Talk me into CFI

[Mtns2Skies]

Well,

I'm about to finish up my CP-MEL in a couple weeks, which has been my end-goal for quite some time. What do you do after getting to your end goal?

The next logical step is CFI... that's what everyone does after CP-MEL right?

I could do CFI, but I really have no plans to use it. It sure seems like a LOT of hassle to go through for something I really don't intend to use. I also get horrible checkride anxiety and CFI must be the mother of all checkrides. I do see it as possibly useful for the odd BFR, or to let people log time in my plane, but again that seems like awfully small benefits for the amount of work it is to get.

I'm also not stoked about the fact that you have the potential to lose it and have to re-take the checkride if you don't maintain currency. I've also heard there's potential issues with liability and CFI's being held more accountable and to a higher standard should there be any disciplinary action.

All of this being said, I DO enjoy teaching and I DO enjoy teaching aviation... but I'm not sure CFI is right for me.

What say you peanut gallery? Has anyone gotten their CFI and regretted it? Anyone really wish they got it earlier in their career instead of waiting?

 

[schmookeeg]

I did it.

It is indeed the mother of all checkrides. It was NOT my best training experience (Part 135 Indoc was far better/more intense training than ATP's CFI school)

The recurrency is cake. It's like taking traffic school every other year. If you miss, you just go get an add-on to your CFI like glider or helo. AOPA spams you 3 months before you're due, which is something they're good for. You don't need to be a member to get their spams -- I dropped them years ago.

I don't teach primary, and won't. I love instrument flying and do a lot of type transitions into Beeches. If you can find a little niche like that that you really like and have a deep experience well to draw from, it's great.

And the preparation for the checkride is amazing and worth doing "because it is there" -- organizing curriculum and making it "yours" is a real enlightening exercise. The FOI exam can gargle my dangles, that is the worst FAA written ever conceived. I'm convinced the ground instructor cert is only so you can "lock in" your passed FOI exam and never fear re-taking the thing.

I think I spent 20 grand on the certs and I've probably only recently broken even (got em in 2010). Looking at it as a business transaction, it sucks. For the ability to take some dude up and kick the rust out of him for a few hours, then make him buy you a club sandwich and iced tea for the debrief? pretty priceless in my book.

$0.02

 

[RussR]

Being a CFI has opened far more aviation doors for me than I ever thought possible. Highly recommended.

I guess I don't understand why you say you like teaching aviation but don't want to be a CFI - the two seem like a perfect match.

 

[RyanB]

have you ever regretted getting sendy? ...didn’t think so.

My 2c says send it - all gas no brakes

 

[Mtns2Skies]

I guess I don't understand why you say you like teaching aviation but don't want to be a CFI - the two seem like a perfect match.

I guess, I do want to be a CFI if it were handed to me... but is the effort + massive checkride anxiety worth it for how little I forsee using it?

 

[Greg Bockelman]

If you never intend to use it, don’t do it. Otherwise others offer good advice.

 

[ja_user]

Keeping it is easy, as long as you know how to mark a calendar and do a recurrent class. They are online, american flyers is $99 for life, and $20 every two years if you don't want to visit the FSDO.

The initial though, that is a beast. CFII and MEI you will want and those are pretty straight forward.

 

[denverpilot]

I won’t talk anyone into CFI. It’s too important someone wants to do it for their own reasons.

It’s already bad enough that the industry circumstances drive far too many into it as a time-builder who have zero interest in teaching, and never do it again after they get hired commercially.

 

[smv]

I won’t talk anyone into CFI. It’s too important someone wants to do it for their own reasons.

It’s already bad enough that the industry circumstances drive far too many into it as a time-builder who have zero interest in teaching, and never do it again after they get hired commercially.

I am still cleaning up after the likes of instructors like that. One student had over 30 touch and go landings in their first five flights. ELEVEN on the fifth flight. Another who had zero experience with crosswind landings after 30 hours of dual. "Whenever it was crosswind, they would do the landing and never even let me try". Who in the hell even does that? A lazy CFI who's only interest is building hours, not teaching someone to fly, that's who...

 

[sarangan]

Well,

I'm about to finish up my CP-MEL in a couple weeks, which has been my end-goal for quite some time. What do you do after getting to your end goal?

The next logical step is CFI... that's what everyone does after CP-MEL right?

I could do CFI, but I really have no plans to use it. It sure seems like a LOT of hassle to go through for something I really don't intend to use. I also get horrible checkride anxiety and CFI must be the mother of all checkrides. I do see it as possibly useful for the odd BFR, or to let people log time in my plane, but again that seems like awfully small benefits for the amount of work it is to get.

I'm also not stoked about the fact that you have the potential to lose it and have to re-take the checkride if you don't maintain currency. I've also heard there's potential issues with liability and CFI's being held more accountable and to a higher standard should there be any disciplinary action.

All of this being said, I DO enjoy teaching and I DO enjoy teaching aviation... but I'm not sure CFI is right for me.

What say you peanut gallery? Has anyone gotten their CFI and regretted it? Anyone really wish they got it earlier in their career instead of waiting?

You said you enjoy teaching aviation, and that should be the main reason for getting a CFI. It is indeed a big checkride, but it is not all a waste.

 

[midlifeflyer]

I won’t talk anyone into CFI. It’s too important someone wants to do it for their own reasons.

It’s already bad enough that the industry circumstances drive far too many into it as a time-builder who have zero interest in teaching, and never do it again after they get hired commercially.

You beat me to it.

If you have to ask other people to give you reasons to be a CFI, especially after listing a bunch of negatives, the only answer is, "Don't do it."

 

[ateamer]

I got CFI with the idea of a part-time retirement job. Turns out that where we moved to, the flight schools are all big 141 operations with fulltime instructors. I came from the environment of all Part 61, although I got the CFI ticket at a mixed school.

One of the biggest mistakes I ever made. Between the cost, the time studying stuff that I swear no CFI had ever taught me and had never come up as a factor in any flying I’d done, and scheduling hassles, it took a lot of effort, time and money that could’ve just gone toward flying for fun.

So here I am two years later. Turns out that we’re financially sound enough to get by without the extra income, I’ve given a couple flight reviews and that’s about it.

Have a solid plan. Know what you’re going to do, do your research on the job market, where you’re going to work. Have potential employment lined up, as far as flight school, location, how much you’ll be able to work and what your long-term goal is.

In fact, I’d say that for every rating and certificate beyond Private. If it won’t be of actual tangible benefit, save your money and use it for perfecting what you’re currently doing.

 

[RyanShort1]

I do it nowadays because I enjoy seeing people reach their goals. From a long-term standpoint that outweighs the risks that I am probably more aware of than a lot of other CFI's. You can have a student do something really dumb, lose an airplane totaled, be 709'd by the FAA, take two years off of teaching, and still decide to come back to it... hoping you've learned enough lessons to avoid a problem student in the future, but it's about people in the end.

 

[Kenny Phillips]

I won’t talk anyone into CFI. It’s too important someone wants to do it for their own reasons.

It’s already bad enough that the industry circumstances drive far too many into it as a time-builder who have zero interest in teaching, and never do it again after they get hired commercially.

Hah, my retirement plan was to finish up CFI, sell my company, and use the flight training to augment my retirement income and keep me busy. It was a good idea in January, not so good now. No pilot shortage, company down the tubes, the world is a spoiled oyster.

 

[kath]

When I started training for the CFI, it had been about 13 years since the Commercial, and so that long since I'd done any formal training for anything (outside of the odd FR). I was amazed at how much I'd forgotten, about all kinds of things! Flying from the right seat was new and different, and took about 5 hours of feeling like a complete noob. I got a lot out of the training alone, it definitely got me to up my flying game and kick the complacency out of me. I didn't have a plan for using the certificate, nor did I do any kind of cost-benefit plan for making it worth the expense; I have a university day job already and I figured maybe I'd do some evening-and-weekend instruction, just for fun. (Turns out, I love it! Wish I'd done it earlier. But everyone is different.)

So I disagree with @ateamer that it's a purely financial question... If you're the type who appreciates training and learning (and the artistry of both), who thinks training *is* fun, and gets value out of getting to say, "Wow, that was hard but I learned a lot," then you might find value in getting the CFI, regardless of whether it pays for itself later or not. It's like any other certificate or rating: once you've got it, you can use it however you want to, including not at all.

 

[PaulS]

I won’t talk anyone into CFI. It’s too important someone wants to do it for their own reasons.

It’s already bad enough that the industry circumstances drive far too many into it as a time-builder who have zero interest in teaching, and never do it again after they get hired commercially.

I was here to say this, do it because you want to teach and help people progress. Shouldn't need to be talked into it.

 

[RussR]

I agree with the other posters that if you're not interested in teaching, don't become a CFI. 100%, absolutely true. But I don't think that's the case with you, so I will differ from several of the above posters on some things.

1. You say you would enjoy teaching aviation, you just don't want to go through the checkride to get there. To that, I can only respond that, like many other things in life, nothing comes for free, you have to sacrifice for your goals, etc., etc.

2. I thought my CFI checkride was pretty easy. It was with the FSDO. It was the only checkride I've had where the entire checkride was spent doing things I was _actually_ going to be doing with the rating. Not like the Commercial Lazy 8's which you have to learn for the commercial checkride but then will never do as a commercial pilot. I like teaching, and so teaching aviation to the FSDO inspector was easy and even dare I say fun, even the ground part - I brought up so many real-life examples of whatever topic we were discussing that at one point he just told me to stop, he'd heard enough, I obviously knew what I was talking about!

3. I was a hobby pilot prior to becoming a CFI with about 1000 hours. The only reason I became a CFI is because it was the next most logical rating to get - I like to learn something new every couple of years, and was already a CP-Single, Multi and Helicopter, so what's next? Gliders or CFI, but I figured CFI might be slightly more useful at the time (although I still want to go get my glider rating though), but I had no immediate plans to actually do any instruction.

4. A month after I passed my checkride, the school I trained at called and asked if I wanted to come on part-time as a CFI. And that started a wonderful journey that has led to learning, flying and teaching more than I ever would have suspected - faster and more advanced aircraft, twins, contract work and more, and has been a very satisfying side job. Aviation went from being something I had to pay for, to something where I get paid to do it, practically overnight.

5. You never know where life will lead you - if you think you'd like teaching, give it a shot. Don't let checkride fears stand in your way. Maybe you never use your CFI certificate, or just do a few flight reviews once in a while - but you still will have gained the knowledge and benefited from the training to get there. Or maybe it takes you in a whole different direction you could have never anticipated and becomes a career. The only thing for certain is that it won't happen if you don't try.

 

[Zeldman]

You will love being a CFI.!!!

You get to meet interesting people that will come up with interesting ways to kill you in a plane.

You never know where life will lead you - if you think you'd like teaching, give it a shot. Don't let checkride fears stand in your way. Maybe you never use your CFI certificate, or just do a few flight reviews once in a while - but you still will have gained the knowledge and benefited from the training to get there. Or maybe it takes you in a whole different direction you could have never anticipated and becomes a career. The only thing for certain is that it won't happen if you don't try.

This says it all. I pretty much have lived my life on the last sentence of the above paragraph.

 

[MauleSkinner]

Since you mentioned checkride anxiety, I’d suggest that if you do decide to go for the Instructor certificate, be over-prepared. Don’t say “I’ve got to get it done by such-and-such a date, and I’ll budget this much,” or place similar restrictions on yourself.

You can do the overwhelming majority of study/practice on your own, with occasional sessions with an instructor. Study, review, practice, repeat. Learn until it becomes a part of your being, not just to get you through the checkride. Feel free to take a few years, but learn the material. People say the FOI is a waste of time...so what? If you want to be an instructor, you have to learn it, and you may as well learn it like it’s important. IMO, the “go with Sheppard and get it over with” attitude generates testing anxiety.

The pilots I see with the most checkride anxiety are the ones who spend three days cramming for the checkride, barely pass, don’t think about any of it for the next 361 days, and do it all over again. I recently watched a type-rated ATP spend 20 minutes figuring out how to compute CG when he had a weight and a moment. And he’d reviewed it two days before with his instructor. But it’s the first time in a year that he’d thought about it.

I understand that test anxiety is a real thing, but based on what I’ve seen, if you sit down for the oral and it’s obvious from the outset that you know the answers, it tends to reduce the anxiety tremendously.

 

[Vance Breese]

I guess, I do want to be a CFI if it were handed to me... but is the effort + massive checkride anxiety worth it for how little I forsee using it?

In my experience difficult things have more value.

Improving my skills to pass the CFI check ride made me a better pilot.

I learn from every client and every training flight.

I find value in that.

I failed my first CFI oral.

 

[tonycondon]

It will make you more employable

I have checked out quite a few 500-800 hr pilots in the King Air in the last few years as SIC's. I see a BIG difference between the CFI's and non-CFI's. It makes you a much better pilot when you've spent time trying to teach someone else.

You will have a reason to spend more time at the airport even if just doing odd flight reviews, etc. and that will lead to more opportunities.

 

[brcase]

I got CFI with the idea of a part-time retirement job. Turns out that where we moved to, the flight schools are all big 141 operations with fulltime instructors. I came from the environment of all Part 61, although I got the CFI ticket at a mixed school.

One of the biggest mistakes I ever made. Between the cost, the time studying stuff that I swear no CFI had ever taught me and had never come up as a factor in any flying I’d done, and scheduling hassles, it took a lot of effort, time and money that could’ve just gone toward flying for fun.

So here I am two years later. Turns out that we’re financially sound enough to get by without the extra income, I’ve given a couple flight reviews and that’s about it.

Have a solid plan. Know what you’re going to do, do your research on the job market, where you’re going to work. Have potential employment lined up, as far as flight school, location, how much you’ll be able to work and what your long-term goal is.

In fact, I’d say that for every rating and certificate beyond Private. If it won’t be of actual tangible benefit, save your money and use it for perfecting what you’re currently doing.

That is often the biggest problem ie getting your foot in the door as a CFI. If the place that trains will hire you is often best or if you belong to a group that knows you. Perhaps EAA or CAP (doesn't pay instructors, but great networking) flying club and just hanging out around the airport and talking to people. Once you do enough to get a bit a good reputation, word of mouth can keep you instructing, but being associated or working for a flight school will get you a lot work and access to rental airplanes. Working independently will get you flying a lot more interesting airplanes, and people play you to do it.



Brian
CFIIG/ASEL

 

[brcase]

Tip for becoming a Part 61 CFI. Get to know the local DPE's. Ask their opinions on the best way to get a CFI in your area. Also ask about employment opportunities.
You will want to know them anyway if you do very much instruction toward ratings anyway.
Also one of the easiest way to renew is to do a renewal ride with a DPE, Many discount the rides for CFI renewal. They like seeing how you teach, giving you feedback and likely if you are familiar with their check-rides you are more likely to refer your applicants to them.

Brian

 

[idahoflier]

About 12 years ago I decided not to pursue a CFI rating for the reasons you cited. Then the family came and even if I wanted to I wouldn't have had time for part time instructing. I believe you're still relatively young and if that's the case and you have the time and $ maybe you should pursue it. You can instruct for a while and if life gets in the way you can always pick it up again when time permits...

 

[ahw01]

I did CFI to challenge myself after witnessing an accident (everyone got out fine).

Haven't used it yet (living outside the US and other full time career).

Still open to opportunities and would love to get 200 dual given and a gold seal.