Thanks to forums like these I have been able to put together TONS of info for myself within the airline industry. However my question today has to do with a more recent and unfortunately less cultivated topic. ATP has been known to offer “guaranteed instructor positions” after the completion of their course. However, due to the pandemic they have removed that statement from their site and I have heard of people entering long wait lists for a job. Obviously the aviation industry took a huge hit by the pandemic, but with the development of the vaccines things seem to slowly be growing again. It is hard to research this topic as it is so new and I am mainly wondering what the likelihood of a CFI job looks like within the next year or so to build hours. ATP or otherwise.
Along with that question I would also like to hear what CFI job hunting was like pre-pandemic. Was it difficult or were instructors hard to come by as they quickly wanted to transition to the airlines? Will it be likely that I will need to find a non-aviation type job until things start to get back to normal?
I am just worried that the money I spend an hours I put in will not continue to snowball in the right direction. I don’t come from a family of money so it would be nice to see things go according to plan without wasting time making money to pay loans without building hours.
Though I cannot provide you insight about CFI job hunting pre-pandemic, I can offer you CFI job hunting during the pandemic and post-pandemic. During my time at ATP as a student, I saw a decrease in the amount of students attending not just at ATP, but other flight schools as well. I wish I had a statistic number to tell you how bad of a decrease the aviation community saw in pilot training. Near the end of the pandemic when the airlines and all those headlines like: “Airline industry facing major pilot shortage as demand for travel increases” and “After Covid-19, Aviation Faces a Pilot Shortage,” the call for CFIs started increasing. Things started to pick up and during the time of pandemic, individuals that got furloughed and/or retired from the airlines went to corporate or charter gigs and the ones that where waiting to get to the airlines that had their 1,500 hours, but yet still teaching…were waiting for the call. Now that things picked up, those individuals who held 1,500 hours went to the airlines and companies like ATP needed to fulfill those CFI slots. During my hiring class at ATP (aka CFI Indoctrination) there where 33 instructors, including myself that was just starting to begin our CFI careers. ATP would not have also brought in a second class (fairly recent) if there was not an increase trend in student population…positive vibes are headed in our direction.
I know many students that graduated after I did from the program this year that are instructing otherwise from ATP who have 5 or more students, and they’re flying 80 hours a month, sometimes more. A current student that is getting ready to finish the program at my location already interviewed, did a check out flight, and has flights scheduled post-program with their flight school of hiring…it’s occurring more frequently as we speak. Things are picking up.
There are ways that you can make money other than being a CFI. Students have opted out of the route of going as a CFI into things like Aerial Photography, Banner Towing, Flying Pipeline, etc. CFI and instructing is not for everyone, it brings challenges, but also rewards if you’re willing to work through them. For example, my current student is 20 years old, what does a 20 year old mind want to think…you got it, “maybe I can study later and play video games right now” and I remind them that the work they put off will effect them in the long run and potential hurt their chances of succeeding, so I assist with studying techniques etc.
In reality the guaranteed instructor position was a fairly recent perk that ATP created as a result of the pilot shortage. Hiring was taking place on an unprecedented level and instructors were getting hired before they even hit 1500hrs so it was kind of a no brainer.
While that obviously was a great offer again the fact is for decades there was no such guarantee and most successful students had no problems getting instructor job. Even during the pandemic, which was arguably the worst blow this industry has ever faced, successful grads continued to find work. The good news is course is the airlines are all recovering faster than anticipated. Many have announced they are or will be hiring and that will start the food chain up again. Many believe (myself included) the pilot shortage will be worse than before.
In short I’d be more concerned with successfully completing the training (which is very challenging) than finding a position after.
Before Covid -19, there was a pilot shortage, it was hired to get airline pilots, CFIs, banner towers, etc. But before the shortage, the industry was just like any other industry. Jobs came open, people applied for them, and quality candidates got hired. I actually prefer it this way as now you know that the best people are being hired for a job.
It seems as though the industry has returned to that. ATP is still hiring plenty of instructors, as are other schools. I do not have any hard numbers to provide you, but I do know that jobs are out there. Keep your record clean, be professional, treat your training like an interview and you will do well.
Michael,
Pre-pandemic the CFI jobs were pretty plentiful as long as you had a strong program. If you had few checkride busts and finished on time you would more than likely get offered a slot for instructor indoc. You may not get your location preference but you’d get a few options of places with instructor openings with little to no wait. The pandemic paused everything. With no instructors moving on to the airlines, the CFI positions saw very little turnover. However, things are moving with regional airlines hiring again so that will get the instructors moving through atp again and should help free up the backlog.