Typical instructor salary

[bluenote]

What is an average income for a class 3 & 4 flight instructor. Class 1s & 2 are welcomed to share as well.

Thanks

[SuperchargedRS]

$25, billed out at $65

Freelance $50

[bluenote]

What numbers are we talking in terms of an annual income?

Thanks again

[Teeg]

I managed to make 40000$ as a Class2

22/hr MIFR/sim
25/groundschool
100/CPL nav prog

650hrs of flying, usually 6 days a week, 12hr/day, 2 weeks of vay cay.
I think when my co-workers and I did the math we were makin about 5$ per hour, esp. on the foggy/icing days

[floatplanepilot]

Hear's what I did in 4 years.

Class 4 & 3: $32,000 - $35,000/year*
Class 2: $40,000/year
Class 1: $45,000/year

*Results not typical

[gaamin]

Edit

[YOWza]

For 3s and 4s, I've seen as low as $17 to as high as $40 per flight hour.
Factor in the time you spend at the airport waiting, prepping, ramping, fueling, cancelling, and other free work (no shortage of that)...you're lucky if it does better than minimum wage over the course of a year.

[Shiny Side Up]

Did you get a job somewhere bluenote?

[bluenote]

No not yet. Everyone is only hiring their own students. I truly feel I'll never get a job and I tried everything.

[robertsailor1]

Careful with your feelings, we tend to act out our thoughts. My experience is that if your are persistent you will get what you want. Start giving yourself positive messages and never give up and never say that no one will hire you,,,they just haven't done it yet.

[bluenote]

Thank you for the kind words. I have been flying on and off for 30 years and I have never given up but when you are persistent at the same schools and they keep saying they are not hiring any instructors and next week when I show up again I end up talking with the brand new instructor that was hired. It sucks for a few minutes then I get over it and move on.
I am 45 years old looking for a permanent instructing position and with all the persisting I have been doing , I don't know what else to do to improve my resume.
Thanks

[robertsailor1]

Might be time to cast your net a little further, if you can or maybe learn to teach tail wheel or aerobatics to give yourself a little exclusivity. Just an idea. Good luck.

[glockdude]

hi Im new here and dont want to burn any bridges.
Im not in the same boat yet but realy thinking about this 35yr pipedream and turn it into reality.
Your post makes me think even harder.
Your age might be the culprit, sorry I had to say it. Would you hire the 25yr old or the 45 yr old?
It makes me scared and pissed that I waited this long only to be in that boat.

[KK7]

Going by annual salary is better than looking at monthly salary as it can sometimes really depend on the season. That being said, it is worth noting that the time of year will seriously affect your earnings depending on the school you're working at.

I used to work part time in the winter due to school, then full time during the summer from mid April to September.
Class 4: $17 000
Class 3: $20 000
Class 2: $26 000
Class 1: $32 000
(approximations, and from the early 2000s)

For the Class 3 & 4 level, my full time counterparts made only slightly more than I, as they spend most of the winter week days sitting around, where I worked on the weekends which were much busier than winter week days. The summer is where the money was at. As I rose to the Class 1 and 2 level, my full time counterparts were busy in the winter with more briefings such as instructor ratings and getting more base pay for additional duties, thus they made much more than me.

[Shiny Side Up]

Might be time to cast your net a little further,

Indeed. Its simply not true that thre are no opportunities out there, I know of at least a dozen class 4s that were hired this summer, and none of them we hired by the places that trained them. Lots of times you got to be in the right place at the right time, its just a bit of luck. More specifically get out of Onterrible. I know of three brand new class 4s that were hired this summer that I spoke to were from there and they remarked how that job market sucked there so they came out west. There's been plenty of places I knew were looking this spring to hire, I even had calls from other schools wondering if I had any instructor students on the go. There were job ads even on Avcanada for all the prarie provinces and BC early this year. Mind you that all happened a few months ago. Busy season for instructing is winding down.

[boogs82]

Does anybody know of instructors that teach part time while working another full-time job? Just a curiosity thing. I imagine it would be tough to commit, but could it be done?

[appilot]

Does anybody know of instructors that teach part time while working another full-time job? Just a curiosity thing. I imagine it would be tough to commit, but could it be done?

I tried that. Found that I wasn't available when pilots-in-training wanted to fly. It looked awful to have so many days blocked off on our schedule. I had few part time jobs going while I was getting started as a class 4 and it was pretty counterproductive. The more time I commited to it, the more my booking sheet filled up.

[Shiny Side Up]

Does anybody know of instructors that teach part time while working another full-time job? Just a curiosity thing. I imagine it would be tough to commit, but could it be done?

Starting out as in instructor is a tough go. You really got to work on building your clientele and building a reputation for delivering a quality product. You also of course got to really suck it up and work like a dog until you get those magic three solo recomends, three flight test recomends and the 100 hours instructing. Then you can sort of rest a bit. You're looking at spending at least a year at the airport with practically no time off to break into it.

Most people I know who instruct part time are in the class 2 or 1 group, where the demand for your services is enough the customers will wait for you.

[robertsailor1]

If your offering a service that is not readily available at most schools then its certainly doable. I taught aerobatics and tail wheel flying as well as skis and floats for several years part time. I didn't really need the money at that time but I really enjoyed teaching. I charged myself out at double the going instructors rate and eventually quit because it started to take up too much of my time.

[Tim]

here's what i was getting:

class 4 - 18000ish
class 3 - 23000ish
class 2 - 55000ish

i worked about 50% more hours in the run of a paycheck when i was a class 4 than i did when i was a class 2.

[bluenote]

So when you start out as a class 4 you are expected to be at the airport all day just waiting around and obviously from these threads you don't get paid a whole lot.

Also somebody like me looking for that first job they will probably expect me to be at the airport all day.

Thanks

[Shiny Side Up]

So when you start out as a class 4 you are expected to be at the airport all day just waiting around and obviously from these threads you don't get paid a whole lot.

How much you get paid, depends on how much you work. there's been times my class 4s and threes earn as much as I do during the month, but then its proportionate to how much they work. You should note however that rate of pay and how successful you are as an instructor aren't always directly related - which is a mistake new instructors often make. Sometimes you end up putting in some long days which you don't get paid every cent you'd wish from them, but it usually pays off in the long run if you cultivate the right customers.

Also somebody like me looking for that first job they will probably expect me to be at the airport all day.

Well if they're paying you than yes, they will expect you to be there when you're on the clock. Regardless though its generally in your best intersets if you're really looking to make it as an instructor. You keep telling us that you want a permanent position as an instructor. What are your goals in this regard? Do you want to eventually progress to become a class two or one? Do you want to get into the more niche types of training? Would you take on the duties of a CFI someday? If you want any of these things you're going to have to suck it up and put in the work to begin with - that's what being successful in a customer service business is all about. What any boss expects out of you is irrelevant - what do you expect out of you?
Thanks[/quote]

[ant_321]

my personal pay varies so much its hard to even get an idea. I have been instructing for 6 months and I have made as much as $2000 dollars in two weeks and as little as $150.

[bluenote]

Shiny side up,

I am 45 years old, realizing in terms of instructing and being "mature" mean nothing.

I want to "hopefully" one day make it to class 1 and be a CFI

I don't have an issue working my butt off.

I am looking for a permanent stay at the same school instructing position but all the cfi's don't believe me .

I realized it's who you know.

Actually I just got a reply from a school in Saskatchewan and one from b.c. Advising they are not hiring, so yes i am trying outside of Ontario as well.

Maybe my age is a negative factor for me.

[robertsailor1]

I'm wondering if the salary/hourly fees paid to instructors has gone down over the years? Just looking at the class 4's and minimum wage is about 21000.00 per year or $10.50 per hour. Back in the day instructors were not paid well but they sure made more than minimum wage.