Hondata

My main thing about the CFI is that i have no desire to teach, ive tutored in math and computer science hated it. I just dont think i make an effective teacher. And secondly when i got my PPL in Aug. 01 I worked my ass off digging ditches and pouring concrete for my flight instructor for 8 bucks an hour towards flight time. Now its so expencive the only ones training are the rich who will never know what its like to pour sweat for 12 hours so you can get a one hour lesson in a broken down 152. Every one in this forum keeps telling me that i HAVE TO CFI. Id much rather i get a **** job flying 182's loaded with toilet paper going to some remote town in Alaska then try to show someone how not to kill themselves, and theres no incentive that they wont. Honestly if can avoid teaching though any means ill do it, even if it takes an extra year of working somewhere else to pay for it

oldveedubs

PLEASE do not disgrace this profession by becoming a CFI. We don't need people with your type of ignorance. I truly hope you find a job flying single pilot like you want.

ScottL

To be honest i really dont see the point of this post, if you dont want to be a CFI then dont, there was no need to rant to the whole forum about why you dont want to do it.

People recommend the CFI route because its a good way of building time without having to fork out additional thousands of dollars more after having just done that to get the certifications. If you would rather dig ditches and play with cement for 12 hours a day and use your own money to build the time, thats your choice.

PFGiardino

And that is exactly where I stopped reading your post. I come from a wealthy background and my parents help with the training costs... which, according to your statement, must mean that I have never worked hard in my life. Be careful with generalizations.

If you're going to be bitter about the path you have chosen, then please do stay away from student pilots... they will feel your disdain and it will hurt their training.

LeoSV

And being a CFI teaches you alot of things that you don't learn from being a student. If you gain 700 hrs being a CFI, you will be more experienced than most of these knuckle heads in the right seat of the regionals nowadays. But with the way you sound, you would be a terrible CFI, just like you said. just go crop dust for a while. you will earn the same that you do digging ditches and you will build some time.

Squawk_5543

Teaching people to fly is an amazing experience. I would not want to do anything else before moving on. This is a great way to advance in knowledge and skill. Not to mention a certain degree of satisfaction that comes with it.

Given your attitude I would not recommend you tarnish a students hopes with your lack of devotion. Sounds like you are not very people friendly.

Ewfflyer

I'll 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and add my own.

THere's banner towing, parachute jump pilots, pipeline patrols, traffic watch, and a few others I'm sure I'm forgetting. Good luck, but I'd straighten your head out so you don't go saying other things that probably are left best unsaid.

Hondata

my ignorance!? what part of "i dont want to teach anyone" is ignorant.
Every young, fresh out of training instructor I've had, i dont trust. he himself just learned this and now he is teaching me? Its the old guys who i want for my CFI/I/MEI. someone who knows how things work not someone who is still figering it out for himself and will drop out the second he gets a call from he regionals

what im getting a with this is every time i even mention that i dont want to CFI some old guy trys to take my head off as is hes saying "how dare i question the CFI route", and yeah i dont like you people who just are handed the operunity to chase your dreams with out having to get in the trenches and earn it with your own sweat. so why are you questioning my devotion to aviation if im willing to break my back in the hopes of making 19k a year. I dont want to lie to anyone and act like what im doing is so great when all i want to do is build time so i can get the hell out and upgrade.

Thanks thats actualy helpfull not just insulting for my desire to not lie to others about my intentions

planecrazyjenn

Dude if I had to fly with you...I'd probably jump. You have a really crappy attitude.

Cubdriver

Hmm, I sense a little CFI somewhere down there inside Hondata trying to get out and yearning to be free. You express a disdain for it now, sir, but that can change when you see that CFI is a valid way to climb through the aviation ladder, as well as the only way to go if you are poor like many of us are.

A change of attitude will occur when you realize that you are not getting any of the pipline, sky patrol, skydiver, banner tow, or sightseeing gigs you should be getting because the moment the chief pilot or owner sees you do not have your CFI, then he or she thinks let me hire that other guy or gal instead of this one. There will be other people applying, I assure you. He or she knows it is an easier sell to his insurance company of that low-time for a CFI than for any number of those without it.

I used have a dose of that "what the heck for" attitude about getting my CFI, but I am rapidly losing it because I gradually have come to see the value of it. No one big single thing made me realize it. It takes some thought and a few setbacks to realize why getting your CFI is desirable.

The main thing CFI represents is respect. I do not have mine yet and I am still working on my second written exam, but when you realize there really is no other way to fly than to pay crazy high prices for avgas, or you can get your CFI certificate and pay nothing, you start to realize you owe it to yourself to do it. It is standardized knowledge and skill that generations of pilots have had to learn, it is a rite of passage, and it is also a more rigorously tested certification than the other flight ratings. The failure rate is well above 80% for first time applicants and is even higher in some areas. A CFI deserves to be a CFI.

To teach a few students how to fly is not doing them as much a favor as it is doing you one, because it teaches you how to think and to explain flying and it makes you aware that all that stuff you learned for your orals in the past was worthy of knowing intimately and practically rather than just to pass an exam. You will build character and further your career, and you will get lots of free flight from it time as well. If you are careful you will not get killed by your student, although this is a liability. Good luck and give it some thought. Some of the best things we do appeared to be the most useless before we began.

-Cub