 94,000 CFIs:

Hell, with that kind of student:teacher ratio, we shouldn't be crashing as much as we do!

If each of the annual 72,000 students gets maybe 20 hours dual (taking into account "drop outs",) that is ~1.44 M hours there. Add in ~210,000 hours for BFRs (~2 hrs every 2 years) that is ~1.65 M hours/year/94k CFIs, or ~17.5 billable hours/year/CFI. I suspect a single CFI needs 50 times that number to make a living of it.

Makes you feel bad for the kids that go to "aviation universities" and graduate with $50-60k in student loans, doesn't it? Maybe they have rich parents that pick up the tab.

 

[Everskyward]

Clearly there are either a lot of unemployed CFIs or many of the certificates holders never had or have any intention of instructing.

I think there are many CFIs who hold on to the certificate but don't use it much if at all because renewing it is easier than reinstating it. Didn't we have a thread about this not too long ago?