Flight Training - January 2015 - 51

CAREER ADVISOR

Launching a CFI career
Look to your own flight school first

» Q: Where are the best locations to start
as a flight instructor and build experience?
How am I able to get a job without having
to move?-Julian from Omaha

» A: Julian, you have a two-part question

that deserves a bit of elaboration.
Frankly, the best place to start as a
flight instructor is with the school that
provided all of your initial training. This
is a common practice in the industry.
Whether you attend a large aviation college such as Embry-Riddle Aeronautical
University, a small school like Hesston
College in Kansas, or an academy like
ATP, these training institutions typically
provide employment for top graduates.
That's not to say that every graduate gets
the job as an instructor. I favor CFI work

with formal aviation schools where you
instruct every day rather than a local FAR
Part 61 school where you could be doing
a lot of waiting for that next potential
student to walk through the door.
Here is another tactic to try. You might
want to save those last flight instructor
ratings for a training enterprise that could
be willing to offer you a job. You will
gladly spend that $2,000 for the multiengine-instrument rating with them if there
is a job waiting.
There are other considerations. At campuses in Florida and the Southwest, there
are lots of great flying days with plenty
of sunshine and mostly favorable flying
conditions. The trainees in Phoenix and
Daytona Beach fly almost every day. On
the other hand, if you train at the Univer-

sity of North Dakota in Grand Forks or at
Northwest Michigan College in Traverse
City, Michigan, you will get a boatload of
actual IFR, howling winds, sub-zero temperatures, and potential icing: real-world
stuff. On those really ugly days when
nobody is flying, you can still continue
training in simulators and flight training
devices.
Getting experience and ultimately an
airline job without moving? Not much of a
chance. Certainly, there are great schools
in virtually every state. The University of
Nebraska-Omaha has a fine program right
in your neighborhood.
Mobility is a key strategy in getting a
job in this labor market. Think carefully
about your career path. If you absolutely
need stability in your lifestyle, there could
be better choices.
Send your career questions to careers@aopa.
org and we'll publish the best ones here.

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KING_FT_FIRC.indd 1

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Flight Training - January 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Flight Training - January 2015
