The aviation industry is on fire. Hiring for positions at airlines and corporate flight departments continue to happen at a fevered pitch. For those who have done their research, the path to these positions are loaded with challenges: flight training, costs, regulations, and … hour building. As with most things in life, pursuing a career as a professional pilot is littered with choices – accumulating quality experience is no different.
While there are many ways to build hours, some options provide better experiences, which in turn yield a more qualified and sought after candidate by both the airlines and corporate flight departments. Pursuing the time as a certified flight instructor, sandwiched between the completion of flight training and before the first “jet” job, is often viewed as the best choice to prepare for an airline or corporate pilot career.
At institutions like Western Michigan University, the CFI position is a tremendous way to build time, expand the knowledge base, earn money and prepare for employment as a career pilot. According to Tom Grossman, Executive Director of Flight Operations at Western Michigan University’s College of Aviation, “All flight schools are not created equal. At WMU, we pride ourselves on being one of the better paid universities for our CFIs.” Just recently, adjusting to the flight instructor shortage being experienced by the majority of flight training operations, WMU raised the hourly salary for its flight instructors. “While we have always paid well,” said Grossman, “we felt the increase was necessary to continue WMU’s position as a desired destination for flight instructing.”
In addition to its increased lucrative nature, spending time as a flight instructor can add to the individuals understanding of operations and processes. The opportunity to instruct using a structured training course outline (TCO) and standard operating procedures (SOPs) helps to prepare the flight instructor for the frameworks they will encounter and operate at an airline or corporate flight department. “Most definitely it is a benefit,” exclaimed Grossman. “Having the chance to teach using a TCO and SOPs is incredibly valuable to the instructor. At WMU, our flight instructors use the TCO from the time they sign on. Not only does this help with maintaining our high level of education, it also provides the flight instructor with an outline of responsibilities and checkpoints. When they move on from flight instructing and take their first job at a regional airline or corporate aviation department, having experience operating in a structured system improves the transition. The new employee is used to following an order of processes and procedures when operating the aircraft. This is just one of the many transferable skills the flight instructor develops as a CFI.”
Beyond structure and pay, a huge benefit of flight instructing is the individual growth that occurs. If flight instructing does one thing, it provides an individual with a variety of experiences and opportunity to fly in diverse situations. Most importantly, time spent as a CFI improves the individual’s leadership, decision-making and ability to work collaboratively with a team. “Many times, when talking with our industry partners, they acknowledge the quality, educational level and sophistication of the employees we send to them,” said Grossman. “The time spent flight instructing matures the pilot in ways that transcend knowledge and skills.”
Part of that maturity comes from the added experiences gained by flight instructing. As Grossman explains, “The best part of flight instructing is the depth of knowledge gained by the individual. It is similar to being a good cook. True understanding of cooking comes when you teach someone else how to do it. The ‘a-ha’ moments come for both the student and teacher. Typically, the student experiences the moment when they begin to understand the subject. For the teacher, their “a-ha” happens when they gain an understanding of how and why. Ultimately, this leads to a breadth of knowledge that isn’t gained just by doing.”
As a result of this deeper knowledge base, CFIs have become highly sought after prospects by both airlines and corporate flight departments. Since the flight instructors bring an added dimension of understanding, and a more diverse flight experience, industry representatives have increased their CFI recruitment efforts significantly over the past several years. “Absolutely,” reinforced Reina Cooke, Recruitment and Retention Officer for the WMU College of Aviation. “At Western Michigan University, we continue to see a large uptick in visits to our flight department. Not only from representatives of regional airlines, but also from corporate, charter and cargo flight departments. It is not uncommon to have multiple visits from different companies scheduled during the same week. The request is usually the same, ‘We want to meet your flight instructors.’”
Not only do industry representatives want to meet flight instructors, so do flight students. “A huge benefit for coming to flight instruct at a university, especially a place like Western Michigan University,” said Grossman, “is our never ending supply of students. As the demand for professional aviators has increased, so has the interest in pursuing aviation at a university. Flight instructors at WMU get to focus on their primary task: flying and teaching. We have other departments focused on finding and recruiting potential students.”
Building hours can be done through a variety of different ways. However, for the future career pilot who understands the industry, and desires to increase their marketability, the choice is clear. Becoming a certified flight instructor is the preferred and most intelligent pathway.