What does a certified flight instructor do?
Certified flight instructor responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real certified flight instructor resumes:
- Achieve business objectives require by corporate standards.
- Used PowerPoint to create grind school lessons.
- Provide world-class flight instruction that meet the training course outlines and syllabus.
- Present ground lessons and prepare all flight lessons in accordance with syllabus.
- Provide grind instruction to primary, commercial, instrument, and CFI students.
- Provide flight instruction for new and ongoing private, commercial, and initial CFI students.
- Coach and mentor others; assist in preparing students for a successful cosmetology career, teaching a standardize cosmetology curriculum.
- Attend multiple CEU classes for Redken and pivot point instructional essentials.
Certified flight instructor skills and personality traits
We calculated that 23% of Certified Flight Instructors are proficient in CFI, Syllabus, and Aircraft Systems. They’re also known for soft skills such as Organizational skills, Communication skills, and Customer-service skills.
We break down the percentage of Certified Flight Instructors that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- CFI, 23%
Provided flight instruction for new and ongoing private, commercial, and initial CFI students.
- Syllabus, 19%
Created educational syllabus and lesson plans derived from general Federal Aviation Regulations.
- Aircraft Systems, 12%
Evaluated pilots providing thorough knowledge of aircraft systems, normal and emergency procedures and operational techniques.
- Emergency Procedures, 8%
Stage Check Instructor, reviewed students on all FAA regulations, weather, airports, airspace, and emergency procedures.
- Single Engine, 8%
Instruct students in single engine aircraft for private and instrument ratings.
- MEI, 6%
Engage primarily in examining airmen certification from private pilot certificate through MEI.
Most certified flight instructors use their skills in "cfi," "syllabus," and "aircraft systems" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential certified flight instructor responsibilities here:
Organizational skills. The most essential soft skill for a certified flight instructor to carry out their responsibilities is organizational skills. This skill is important for the role because "career and technical education teachers must coordinate their time and teaching materials." Additionally, a certified flight instructor resume shows how their duties depend on organizational skills: "involved in the curriculum development and advancement of the organizational goals and strategies for effective student learning and client satisfaction . "
Communication skills. Many certified flight instructor duties rely on communication skills. "career and technical education teachers must explain concepts in terms that students can understand.," so a certified flight instructor will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways certified flight instructor responsibilities rely on communication skills: "increased operating efficiency and improved communications between instructors and students by streamlining student training and certification recordkeeping. "
The three companies that hire the most certified flight instructors are:
- Eagle Creek Aviation Services4 certified flight instructors jobs
- L3Harris2 certified flight instructors jobs
- University of Alaska2 certified flight instructors jobs
Choose from 10+ customizable certified flight instructor resume templates
Build a professional certified flight instructor resume in minutes. Our AI resume writing assistant will guide you through every step of the process, and you can choose from 10+ resume templates to create your certified flight instructor resume.
Compare different certified flight instructors
Certified flight instructor vs. Teacher-in-training
A teacher-in-training is a teaching professional who offers technical teaching assistance to teachers in developing effective behavior management and instructional strategies to support student learning. The teacher must collaborate with principals while employing diverse techniques to increase the effectiveness of student learning. By observing classes and then giving feedback to teachers about their teaching style, classroom management, and techniques are some of the responsibilities of a teacher-in-training. The teacher must also develop a wide array of curriculum materials and lesson plans for classroom instruction.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a certified flight instructor are more likely to require skills like "cfi," "syllabus," "aircraft systems," and "emergency procedures." On the other hand, a job as a teacher-in-training requires skills like "classroom management," "k-12," "staff development," and "student achievement." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Teachers-in training earn the highest salaries when working in the education industry, with an average yearly salary of $39,697. On the other hand, certified flight instructors are paid more in the education industry with an average salary of $51,447.teachers-in training tend to reach higher levels of education than certified flight instructors. In fact, teachers-in training are 14.6% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 2.6% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Certified flight instructor vs. Adjunct faculty
Adjunct faculty is the collective term for adjunct professors or lecturers. The adjunct faculty teaches students based on the limited-term of their contract. Oftentimes, they teach preparatory or introductory courses by semester arrangement for the entire academic year. Most of them are employed in higher education. Unlike regular professors, adjunct faculty do not have benefits and are not required to be present in meetings. They can work as either a contract professor or a part-time professor.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real certified flight instructor resumes. While certified flight instructor responsibilities can utilize skills like "cfi," "aircraft systems," "emergency procedures," and "single engine," adjunct faculties use skills like "student learning," "philosophy," "professional development," and "course syllabus."
Adjunct faculties earn a higher average salary than certified flight instructors. But adjunct faculties earn the highest pay in the government industry, with an average salary of $115,189. Additionally, certified flight instructors earn the highest salaries in the education with average pay of $51,447 annually.In general, adjunct faculties achieve higher levels of education than certified flight instructors. They're 24.1% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 2.6% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Certified flight instructor vs. Instructor, adjunct faculty
An adjunct faculty member works in a state university or college. They typically work on a part-time or contractual basis. Although they work in a university, they have limited responsibilities compared to those who work as a regular instructor, but they still need appropriate work etiquette and a love of teaching and working with students. Like any other instructor, they develop learning material, conduct lectures, prepare exams, and assess students' grades.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, certified flight instructors are more likely to have skills like "cfi," "aircraft systems," "emergency procedures," and "single engine." But a instructor, adjunct faculty is more likely to have skills like "student learning," "course syllabus," "course curriculum," and "learning outcomes."
Instructors, adjunct faculty earn the highest salary when working in the education industry, where they receive an average salary of $54,888. Comparatively, certified flight instructors have the highest earning potential in the education industry, with an average salary of $51,447.When it comes to education, instructors, adjunct faculty tend to earn higher degree levels compared to certified flight instructors. In fact, they're 21.3% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 6.1% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Certified flight instructor vs. Instructional supervisor
Even though a few skill sets overlap between certified flight instructors and instructional supervisors, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a certified flight instructor might have more use for skills like "cfi," "aircraft systems," "emergency procedures," and "single engine." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of instructional supervisors require skills like "instructional materials," "safety procedures," "course curriculum," and "k-12. "
In general, instructional supervisors earn the most working in the government industry, with an average salary of $88,064. The highest-paying industry for a certified flight instructor is the education industry.The average resume of instructional supervisors showed that they earn similar levels of education compared to certified flight instructors. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 4.0% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 1.3%.Types of certified flight instructor
Updated January 8, 2025
