Average Income after graduation?

ATP Admissions, Housing & Finance Questions
1

Hello all,

I am wanting to become a pilot but am wondering what the average income after graduation is? I have a family that am needing to support and want to have some idea about budgeting / income during your CFI days.

Thank you.

2

Christopher,

There are obviously a number of factors but on the average most instructors earn $25-30k.

Adam

3

Chris,
Welcome to the forum! Unfortunately that’s a difficult question to answer because it varies greatly. To explain, you get assigned students. Each student has an allotment of hours to be flown in each phase. You get paid by the flight hour (and sim). So if you have three students, all in private through commercial phases, you’ll be flying quite a bit. If you only have one student and they are just about to finish a phase, you won’t be flying nearly as much. If one thing is for certain, flight instructing is not a consistent cash flow kind of job. However, you will have the opportunity to apply for tuition reimbursement which will help finances by covering the loan payments. I’ll post the link to provide more details on the specific benefits for CFIs:

-Hannah

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4

Thank you Adam.

5

Thank you Hannah. That was very helpful.

6

Glad to help! Let us know if you have any other questions!

7

Is it true that CFIs don’t get paid for ground instruction? If so, what’s their motivation for teaching their students other than flight/sim hours? I kinda feel bad for my CFI if he’s helping me but not getting paid.
-Jack

8

Jack,

First that’s untrue. Instructors get paid for ground and receive bonuses for checkride passess. They also can receive Tuition Reimbursement flying for a school with Regional partnerships. (please reference: Flying as a Certificated Flight Instructor (CFI) / ATP Flight School)

Second if he’s telling you that someone needs to have a chat with him. You’re their to learn, not listen to his complaints. VERY unprofessional.

Third (and most important) how about even if it were true, their motivation (other than money) should be the fact they have a job which enables them to build flight time rapidly and reach their goals quicker than most flight schools. If that’s not motivation enough, they should go elsewhere, get paid more for ground and spend an extra year building time before they get to an airline.

Adam

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9

Okay, that makes sense. I just want to be clear, my instructor wasn’t complaining at all or even discussing instructor pay. I was just curious because I thought I’d heard that the only pay came from flight hours/sim time.

Thanks for letting me know!
-Jack

10

Jack,

I answered this similar question Christmas Eve, CFI Pay Working Part Time. Like Adam said in his third paragraph, depending on your motivation and work ethic, you can really make it work well.

Brady

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