Flight instructors educate young adults on how to fly aircraft through various methods, including live flight instruction. They develop curricula and instruct the students in a classroom setting, teaching them in various subjects such as aircraft systems, operating procedures, and so on. They earn an average salary of $52,000 annually or $25 per hour.
Flight instructors report on student progress after evaluating and monitoring their performance. They accompany the students on live flights to complete their training after completing the textbook education. Some instructors specialize as examiners or check pilots in a bid o ensure proficiency. They are truly resourceful and patient, with solid communication skills to boot.
Flight instructors generally have either Commercial Pilot Certification or Airline Transport Pilot Certification before applying to be certified flight instructors. They usually need a license for the aircraft they provide instruction for and meet the required number of hours flying that type of aircraft. Since it is a rapidly growing field, gaining experience will serve as an added advantage.
Flight Instructor Overview
Working as a Flight Instructor
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a flight instructor. For example, did you know that they make an average of $25.01 an hour? That's $52,026 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -1% and produce -1,800 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Flight Instructor Do
There are certain skills that many flight instructors have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed organizational skills, patience and communication skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a flight instructor, we found that a lot of resumes listed 7.8% of flight instructors included flight instruction, while 7.3% of resumes included flight operations, and 6.9% of resumes included aircraft systems. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the flight instructor job title. But what industry to start with? Most flight instructors actually find jobs in the education and transportation industries.
How To Become a Flight Instructor
If you're interested in becoming a flight instructor, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 56.6% of flight instructors have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 15.5% of flight instructors have master's degrees. Even though most flight instructors have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a flight instructor. When we researched the most common majors for a flight instructor, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or associate degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on flight instructor resumes include master's degree degrees or high school diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a flight instructor. In fact, many flight instructor jobs require experience in a role such as pilot. Meanwhile, many flight instructors also have previous career experience in roles such as first officer or captain.
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Flight Instructor Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of instructor you might progress to a role such as consultant eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title human resources manager.
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Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Flight Instructor
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Kansas State University Foundation Senior Flight Instructor Senior Flight Instructor | Kansas State University Foundation Kansas State University Foundation | 10/09/2020 10/09/2020 | $36,35610/09/2020 $36,356 |
Kansas State University Advanced Flight Instructor Advanced Flight Instructor | Kansas State University Kansas State University | 10/07/2020 10/07/2020 | $40,15410/07/2020 $40,154 |
State of Minnesota College Laboratory Asst 2-Chief or Assistant Chief or Check Flight Instructor (Helicopter) College Laboratory Asst 2-Chief or Assistant Chief or Check Flight Instructor (Helicopter) | State of Minnesota State of Minnesota | 07/20/2020 07/20/2020 | $38,83907/20/2020 $38,839 |
Indian Health Service Aircraft Flight Instructor-Title 32 Aircraft Flight Instructor-Title 32 | Indian Health Service Indian Health Service | 06/28/2020 06/28/2020 | $91,23106/28/2020 $91,231 |
Indian Health Service Aircraft Flight Instructor Aircraft Flight Instructor | Indian Health Service Indian Health Service | 06/28/2020 06/28/2020 | $91,23106/28/2020 $91,231 |
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Flight Instructor Resumes
Designing and figuring out what to include on your resume can be tough, not to mention time-consuming. That's why we put together a guide that is designed to help you craft the perfect resume for becoming a Flight Instructor. If you're needing extra inspiration, take a look through our selection of templates that are specific to your job.
Learn How To Write a Flight Instructor Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Flight Instructor resumes and compiled some information about how best to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Detailed InformationTop Colleges for Flight Instructors
1. Stanford University
Stanford, CA • Private
2. California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo, CA • Public
3. Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN • Public
4. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
5. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
6. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI • Public
7. University of Virginia
Charlottesville, VA • Public
8. Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA • Public
9. North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC • Public
10. Boston University
Boston, MA • Private
Top Skills For a Flight Instructor
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 7.8% of flight instructors listed flight instruction on their resume, but soft skills such as organizational skills and patience are important as well.
- Flight Instruction, 7.8%
- Flight Operations, 7.3%
- Aircraft Systems, 6.9%
- CFI, 6.0%
- Training Programs, 5.8%
- Other Skills, 66.2% See All Flight Instructor Skills
Best States For a Flight Instructor
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a flight instructor. The best states for people in this position are California, Massachusetts, Mississippi, and Washington. Flight instructors make the most in California with an average salary of $66,544. Whereas in Massachusetts and Mississippi, they would average $65,578 and $65,558, respectively. While flight instructors would only make an average of $65,455 in Washington, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Michigan
$60,123
Avg. Salary
2. Mississippi
$65,558
Avg. Salary
3. Massachusetts
$65,578
Avg. Salary
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