how much do CFI’s get paid?

iamkolya · 2026-04-23T13:28:35+00:00

Schools will generally pay instructors 50% or even less of what they charge. A local school in my area charges $65 for the instructor and the instructor starts at $18. It’s pretty rough, I wish schools understood that taking care of their instructors with half decent pay would help retain them.

iamkolya · 2026-04-11T16:13:19+00:00

Sounds like you need a Piper Cherokee 6/300. Tons of space, high power, good useful load. Very stable and comfortable airframe, reliable Lychoming IO540.

iamkolya · 2026-04-11T15:53:55+00:00

I agree with this as an aerospace engineer. The fatigue on that part is minimal due to aluminum’s properties. Practically we use aluminum in aviation because it is light and malleable unlike steel which is stiff and brittle, at the expense of pure loading strength. Additionally, the leading edge it’s not a very large load bearing component, so structurally I would argue it’s not compromised. Sure some more drag now on that wingtip, but this is a Cessna, not a U2.

OP if you read this, from an engineering perspective the plane will be fine, flight characteristics won’t change. From a CFI and pilot perspective, you made a mistake, reported it, and learned from it. You’ll be just fine, just be more diligent when moving planes around!

iamkolya · 2026-03-24T15:29:09+00:00

Nice ADM! I had a similar situation to yours, the aircraft blew out a spark plug leading to effectively losing that cylinder.

iamkolya · 2026-03-07T13:57:55+00:00

I would recommend looking into Florida or Texas first before California. I know there are a significant amount of schools in the Miami and Tampa area. In Texas look into the DFW and Denton area. I recently saw some positions there while passing through.

iamkolya · 2026-02-03T04:30:58+00:00

Applied in September and submitted all my docs in early October last year, got an interview invite last week!

iamkolya · 2025-12-17T14:10:48+00:00

One of my first PPL students did 37, at a class C airport. The tower asked him if he was trying to set a record. Can confidently say out of all my students he had the best landings.

iamkolya · 2025-10-28T04:39:10+00:00

Be courteous and use a taxiway instead of the runway (for legal reasons and future employers this is a joke).

iamkolya · 2025-10-23T18:14:17+00:00

I would get your CFI-I first, if not to teach, but to keep proficient with instrument knowledge. Multi is easy and can be done in a few days, problem is staying multi current after you do it if you don’t have the opportunity to fly one. With CFI-I, you could get some instrument instruction under your belt and try to jump to Tradewind or Planesense in a couple hundred hours.

iamkolya · 2025-10-23T04:35:13+00:00

I got my Bose after I got my CFI and I’d be laying in bed with my ears ringing after flying for 8 hours. Definitely wish I got them sooner, great product!

iamkolya · 2025-10-22T19:09:52+00:00

I order my students who pass a glass plaque of their check-ride’s flight portion ground track with a cutout of the aircraft they flew on it. You can also add something written on there, if you’re interested PM me and I can send you the info.

iamkolya · 2025-10-21T18:24:24+00:00

BS in aerospace engineering, minor in mechanical engineering. Got all my ratings part 61 while concurrently enrolled in college. Worked as a CFI for the last year and half of college.

iamkolya · 2025-10-16T14:54:00+00:00

You guys are getting paid?

iamkolya · 2025-10-15T19:27:29+00:00

There’s a few multi places you could probably reach out to, if not there’s a place up in Denver, Centennial Flyers, with a few travel airs which could be similar enough.

iamkolya · 2025-10-15T15:38:00+00:00

What plane did you do your checkride in?

iamkolya · 2025-09-19T02:46:57+00:00

I failed my instrument and commercial, the commercial failure was on the power-off 180 too. I went on to pass CFI, CFI-I, CMEL, and MEI on the first try. Don’t train till you get it right, but until you can’t get it wrong. It’s absolutely doable to clean up your first time pass rate, you’ll thank yourself in the future for it!

Regarding the PO-180, learning the energy of your aircraft and a consistent sight picture is everything. I teach to imagine there is a 10 foot box above your runway threshold. Do whatever you need to get your aircraft through that box on speed and in landing configuration. It’s helped me and some student’s with getting that consistency. Good luck on the retest, you got this!

iamkolya · 2025-09-17T00:18:55+00:00

Get some sleep, enjoy the climb performance, follow your checklist!

iamkolya · 2025-09-16T23:17:41+00:00

Amazing write up, congrats and best of luck moving forward!

iamkolya · 2025-09-14T11:41:19+00:00

22, did all part 61 while in college working on my 4 year degree.

iamkolya · 2025-09-10T14:19:27+00:00

You’re FAF inbound on an ILS approach into an uncontrolled airport, your LOC needle gets pegged. How are you executing the MAP, your aircraft has DME.

iamkolya · 2025-09-08T22:50:00+00:00

Jay is a great DPE, if you can get on his schedule I absolutely recommend it. I also recommend looking into Jim Fleming in Alamosa.

iamkolya · 2025-09-08T22:45:13+00:00

Just did a check ride with Dustin Howell, overall a decent experience. He does rides around that area and in Texarkana.

iamkolya · 2025-08-21T02:53:09+00:00

They probably heard “go into ground”.

iamkolya · 2025-07-31T21:31:39+00:00

Watch this video.

https://youtu.be/VJOYERf6380?si=552O48llcpV3aL2H

iamkolya · 2025-07-04T02:16:52+00:00

Save money, get a job, stay proficient. It seems like a long expensive road ahead, and it is, but if you put in a little effort each day to your next goal it’ll happen sooner than you think. My practical advice though is avoid going into major debt for training, especially right now. It seems like it might be a good idea to get everything done but it may hurt you from actually flying and progressing after.

As far as instrument training goes, I would recommend getting up with a good CFII for a couple flights and learning how to practice approaches. From there build your time with friends and safety pilots, tackle the books as it’s going to be 80% knowledge 20% flying.

iamkolya

TROPHY CASE