What is your CFI worth to you?

Cpt_Kirk

Cpt_Kirk

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Ted Striker
This thread is intended for both CFI's and students, alike.

The purpose of this thread is to pull from everyone's experience so that I can better myself and my instruction for the student while making some sort of livable wage for myself.

My Skymaster job that I had came to a close a few months back (yay? lol). With that happening and not any paying jobs coming into view (with my TT), I have decided to take the CFI route in regards to experience/flight time/"career."

With that being said, I have been doing reading online for instructor pay scales at FBO's and as independent contractors. It's a huge "can of worms" as far as I'm concerned, but I did have a few questions for those on here:

CFI's:
How do you charge your student? It seems that charging for the entire time the CFI is booked leads to a better value as well as student/instructor interaction.

Are you independent or work for a school/FBO? Did you prefer one over the other?

How do you define value in regards to your student?

What do you do if some the weather or maintenance or some other outside force has to cancel the lesson scheduled for that day?

Students:
Do you feel your current CFI is worth what they charge?

Would you prefer to restructure the way your lessons are conducted?

Would you rather be charged for the entire booked time or when the CFI is actively teaching? The booked time is assuming you have the CFI's undivided attention the entire block (aka nothing else matters to him).

How do you define value relating to your flight lessons?

What would you change, if you could change anything?
 
Cpt_Kirk said:
How do you charge your student? It seems that charging for the entire time the CFI is booked leads to a better value as well as student/instructor interaction.
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Typically I charge $35/hr for flight time. I figure there will be 30 minutes of my time that won't be charged for and just expect that. If the time I need to spend with the student before or after exceeds 30 minutes I generally charge.

Lots of people I don't charge anything to and that's usually because they're friends or we exchange services.
Cpt_Kirk said:
Are you independent or work for a school/FBO? Did you prefer one over the other?
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I have always instructed independently but have always been approved to instruct in a local rental airplane. That opportunity went dry this year when they closed up shop. So I started another aircraft rental company with a partner and instruct in that. Instructors bill for their time on their own.

Cpt_Kirk said:
How do you define value in regards to your student?
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I tell them that I will make them into safe proficient pilots that will be able to get a lot of utility out of their certificates. I do things during training that really aren't needed to pass a checkride but will make them a better pilot. When we're doing things like that I let them know. I've never had someone argue it.

Ultimately I try to setup an intro flight as soon as possible when a student contacts me. Afterwords I tell them I would highly suggest they go interview other local instructors and figure out who they think they will have the best personality fit with. I give them the names and contact information for those instructors. 95% of the time they come back to me and we proceed with training.
Cpt_Kirk said:
What do you do if some the weather or maintenance or some other outside force has to cancel the lesson scheduled for that day?
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I tell them from the beginning that we will have to cancel flights on a regular schedule for various reasons from maintenance issues, to the weather, to them or myself being sick. I make sure they aren't "surprised" by this happening and encourage them to book three times a week with the expectation we'll probably fly two. It's important to make it expected from the start so they don't end up highly disappointed.

If a student cancels a lesson I don't charge them. If they make a habit of not showing up for lessons or cancel a minute before, I tell them that my time is valuable to me and if it continues they'll have to find another instructor.
 
50hr

That's what I've paid for instructors from student to recent add ons.

That's also what I charge for instruction.

If the student cancels a flight I don't charge as long as they give a normal amount of notice, or if its a car breakdown or something.

Now days I'm freelance, I use my experience and track record as a CFI to build value.

As for plane mx, students learn to read the short term due mx off the sheet in the plane, so they'll know when it's going to be going in for annuals, ADs etc.
 
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IME, charging "block time" is a ripoff for students.

You rarely got the CFIs full (or even partial) attention, the time block would fill up with BS chores, and continuing a flight that went well (or discontinuing a flight going poorly) didn't happen.

ditto for CFIs who would charge "ground" then putz around or speak *really slowly*.

IMNSHO if you are a CFI:
Set your rate to whatever you are happy making in flight, add a buffer into that rate for 10 minutes or so to brief and then 10 more to debrief the flight, and charge for going beyond that.

Above all, make sure you are giving the student value toward their goals with each lesson. There are CFIs who I'd consider cheap even at $75-80/hr, and they usually only charge $35-50/hr while condensing lessons effectively.

There are other ones who would give you all the time you wanted @ $35/hr, and I felt hosed.
 
Cpt_Kirk said:
CFI's:
How do you charge your student? It seems that charging for the entire time the CFI is booked leads to a better value as well as student/instructor interaction.

Are you independent or work for a school/FBO? Did you prefer one over the other?

How do you define value in regards to your student?

What do you do if some the weather or maintenance or some other outside force has to cancel the lesson scheduled for that day?

Students:
Do you feel your current CFI is worth what they charge?

Would you prefer to restructure the way your lessons are conducted?

Would you rather be charged for the entire booked time or when the CFI is actively teaching? The booked time is assuming you have the CFI's undivided attention the entire block (aka nothing else matters to him).

How do you define value relating to your flight lessons?

What would you change, if you could change anything?
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1. Yes my CFI is worth what he charges ($65/hr)
2. I like the way the lessons are laid out. Before every flight we do a briefing on what we're going to do for the day and take care of any ground school or questions I have. After the flight we do post briefing and he critiques me, answers any questions I have, and tells me what to expect for next lesson so I can prepare.
3. I book 2 hour blocks but my CFI doesn't charge me for that. He just charges me for whatever the fight time was plus pre and post briefings.
4. The real value comes with the pre and post briefings IMO. The critiques and question and answer time really helps to see if I'm on track or not.

As a CFI in training I would charge the same way my CFI does. Flight time plus briefings and any ground we do. I also got offered a CFI job when I finish my training which is really awesome! It helps that my CFI is the Chief CFI and he said he would like to hire after I pass. If weather is an issue or there is a mechanical problem I would see if the student wants to come in for a ground lesson. I hope to get the ride knocked out sometime in January so I can start teaching part time during my last semester of school.
 
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warthog1984 said:
IME, charging "block time" is a ripoff for students.
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Total ripoff. Sorry Captain Kirk CFIing means 'working' a crapload of unpaid hours, might be sweeping, might be pushing airplanes around, might be dealing with silly student stuff. But you ain't getting your rate all the time you are awake or scheduled or at the airport, especially since the last one covers all the time in the first one. If you need time it ain't about the money and if you can't afford to be poor you screwed up your pro pilot career planning.
 
My instructor is a retired military pilot who now flies whatever whenever because he loves to fly. He charges 45 per hour. He tried to give me quite a bit if time for free, I declined and paid him because I felt it was worth it. I did not do a traditional ground school, he taught me everything. Early in my training every lesson had a ground and flying component. Later it became more flying and less ground. He took me with him on two corporate flights and I got about 9 hours of free instruction. I got my certificate last Monday, but I still consider him my instructor because I intend to keep learning and will fly with him from time to time so I can get better. I hope I answered your question.
 
Officially I charge "face time"....if I'm in your face and doing something to move you closer to your rating, I'm paid. In reality, it's something less than full face time because I don't factor in chit-chat time after the logbook is signed. It usually works out to .1-.2 before we fly and .1-.2 after the flight. The flight time is usually hobbs or if no hobbs my watch time from startup to shutdown.

I charge $55 per hour, $50/hour when purchased in blocks of 10 hours in advance.

I figure that's a steal since I charge $250/hour for my legal services and I've been a CFI two years longer than I've been a lawyer! (34 years vs. 32 years experience.) And no one has (yet) tried to kill me while being their lawyer.
 
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jordane93 said:
3. I book 2 hour blocks but my CFI doesn't charge me for that. He just charges me for whatever the fight time was plus pre and post briefings.
4. The real value comes with the pre and post briefings IMO. The critiques and question and answer time really helps to see if I'm on track or not.
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When I was active I was charging for the block, and often went over the block by a bit, but I think #4 is what is important to remember... The ground time is often time more important value wise than a student might think. I had a couple of students I picked up from other instructors tell me that they didn't get any critique post flight from a previous instructor and they were very happy when we started doing that.
 
I'd pay 40ish an hour. I like how my instructor did it. If he was there he was getting paid but whenever you went to turn over cash if you were there say 10 am to 11:45 He'd just say ah 60's good.

I think a fair way to do it would be to run the "meter" from when you first meet up till when you park the plane (assuming you don't debrief for an hour) That way your still compensated for pretty much all your time and the student doesn't feel rushed to "end" the lesson.

I value my instructor but I'd be annoyed if he was charging me for the 5-10 min just standing around BSing about a plane, someones landing, when we'll fly again, who's building that new hanger, listening to an old flying story etc. Yeah I learned stuff in those end of day conversations but I'm not sure i'd be happy paying.

Also block time, never did it that way cause I learned off a grass strip in a flying club and everything is kinda laid back. I wouldn't like it though unless airplane was fueled ready to go and it would drive me nuts if my CFI wasn't 100% focused on maximizing my time.
 
RyanShort1 said:
When I was active I was charging for the block, and often went over the block by a bit, but I think #4 is what is important to remember... The ground time is often time more important value wise than a student might think. I had a couple of students I picked up from other instructors tell me that they didn't get any critique post flight from a previous instructor and they were very happy when we started doing that.
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Exactly. Some people see charging for pre and post briefings as "nickel and diming" the student. I'm more than happy to pay my CFI for his briefings. The briefs are very important and I learn a lot from them.
 
Thanks for the responses so far. Two more questions:

1. Do you think your CFI would be worth more than what they charge currently?

2. Let's forget about the stereotypes of certain CFI's out there today. In regards to a block rate, if you were charged a certain amount and the CFI was at your disposal the entire block (ground & flight), would you feel you, as a student, would be able to get the best value out of that structure?

At the school I am at now, flights are generally scheduled in 2-hour blocks with one activity ending as soon as another one begins. This usually means there is little to no debrief and if one does occur, it cuts into the next student's activity. As a student and potential CFI, that's something I really don't like.

Also, students showing up late/unprepared or not even showing up at all is another big issue that I see at this particular school. One positive about charging for the block rate was that students were more prone to show up on time as well as show up prepared. Cancellations due to weather/mechanical/etc. are understood and will be taken care of appropriately (not charging the student a penny).

I'm just playing the devil's advocate to get some responses and see where people stand on these questions. In no way am I saying I am or my skillset is worth $1,000,000/hr.

Another potential positive to the block time would be that the student isn't rushing to get the plane shutdown and everything wrapped up in order to save a few bucks. They will know what time is allotted to them and use it appropriately.
 
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If you want to be really good and being really professional as you know your craft as a professional. Each lesson would be outlined with objectives and success criteria. You would charge by the lesson. Each lesson would be graded and given back at the end with discussion. If the score is not high enough then you repeat. You would have different sets of lessons for each of the learning styles. Auditory, visual, tactile
 
To answer new questions.
1. Yes but at the same time theres tons of other instructors and for me cost plays a factor and even if your the best damn instructor its just not worth paying more than 5-10$ more than the average rate.

2. I don't think a whole lot of students would feel a block rate is best value. House always wins in that case. Each second your cfi is doing something not 100% on you is taking the time you paid for(and no cfi is 100% whirlwind of instruction 100% of the time) Flight gets done ten minutes early your losing time, finish debrief early losing time.
 
falconkidding said:
To answer new questions.
1. Yes but at the same time theres tons of other instructors and for me cost plays a factor and even if your the best damn instructor its just not worth paying more than 5-10$ more than the average rate.
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Would you still pay less even if the instructor is crappy?
 
yetti said:
If you want to be really good and being really professional as you know your craft as a professional. Each lesson would be outlined with objectives and success criteria. You would charge by the lesson. Each lesson would be graded and given back at the end with discussion. If the score is not high enough then you repeat. You would have different sets of lessons for each of the learning styles. Auditory, visual, tactile
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That's essentially what you do in a 141 program, but not everyone likes the rigidity of that approach. Doing 61, I can make it as formal or informal as the student likes. Ultimately, the regs and the PTS are your guide.
 
LDJones said:
That's essentially what you do in a 141 program, but not everyone likes the rigidity of that approach. Doing 61, I can make it as formal or informal as the student likes. Ultimately, the regs and the PTS are your guide.
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I was a part of a 142 program for some time. The best day was when I left.

The instructors would nitpick and I would have to redo and entire lesson. Great for them, of course.

I don't want to be that guy. I don't want to do to a potential student what has been done to me in the past.
 
I payed 30/hour and and two instructors handled it differently. The first charged solely off the hobbs meter. He was instructing more as a rainy day fund though and didn't charge for pre/post talks. I met him at a bookstore a couple times and a mcdonalds a couple times where we went over ground school stuff and he never charged for that. The second charged hobbs plus .3 every time and that was fair because we generally spent a lot of time after flying talking about what happened. He was a retired marine and would use an LSO style debrief for my landings. Basically a broken down point system of what was good from approach to landing. In flight he scribbled stuff down from time to time these things ranged from something I did good, something I did bad, a habit of mine he'd noticed (harmless or bad), to a stray topic he wanted to talk about, basically anything.

Both were good instructors and thats what mattered.


I should clarify that 30/hour was the schools rate, both of these instructors had thousands of hours of real world flying and were not just building hours but rather in-between bigger jobs. One is now a test pilot, the other works for a company teaching foreign air forces how to fly.
 
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Cpt_Kirk said:
How do you charge your student?
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$60/hour or $400/day (plus expenses) for all the time we're working together.

Are you independent or work for a school/FBO? Did you prefer one over the other?
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Independent. When I worked full-time for a flight school back in the late 70's, it was a better deal for me then, but would not be today. At this semi-retired point in my life, it's a lot better to be an independent contractor.

How do you define value in regards to your student?
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I don't understand the question -- can you elucidate?

What do you do if some the weather or maintenance or some other outside force has to cancel the lesson scheduled for that day?
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Ground/sim training, if applicable/appropriate.
 
You asked what people want. If your target market is older people who are mid level corporate manager and such they will be more used to this style. You don't have to nit pick and you can still make it fun with style and flair. So you have not defined your target market yet?
 
Ron Levy said:
I don't understand the question -- can you elucidate?
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How do you justify your hourly/daily rate? Do you make adjustments on cost in relation to your rate vs. your performance (e.g. "I don't believe this lesson was up to par with my rate because of X reason, this is what we'll do: ____).
 
i think 60-100 for hobbs time with the ground include is fair for a top notch cfi. 30 maybe 40 for a pimply faced guy. i don't mind paying for ground time as long as I learn something of value. but charging ground time every single time just because , I think is downright abusive.
 
Cpt_Kirk said:
Thanks for the responses so far. Two more questions:

1. Do you think your CFI would be worth more than what they charge currently?

2. Let's forget about the stereotypes of certain CFI's out there today. In regards to a block rate, if you were charged a certain amount and the CFI was at your disposal the entire block (ground & flight), would you feel you, as a student, would be able to get the best value out of that structure?

How do you justify your hourly/daily rate? Do you make adjustments on cost in relation to your rate vs. your performance (e.g. "I don't believe this lesson was up to par with my rate because of X reason, this is what we'll do: ____).
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1) Yes, but he's teaching solely as a retirement activity between air shows. His motivation is teaching to students that he wants to- the money is gravy to him.

2) Probably not. For starters, you'd have to schedule "reset" blocks fairly often- students do NOT enjoy getting a discrete block of time, only to use it up playing lineboy. Also, people learn at different rates- during my PPL training, since my dad was a pilot it was mostly muscle memory and learning the feel of the plane; for others, theory played a larger role. Different time demands & expectations. Plus, how would you handle XCs and solo review?

3) What is the syllabus / path toward my goal (PPL, IR, better short-field landings, whatever), how will today's lesson fit into that precisely, what is the plan of action, how/why will each maneuver help me toward my goal, and what will YOU be doing to help me learn besides imitate a lump of potatoes? Debriefing- what went good, bad, why, things to study/prep for next time, questions, concerns, effect of today's flight on progress through the syllabus.
AND sometimes, I'll tell the instructor I just want to fly the plane my way- maybe I've had a bad day at the office, I'm tired, burnt out, just want a "fun flight" to reset, etc...
 
Personally, I think it's BS that a typical CFI only gets around $35 hourly if they work for a company. I guess for young guys and gals just building time it's fine, but those of you using it for your livelihoods that seems like such a cheap shot. I make more than that hourly teaching, and that is a notoriously underpaid field. Hell, (theoretically) I pay $60 plus tip to get a massage from a pretty girl. I mean... where is the value here?

Anyways, back on task, my main thing as a student is not wasting time. Every minute of flight should be utilized. I always felt drained after each lesson, going home thinking that flying would be enjoyable, but realizing that learning to fly is HARD, and mentally taxing.

I'm not a student any longer, but for me, I felt like there was a lot of stuff left out of training. Specifically more on emergency procedures would have been good, along with unusual attitude stuff. A lot of PPL training is done in fairly benign weather, and on my first long XC after obtaining my PPL I got caught in some mountain drafts. Ended up ~30* bank nose down. That stuff should be emphasized in training. Also, the first 3/4 of my training it was all ordinary take-offs and landings, all of the time. When they started doing short/soft field stuff it really screwed me up. It took about three lessons to re-learn how to land. Blend some of that in sooner in the training to prevent the student from settling in on a routine early on (but probably after first solo). It was really kind of funny, as I hadn't yet nailed down short-field landings by the end of my training. We were practicing them the day before my check-ride, and I kept landing long. I guess the practice is to aim for the third stripe, which wasn't working for my landings. So my CFI suggested 2nd stripe. Nope, still blew past the target. As we headed back to home base, she just said, you know what, aim for the first stripe on your check-ride. Well, that worked. Nailed it to within CP standards (what the DPE said). I guess the suggestion is to learn the habits of your students, and what works safely for them.
 
If you are good you will also have a time to get feed back from your student. You will use that feedback to update your lesson plans and make them better.
 
I feel much better paying my independent cfi 50/hr than paying a flight school 50/hr (where cfi makes half of that or less). I would rather them charge their "rate" and expect a few tenths of pre flight/post flight briefing.
 
Flight training is a very small portion of my overall aviation expenses.
I have received over 110 hours of dual instruction from 21 different CFIs.
I am blind in one eye and have had several traumatic brain injuries so I am not easy to teach.
For me actually flying an aircraft is not an ideal learning environment.
I always did better with an hour preflight briefing and an hour post flight debrief for each hour of dual instruction so I am puzzled by pilots here expecting the best part of instruction for free.
I have over 200 hours of ground school; most of which is not in my log book.
Part of my flying afterglow is being grateful for the things CFIs have taught me.
I have debriefing cards that I fill out to help me to identify the things I did well and the weaknesses I should focus on.
I generally spend about 20 minutes on afterglow, sometimes much longer before I exit the aircraft.
When I am flight planning; I often reflect on who and where my flight planning skills came from.
I cannot imagine having the distrustful relationship with a CFI that some pilots here describe.
I have received value from almost every hour of instruction I have paid for.
I love flying and am grateful to those who have helped me on my aviation adventure.
I am working on becoming a CFI to give back some of what I have been given.
I don’t see why I shouldn’t charge for my time and will suggest students look elsewhere to have a distrustful relationship with a CFI.
 
My CFI charges $45/hr and is completely worth it. Most lessons pre-PPL were hobbs time plus 0.6 ground which seemed fair. I have flown with him in a number of different airplanes and sometimes work out a day-rate or such, but it works out about the same. I feel lucky to have found him.
 
Cpt_Kirk said:
How do you justify your hourly/daily rate?
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I make sure it adequately covers my expenses as well as providing enough gross profit to motivate me to do that rather than sit home and enjoy being retired.

Do you make adjustments on cost in relation to your rate vs. your performance (e.g. "I don't believe this lesson was up to par with my rate because of X reason, this is what we'll do: ____).
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Not as a rule. I can imagine some situations where I might (say, I got sick in the middle of a lesson and had to knock it off or had to cancel on short notice or the like), but it's not something I've ever considered on the basis of "I wasn't up to my usual standards, so I'll give you an hour free next time".
 
Cpt_Kirk said:
Students:
Do you feel your current CFI is worth what they charge?
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Yes. The school charged $50/hour. I don't know what portion of that the instructor gets.

Would you prefer to restructure the way your lessons are conducted?
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I think the only thing I'd like about the structure of lessons is that the CFI comes prepared knowing what we're doing to do next. There were times the instructor came to the next lesson thinking we're going to do what we did last lesson, and I have to remind them we already did that. Or, there was the "we haven't done that, yet??" That's more of a would-be-nice if you do quick check of my training log.

Typically, though, we'd fly and then do a debrief if needed. I'd get feedback on what was good and what needed work. That's always helpful.

Would you rather be charged for the entire booked time or when the CFI is actively teaching? The booked time is assuming you have the CFI's undivided attention the entire block (aka nothing else matters to him).
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I like the hobbs + brief/debrief method. I expect an extra .3 or .4 ground if we spent more than 5-10 min. discussing the flight or other knowledge items. There are plenty of times much was discussed without any charge.

How do you define value relating to your flight lessons?
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The lesson is valuable to me if I'm getting constructive feedback on my performance. I was a self-starter and studied a lot as a student, so I had a good idea of what I wanted to do. The CFI's role for me was to be a guide and safety to make sure I wasn't doing anything dumb or starting any bad habits.

What would you change, if you could change anything?
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There's nothing I can think of at the moment.
 
Just glancing at this thread title, I thought it sounded like a vague threat. Like you're being interrogated at your local FSDO and you hear "Still won't talk about your flying antics, huh? That's a nice CFI you've got. What's he worth to you? It would be a shame if something happened to him and you had to finish with someone else..." :wink2:
 
I'll respond as a student. I started lessons after age 40 and didn't want anything structured. It's just a hobby for me and I wanted maximum flexibility. I "interviewed" five CFI's and flew with three of them before I settled on one. I met each one for a casual conversation. For three of them, I then asked to schedule an hour to fly with them and paid their rate. But I told each I was flying with several and would get back to them if I wanted to continue.

The CFI I ultimately chose charged $40/hr hobbs, owned the airplane, and was fine letting me set the schedule and pace. I remember we did a dedicated ground school session two different times and I paid his rate for those sessions. Otherwise I only paid hobbs time.

Learning to fly as an adult, I wanted to set my own pace and effort. I didn't want a CFI telling me how to LEARN to fly, just how to fly. After all it's my time and my money.

One of the best things I liked about my CFI was that he always let me do the flying. He might demonstrate something, but would quickly give back control and let me work it out. He told me once that he believed in over 20,000 hours of dual given, he had been on the controls less than 500 hours. He was 68 years old and a retired 747 Captain but with over 20K hours of basic flight instruction. I did the Private, Instrument, and a bit more. I continue to go back for BFR's and IPC's. Eight years later I have logged just over 500 hours in this little hobby, keep my IA ticket wet, and enjoy traveling the country in my Mooney.
 
I've never haggled, nor thought any CFI was too expensive.

They're always only a small percentage of the operating cost of the aircraft.

Things they teach me keep me alive, so unless I run into one who can't teach me anything, the whole conversation is moot. I'll ask the first time we fly to make sure you're not outrageously overpriced to your peers, but after that the money to the instructor is an afterthought. If I've saved up for a goal (like the IR) even the aircraft money is an afterthought. I don't want to be distracted from the training thinking about how I'm going to pay for it. The money is in the flying account or I'm not flying.

My free time is more valuable than the money by a long shot.

I'm going to pay whatever they charge. Most charge too little for what they're accomplishing.

Keeping me from being a dumbass is no small feat.

That said, I won't do block time for airplanes or instructors. That screams "broken business model" to me.

Maybe not true but that's my feeling after watching many many aviation businesses come and go over the years.
 
Cpt_Kirk said:
How do you charge your student? It seems that charging for the entire time the CFI is booked leads to a better value as well as student/instructor interaction.
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I usually charge a minimum of a 2-hour block of time. Now, I make sure that it's an effective two hours of training. This includes pre-and-post flight which is (like Vance Breese mentions) often MORE important than the actual flight, and a vital part of the learning process. If the pre, post, and actual flight still don't take 2 hours, we will usually cover some other material to make it last 2 hours. This is made clear to my students upon our first meeting. However, I'm also reasonable about this - if there's a interesting airplane on the ramp and we spend 10 minutes talking to the owner, I don't charge for that. Ditto for restroom breaks etc. Also, doing auxiliary things like setting up the schedule for the next few flights - that's a cost of doing business on my end, not a billable item. Of course, I'm not keeping a stopwatch on the time, but it all works out. Never had any complaints.

I think the 2-hour minimum lesson length is is important and warranted for a couple reasons:

1. It makes the trip out to the airport worth THE STUDENT's time. Some of my students have driven up to an hour to get there. They appreciate not just having a 1-hour lesson. Making sure to cover a minimum of 2 hours' worth of material makes it more worth their commute. Even for those who live closer, they still want to maximize the time away from home, family, job, whatever.

2. It makes the trip out to the airport worth MY time. I'm part-time and have other commitments like my family. _I_ don't want to drive out there for only an hour lesson either.

Are you independent or work for a school/FBO? Did you prefer one over the other?
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Both. I actually prefer independent instruction in general, but the school I also teach for is pretty much like teaching independently. I am left to my own devices and can do my thing mostly as I think best without a lot of onerous policies.

What do you do if some the weather or maintenance or some other outside force has to cancel the lesson scheduled for that day?
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If it's an appropriate spot to do a ground lesson, then we'll often do that. It's often better to get SOMETHING useful accomplished so as to continue making forward progress. This may be at the airport, or at some other location. But, sometimes it's just a cancel and we stay home.
 
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Just for some more perspective for this, at $35 / per hour, instructing 350 hours a year in my "spare time". Two months of the year worth of instructing is just to pay for insurance. That's flying an average of at least once per day for TWO MONTHS just to break even on insurance.

Flight instructing is without a doubt the most unprofitable thing I've ever put time to in my life. That said, I don't care, I enjoy it and that means a lot to me. I know how important it is to people to accomplish their flying goals, it's a deeply personal goal for many, and I love being a part of helping them obtain it.
 
Thanks, Russ. I was looking for someone with experience charging for block time. It seems most people tend to think that they'll get 1.5 hours of instruction for a 2-hour cost. That would never be the case if I had anything to do with it.

It's too bad we couldn't fly together in that Cherokee. I was looking forward to it.

Jesse, that's why I asked what people charged and whether they would be willing to pay more based on value. I know of most additional costs and wondered what people were using to cover themselves while making a few bucks.

I'm not trying to become a millionaire, I'm just trying to find the sweet spot and how to best justify my time while minimizing the potential for lost income.
 
I have worked out a trade with a friend of mine who is a CFI and trying to build hours. Basically I'll trade him an hour of flight time in my mooney (he buys his own gas) for an hour of instruction. I'm getting serious about finishing my instrument rating and he's needing to build time. It's a win/win for both of is.
 
N2124v said:
I have worked out a trade with a friend of mine who is a CFI and trying to build hours. Basically I'll trade him an hour of flight time in my mooney (he buys his own gas) for an hour of instruction. I'm getting serious about finishing my instrument rating and he's needing to build time. It's a win/win for both of is.
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I have similar arrangements with a few different people although it was never really arranged like that. They just let me use their aircraft and I quit charging. No real accounting behind it.
 
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