Just finishing up my commercial...

Should all pilots get their CFI?

  • Yes

    Votes: 2 20.0%

  • No

    Votes: 3 30.0%

  • Its not necessary for a career.

    Votes: 5 50.0%
  • Total voters
    10
Max Frankow

Max Frankow

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maxfrankow03191
Going to be moving on to the multi but I'm curious about aviation jobs with minimal hour requirements. I know they're out there, but just want to get some recommendations. I'm really eager to get into the aviation career world. I'm in South Florida, and would like to stay. I'm trying to look online for some options, but they all require a lot of hours. Any ideas?
 
Changing my vote after reading your post, which totally different than your poll question.

There are other paths to an aviation career, but the CFI route is the easiest and will prepare you the best.
 
It's not necessary, but it will most likely get you to your destination faster.

I don't have mine and just got picked up at the regionals. Got pretty lucky, though (building my flight time. 50/50 split between turbine and piston)
 
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This year I've talked to folks who've done...

Pipeline patrol
Flying tourists around islands
Flying people and cargo around Croatia
Skydivers
Glider towing
Flying pretty much anything around Alaska
CFI

All with (for the overall industry) very low time.

Half of those were happy. Seems about normal for humans, though.

There's "stuff" out there to fly if you want to fly, but at least one of those people above feels trapped by the job. He needs multi time for what he wants to do and the job doesn't pay anywhere near enough to go get it himself, and no chance the company will ever fly multis ever. He's been doing it for a few years now. (The pipeline guy.)

So like someone said... decide on a goal. Sometimes you may actually want to pass on some of this stuff even if it's hard, to go the direction you want to go. It may not help you at all.

All depends on what's in your logbook and what they want to see.

Also depends a lot on how far you're willing to roam. Some of these jobs aren't even on the North American continent.
 
Yeah, I'm old. In my day you needed 1000 hrs ME pic time before you could even apply at a commuter. Even then it was a long shot. Totally forget about a major.

Man... times have changed.
 
Kritchlow said:
Yeah, I'm old. In my day you needed 1000 hrs ME pic time before you could even apply at a commuter. Even then it was a long shot. Totally forget about a major.

Man... times have changed.
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It goes in waves, but right now is the lowest amount of time needed to get hired to do ANYTHING I've seen in my lifetime. It's almost a little worrisome.

It's one of the reasons I decided to get the CFI stuff going. I kinda feel like I might be able to maybe pass on a little bit of knowledge about how not to get killed doing this stuff. Maybe. I'll certainly try.

Met a nice kid working on an instrument rating the other day, and it just keeps surprising me when I start chatting with the younger folk, that stuff I'm talking about, they have that honest look on their face like they've never heard it before. And then I realize, they haven't.

Somehow we got on the topic of shoulder harnesses. The kid didn't realize there was once a time when people were killed (and still are) because they made a survivable off airport landing, a rough one, and their airplane didn't have a shoulder harness. Their heads hit the glareshield. No other reason to be dead, just no shoulder harness.

I still remember the day in the early 90s when our volunteer ELT chasing team found two people dead north of Denver who had flown in low IMC into the flatlands at a fairly high rate of speed. The airplane stopped completely intact in mud. Only thing that killed them was the lack of shoulder harnesses.

One of our group's volunteers quit that day, too. He forgot that not all ELT chases end up with nobody dead in an empty airplane at the airport... 99.9% of the time that was true... he was first on scene for the 0.01%. He couldn't get over how senseless it was. He didn't like being the one who found the bodies still strapped into the airplane.

Kid was a little wide-eyed at the story. I left the airport feeling kinda old. Ha.

But I bet he always wears his shoulder harness... and requests strongly they be installed if he ever finds himself flying a really old rattle trap for someone.
 
I wouldn't make it a requirement. It's nice to have though. It can make you some extra money.
 
MauleSkinner said:
There are definitely pilots who shouldn't instruct.
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And that's just my worry. I don't know if I'd be a good teacher, and I'm not thrilled about all of the written tests and instruction required; I hear its a hell of a commitment. My father doesn't believe its necessary, and cautions me on listening to the instructors at my school who think its a priority to go the CFI route. He may have a line on the commuters, but the downside is that I'm happy in Florida; I've had to restart my life quite a few times in the last five years. That's aviation though.
 
Max Frankow said:
And that's just my worry. I don't know if I'd be a good teacher, and I'm not thrilled about all of the written tests and instruction required; I hear its a hell of a commitment. My father doesn't believe its necessary, and cautions me on listening to the instructors at my school who think its a priority to go the CFI route. He may have a line on the commuters, but the downside is that I'm happy in Florida; I've had to restart my life quite a few times in the last five years. That's aviation though.
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If you WANT to be a good teacher, I'd say go for it.

If you're just wanting a way to put time in your logbook, I'd say don't do it.
 
denverpilot said:
One of our group's volunteers quit that day, too. He forgot that not all ELT chases end up with nobody dead in an empty airplane at the airport... 99.9% of the time that was true... he was first on scene for the 0.01%. He couldn't get over how senseless it was. He didn't like being the one who found the bodies still strapped into the airplane.
Click to expand...

Had a husband and wife decapped in their Mooney in 2013 at KMKC. I really don't like flying without a shoulder harness.
 
Max Frankow said:
Going to be moving on to the multi but I'm curious about aviation jobs with minimal hour requirements. I know they're out there, but just want to get some recommendations. I'm really eager to get into the aviation career world. I'm in South Florida, and would like to stay. I'm trying to look online for some options, but they all require a lot of hours. Any ideas?
Click to expand...

So does just about every other pilot that wants to fly for a living.

Banner tow, jump zone, aerial photo, some places in Alaska, tours in north Arizona.

Also, minimum hours may be ok, but other applicants may have more hours.

Good luck to ya, bud. Just about every pro pilot here was in your shoes once.
 
Not just no, but hellz no!

If you don't have a passion to teach stay away

If you don't want to be held to a professional standard don't get your CPL.

My flight reviews are diffrent for CPLs, and even more for CFIs.
 
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