Active instruction includes everything from monitoring the process of making a competent go/no decision (a special emphasis item recently added to the PTS), shadowing the preflight (which should be done anyway, for our own safety as well as that of the student), and fueling the aircraft, to tying it down correctly after the conclusion of the flight and logging Hobbs and tach time in the manner prescribed by the flight school.

It’s definitely a buzzkill when, as Mike points out, we’re unable to pay our bills and are forced to drive around in a dying car, when our students don’t have those issues. Not to mention, many of us don’t have much opportunity to fly for fun, another buzzkill.

AOPA has funded so many studies about why GA is dying, the poor quality of flight instruction, etc. It’s simple. The pay is too low. As it is, the flight instructor’s cut isn’t the biggest part of the pie, and seems to be getting less as the aircraft becomes more expensive to operate.

We set billing expectations early in the process. If our post flight debrief has concluded but we’re still discussing the lesson as I’m ringing up the bill, that’s active instruction. If I’m filling out a logbook, that’s active instruction. If I have to arrange a practice light gun test with the tower and walk the student out to the ramp, that’s active instruction.

Any time the student is receiving something directly associated with the flight training experience, they should be billed for it. And that includes ground instruction, which is billed at the same rate as flight instruction.

Attorneys and other professionals often bill in 15-minute increments, even for telephone conversations. Yet, while that appears to be SOP for those who are compensated orders of magnitude more than CFIs, somehow flight instructors should not even bill for the entire lesson time?

C’mon, Mr. Twombly. You should be an advocate for flight instructors. Suggesting that, “if our services are worth more, we should charge more” smacks of insensitivity, if not worse. In any case, it’s an impractical solution—and one which, once again, puts the burden on already overburdened flight instructors.

Those who say you can’t make a living in aviation are either in the wrong location, can’t market themselves or don’t know how to bill for their time. Of all of the CFIs that I know who make their living exclusively as a CFI, all are in a location that has students and they bill for all of their time. After a while you just don’t want to spend 12 hours at the airport and get paid for 5 or 6 when all you need to do is change your billing and scheduling practices.

The best thing we can do to improve the quality of instruction for flight students, is to work to retain the best instructors. These instructors will provide the most honest instruction to their students and that will result in the highest value received. Flight instructor turn over rate is one of the largest wastes to a student’s training costs. The new instructor will likely need to evaluate the student’s skills and spend some hours flying before they will feel comfortable signing them off, CYA.

Flight schools need to start providing an environment where an instructor can make a career. They need to stop looking at every flight instructor as a kid who will be gone in 12 months or 1,000 hours. Many won’t leave if they have a job they can earn a decent living at, be home every night, and get to fly almost everyday. Flight schools need to do a better job interviewing and be more selective with their hirings.

For my two cents worth some of your comments seem to defend unethical instructors, but at the expense of the rest of us. I do believe instructors are the worst paid employees of the Aviation system, if you will, and I resent Ian’s remarks regarding instructors working 8 hours and getting paid for 6 as being “the way it is”. That would be fine if the 6 hr pay was worth a days work. Most times it isn’t. And most summer days, it is more like 14 hours to get paid for 6. We have inherited the paranoid pay schedule based on “tach time” not on “value time” and have remained insecure about obtaining a reasonable income for teaching (without cheating anybody). These days, of the 10K or so students pay for a Private ticket, less that a quarter of that is instructor fees (and by your reckoning, only about half of that goes into the CFI’s pocket). While not insignificant, what we make as CFI’s is not the “deal killer” in aviation training. Shoot the aircraft consumes $30 an hour of hydrocarbons! The average CFI’s salary doesn’t even compare with that of a first year Elementary School teacher…..without any benefits! I’m for supporting ethics and Professionalism in Flight Training, but while keeping a capatilistic attitude towards fees….”buyer beware” and “let the market control fees”.