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.
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.
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.
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.