Do you tip your CFI?

Outside of primary instruction, I believe all my CFI’s were independent, setting their rates to be competitive in the market. If their instruction was above the ‘market’, I wanted to pay for that, because it was more valuable.
 
The best thing you can do for your instructor is study, practice and become proficient in everything taught.

I gave this a thumbs up already and just wanted to quote for emphasis. Best tip/gift you can give your instructor!
 
He should have tipped me after all I made him a better instructor. :cool:
Funny how people who do really dumb stuff and damn near kill you several times during their training tend to make you a better instructor.
 
Never considered it. But considering it, no.

In USAF UPT, you gave the instructor $1 bill for your first flight in UPT. The ride is called your Dollar Ride.

Also customary to give the instructor who soloed you for the first time in UPT (for my in the T-37), a bottle of some potable. I liked my instructor, so he got a nice bottle of a single malt.
 
Tipping at a flight school is not common, but I am sure a gift card to your CFI’s favorite lunch spot would be appreciated.
 
Hello all,
I am 10 hours in and I really love my CFI. She gets me but I love how she teaches and answers all my questions that are all over the place. Just a good fit.
(I don't know any better, she has been my one and only CFI although Id like to take some lessons here and there with others to get different pointers and styles)

My question is;
Do you tip your CFI? What is customary and when?

I was thinking of showing my appreciation around the 10 hr mark and any other hurdle moving forward but don't know what the etiquette is.
I don't want to give too much or too little but do want to show my appreciation.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Give her a Tiparillo

 
Tipping at a flight school is not common, but I am sure a gift card to your CFI’s favorite lunch spot would be appreciated.

this is more in line with what I was thinking.
 
When I passed my checkride, gave my CFI money for a nice dinner out with his girlfriend.
That's what I did. For he and his wife. My CFI and I got along great. He cued into my learning style almost immediately. After doing my homework, I learn by doing, and my greatest learning moments are my mistakes. So, he rarely corrected me before a mistake. It's unfortunate. He was screwed by 9-11 (not being insensitive to those who paid the ultimate price). He was a real estate lawyer, but his dream was to fly as an ATP. His wife gave him a year to pursue his dream. Just before I passed my checkride he was accepted by a regional. Then 9-11, and the offer was rescinded. He went back to lawyering.

I've bought my A&P-IA lunch a number of times.
 
If someone had tried to tip me it would have been odd and I would not have accepted.

If you want to show your appreciation wait until after checkride and give a small gift. If I were your instructor a bottle of bourbon or scotch would be appropriate. By that point you will likely know your instructor well enough to know what is appropriate for your situation.
 
For a flight review or a rental checkout I always tip the CFI.
 
I probably won't make friends with this one, but US trained airline pilots seem to make it look easy. Other places, maybe not so much. I think it's that here in the US people learn a natural distrust bearing on dislike/hatred of computers at an early age, and that gives us a natural advantage. I say that because we're a lazy bunch, and have too many computers.
 
I probably won't make friends with this one, but US trained airline pilots seem to make it look easy. Other places, maybe not so much. I think it's that here in the US people learn a natural distrust bearing on dislike/hatred of computers at an early age, and that gives us a natural advantage. I say that because we're a lazy bunch, and have too many computers.


I think the reason is a bit different.

Many US airline pilots have spent 1000 or so hours as a CFI, buzzing around in small planes teaching people to hand-fly. They have spent those hours watching an organic “autopilot” try to control the plane, making countless mistakes, and they have been alert and ready to take over in an instant.

I doubt if pilots in other countries get as much experience hand-flying as US pilots do, partly because most do not have the amount of private aviation the US does.
 
I’ve given tips to my CFIs after a checkride, and also have received them from my own students. One of my students made me a real nice belt buckle that I wear flying in my jet job.
 
A DPE once jokingly said, "There's no monetary reason why you can't pass this check-ride." :D
 
I think the reason is a bit different.

Many US airline pilots have spent 1000 or so hours as a CFI, buzzing around in small planes teaching people to hand-fly. They have spent those hours watching an organic “autopilot” try to control the plane, making countless mistakes, and they have been alert and ready to take over in an instant.

I doubt if pilots in other countries get as much experience hand-flying as US pilots do, partly because most do not have the amount of private aviation the US does.

That's makes a lot of sense. It even explains US pilots having better CRM than some other theories.
 
It even explains US pilots having better CRM than some other theories.

I think that is more a cultural thing. In many cultures you do NOT question your superiors. And superiors do not request info from those below them.
 
Would you tip an airline pilot?

I got tipped 10 bucks after a rather difficult flight from Juneau to Skagway once.

But that passenger had been drinking and I could have refused to take him. He was pretty quiet and kept to himself.

I always appreciated applause from the passengers after a difficult approach and landing.
 
The short answer is 'no'. However it's not unheard of to give a small gift or token of appreciation once you pass a check ride..
 
I think that is more a cultural thing. In many cultures you do NOT question your superiors. And superiors do not request info from those below them.
And they can't say 'I don't know.' I was reading up on cultural differences a few years ago when I was going to be traveling out of country. One of the things that came up is was do other cultures think about us. Some foreign students were amazed that college professors, when asked a question, would say 'I don't know, but I will find out.'
 
I got tipped 10 bucks after a rather difficult flight from Juneau to Skagway once.

Cool. I flew for LAB back in the old days and was based out of Haines. That was some tough flying when the weather was nasty...

Skagway was always a fun stop if we had some free time.

Oh yeah, I got a tip after flying six big dudes and their railroad tools into Skagway. That was an interesting landing...
 
Pilots consider themselves to be professionals. Would you tip a doctor, lawyer, or engineer who did a job for you? Would you tip an airline pilot?

CFIs teach. Would you tip your chemistry professor?

I wouldn’t put us pylots up there with drs and liars, but we are pretty specialized. That said, 1/10 customers tip me on charter flights. I greatly appreciate it. I usually take my wife on a nice dinner and let the waitress keep the rest.
 
I flew for LAB back in the old days

Good ol' Layton. I have heard very interesting stories about him. I was in Haines once in something that resembled a restaurant and met Layton. I did not let him know I was a pilot. He proceeded to tell me how he made his first million in aviation.

Wow.... glad I never flew for him. :lol:
 
I think that is more a cultural thing. In many cultures you do NOT question your superiors. And superiors do not request info from those below them.

That's the standard theory, but half fast's theory makes more sense to me. It goes a bit to primacy. After getting their commercial ticket, from the left seat, they then move to the right seat and instruct. At that point, first time in that spot, they're used to the guy in the left seat being completely incompetent, because they're a student. Later on, they learn that maybe the captain to the left of them might know how to fly the aircraft.

Maybe a combination of things.
 
I've been tipped for intro rides and sunset flights a few times, but never for lessons. Certainly wouldn't be opposed to it :D
 
When I was a CFI at a flight school, I don't think I was ever "tipped" in the typical sense. Since the billing all went through the school and then the school paid me, and payments were generally by credit card, there just wasn't the easy opportunity to tip. I did, however, receive a gift a few times at the end of training. Gift card or other small trinkets or mementos. Those things are nice and appreciated.

As an independent CFI working solely with aircraft owners, I guess you could say I've been tipped several times, but it typically was more of a "rounding up" of the bill, especially since most payments there were in cash. So maybe I was charging them $150, but they only had 20's, so gave me $160 and said to keep the change. That kind of thing. Those are also nice and appreciated.

But as an independent, I set my own rate to a number I'm happy with. So there's no need for any kind of tip.
 
I made a deal with my latest CFI, since I had burned through 20+ years and three previous attempts to get my ticket, I told him if he pushed me, kept me on track, and got my ticket before a certain date, I would give him $1,000 cash

He got the money.
 
Good ol' Layton. I have heard very interesting stories about him. I was in Haines once in something that resembled a restaurant and met Layton. I did not let him know I was a pilot. He proceeded to tell me how he made his first million in aviation.

Wow.... glad I never flew for him. :lol:

After flying all day and still not reunited with my baggage, I crawled out of the Cherokee 6 on the gravel ramp of the Haines airport and was immediately summoned to get my butt over to a large gentleman who was standing on the wing of a PA-28 Archer waving at me.

Within seconds of arriving in my final destination in Alaska, I was in the air in an unfamiliar airplane, taking a part 135 checkride with a seemingly insane man who wanted to know the names of all my instructors, so that he could turn them in as frauds.

Needless to say, I must have given him the slightest clue that I was in fact competent and despite not knowing what half of what he was yelling at me meant, I did indeed pass his stringent induction process.

Layton and his sons were unique humans and everyone who worked for him/them earned their keep every day, or were fired and sent packing with no notice... I still can recall some of the survival concepts he taught us and despite his ogrely demeanor, he was fun to be around.

One of those survival techniques possibly saved my life a few months later when I went inadvertent IMC over the Bering Sea. By then I had moved on from LAB and was risking my skin daily in Western Alaska as a no-kidding bush pilot.

I found out years later that LAB was shut down by the FAA for (alleged) devious maintenance practices. I actually found one of the Cherokee Six 300's and a Lance that we flew and they still had the orange markings on the tail.

It was a trial by fire for a brand new airline pilot, but I cherish the memories and experience and it made me a better pilot and person.
 
I found out years later that LAB was shut down by the FAA for (alleged) devious maintenance practices.

By then the sons had control of the company. Seems money was more important than maintenance.

I worked with a guy that was at LAB for a short time. On his checkride, he got tired of the son grabbing the controls from him so he punched him out in the plane. He was hired...

I found out I was rather good at flying northwest Alaska and the slope. Made me not afraid of but very respectful of ice. Off airport landings made me learn how important airspeed is on final. +0 -0 is the only allowable variance on airspeed. I learned to put the mains down within a foot of where I wanted them to be.

I cherish that time but I don't think I would want to do that again.
 
I made a deal with my latest CFI, since I had burned through 20+ years and three previous attempts to get my ticket, I told him if he pushed me, kept me on track, and got my ticket before a certain date, I would give him $1,000 cash

He got the money.


I wonder if he used half to bribe the DPE....

I kid! I kid! ;)
 
Made me not afraid of but very respectful of ice. Off airport landings made me learn how important airspeed is on final.

That is why I get weird looks when I try to explain why you don't want to immediately raise your flaps and use them for aerodynamic braking when landing on ice. Getting the weight back on the wheels doesn't work when there is ZERO traction.

None of that works if you are carrying excess speed.
 
I’ve never gotten a monetary tip but I’ve been treated to many lunches on a $100 hamburger run or after or before a lesson.
 
I’ve never gotten a monetary tip but I’ve been treated to many lunches on a $100 hamburger run or after or before a lesson.
I had a CFII pick up the tab on lunch once. He's the one who said, hey, lets go get some chow, it's on me. Given the amount of money I had been paying him over the last couple weeks, I was just fine with that and was not shy about what I ordered. He explained about how it was tax deductible for him.
 
I gave my CFI a drill press for a BFR once. But he was a long time friend and it was something I had no need for any more as I had just acquired a Bridgeport.
 
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