Hello, curious what they pay class 4 instructors these days? Any input from current class 4 instructors and what your schools pay?
Thank you

As a general ballpark you're looking in the $18 - $22 per hour range. That's per hour of flight time. Some schools will pay the same for groundtime and some will pay a bit less. Lots of variance in conditions and expectations so the only real way to get concrete info is to inquire directly to a given school. Some will provide information and some won't unless you're actually applying for a job.

That's ridiculous. I made $20/hr as a class 4 in 1998. Instructor billed out at $40/hr, so half the billable.

Bede, took the words out of my mouth. I'd be shocked (Or would I?) to hear they haven't gone up. I was at $22 about 8 years ago. Can't remember what it went to after upgrading classes though.

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Circa January 2020, in the good old days of the biggest pilot shortage in the history of mankind ...., I personally saw an ad from one of the major/reputable aviation schools in Canada for class 4 instructors. The advertised rate was $25/flight time.

These days, With all the pilot surplus in the market, I won’t be surprised if the rate has gone down to that $18-$22.

It’s a shame... but reality.


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I made $23 10 years ago.

I started as a Class 4 last year in lower mainland BC. School pays $30/hr

Manitoba $31/hr when you surrender your sanity

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With cost of living considered, $31 in Manitoba can pay for rent nearly 3 times as much as it can in Metropolitan areas like YYZ and YVR areas.

In the metropolitan areas, the wages from Flight Instruction will not be enough to pay the bills unless the person has a second job, savings or parental support.

For a young person though, Keeping sanity in rural areas is a whole different ball game, and I am not just talking about Manitoba.

Let’s hope this whole COVID thingy goes away soon and we go back to the awesome days of the biggest pilot shortage in the history of mankind.

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I'm curious.. Would a flight school ever agree to pay for a flight instructor rating if you agreed to stay for an agreed upon length of time - like a bond? I would really love to teach others to fly. It's something that I am passionate about and I would love to go that route, but it would take me years to put together the funds to pay for the rating and I'd be unable to meet my monthly costs on those wages alone.

Honestly at this point, I think I'm about to be priced out of this career, in the short term anyway. I have to choose between keeping current (flying once a month) or slowly paying off my student debt and I've been trying to go with the first option to make myself more marketable. However, I've come to the realization that even if I managed to be offered an entry level position at some random 703, I wouldn't even be able to take advantage of it with no car or savings (thanks to Covid). I also can't afford to go back to school to change careers either, so Uni or the trades are not an option.

I would love to get back into flying, but I have no idea how to do it. If I instructed, at least I wouldn't need to move and I could use transit and continue with my current job on the side to supplement the income, but the cost of the rating is a huge barrier for me (and I'm sure it is for many others as well!).

Shinyjetsyndrome wrote: ↑Sun Jun 06, 2021 2:24 pm I'm curious.. Would a flight school ever agree to pay for a flight instructor rating if you agreed to stay for an agreed upon length of time - like a bond?

Unfortunately it is highly unlikely. The profit margins at flight schools really aren't great to begin with (at least the ones who actually maintain their airplanes anyway).

Shinyjetsyndrome wrote: ↑Sun Jun 06, 2021 2:24 pm I'm curious.. Would a flight school ever agree to pay for a flight instructor rating if you agreed to stay for an agreed upon length of time - like a bond?

Pre COVID i saw one or two postings like that, a 2 year commitment and they pay for your instructor rating.
Now it’s.... basically impossible?

Turboprops wrote: ↑Sun Jun 06, 2021 3:26 pm

Shinyjetsyndrome wrote: ↑Sun Jun 06, 2021 2:24 pm I'm curious.. Would a flight school ever agree to pay for a flight instructor rating if you agreed to stay for an agreed upon length of time - like a bond?

Pre COVID i saw one or two postings like that, a 2 year commitment and they pay for your instructor rating.
Now it’s.... basically impossible?

Yeah, it happened, but wasn't common, at least as far as I saw. But wait until all the airline recalls happen and the FTU's get cleared out. I think we'll see it again, and it might even become common.

I started as a Class 4 at $ 16/hr ……in 1987. Hard to believe 34 years later some Class 4’s are only making in the mid twenties per hour.