What does a flight instructor do?
A Flight Instructor is responsible for teaching students how to fly aircrafts. They prepare lesson plans and evaluate and monitor students performance.
Flight instructor responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real flight instructor resumes:
- Manage the daily maintenance efforts for 9 P-3C aircraft to meet short and long range flight tasking.
- Manage and monitor all flight systems and electrical in-flight avionics of various commercial aircraft equipment types.
- Conduct training using, CBT, stand-up lectures, PowerPoint, Wicat 2D FMS, and FTD trainers.
- Diagnose, troubleshoot malfunctions and perform extensive maintenance operational checks on all systems.
- Create and maintain training records for USAF students.
- Maintain relationships with both local DPE's and FBO managers.
- Provide grind school check-ride prep in private, commercial, instrument & ATP
- Evaluate student progress and performance using school syllabus and the practical test standards.
- Conduct syllabus training both simulator and aircraft for both new and recurring pilot training.
- Assist with line service fueling aircraft and maintaining the general requirements of an FBO per FAA requirements and airline standards.
- Utilize diagnostic test equipment to troubleshoot report system malfunctions.
- Complete helicopter maintenance logs and input flight information into computer database.
- Maintain flight proficiency in fixed-wing aircraft and obtain commercial helicopter flight rating.
- Serve as facilitator to ensure aircrew readiness and tactical ability in combat environments.
- Demonstrate expertise conducting in-flight duties ensuring successful completion of combat, reconnaissance, and transport.
Flight instructor skills and personality traits
We calculated that 9% of Flight Instructors are proficient in Aircraft Systems, Syllabus, and CFI. They’re also known for soft skills such as Organizational skills, Patience, and Communication skills.
We break down the percentage of Flight Instructors that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Aircraft Systems, 9%
Evaluated pilots providing thorough knowledge of aircraft systems, normal and emergency procedures and operational techniques.
- Syllabus, 8%
Developed Instrument Rating syllabus for CFR 141 Certification Standards
- CFI, 8%
Instructed Private, Instrument, CFI, CFII, Flight Review, and IPC Candidates Conducted Phase Checks and Aircraft Checkouts
- Flight Operations, 6%
Supervised logistics, approved all flight operations, and ensured compliance with federal regulations.
- Training Programs, 5%
Developed training programs or helped modify and improve existing programs.
- PowerPoint, 5%
Developed storyboards and PowerPoint presentations.
"aircraft systems," "syllabus," and "cfi" are among the most common skills that flight instructors use at work. You can find even more flight instructor responsibilities below, including:
Organizational skills. The most essential soft skill for a 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 flight instructor resume shows how their duties depend on organizational skills: "designed and oversaw training programs in multiple large organizational scenarios. "
Patience. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling flight instructor duties is patience. The role rewards competence in this skill because "working with students of different abilities and backgrounds can be difficult." According to a flight instructor resume, here's how flight instructors can utilize patience in their job responsibilities: "embodied and honored the instructor s code of ethics of professionalism, patience, rapport, respect, and admission. "
Communication skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of flight instructors is communication skills. This skill is critical to many everyday flight instructor duties, as "career and technical education teachers must explain concepts in terms that students can understand." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "navigate congested airspace, mange two-way radio communications with atc, ensure collision avoidance while supervising maneuvering of airplane. "
The three companies that hire the most flight instructors are:
- FlightSafety International35 flight instructors jobs
- Cirrus Aircraft17 flight instructors jobs
- Frontier Airlines6 flight instructors jobs
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Compare different flight instructors
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.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between flight instructors and adjunct faculty. For instance, flight instructor responsibilities require skills such as "aircraft systems," "cfi," "excellent interpersonal," and "flight operations." Whereas a adjunct faculty is skilled in "student learning," "philosophy," "professional development," and "course syllabus." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Adjunct faculties earn the highest salaries when working in the government industry, with an average yearly salary of $115,189. On the other hand, flight instructors are paid more in the manufacturing industry with an average salary of $59,418.adjunct faculties tend to reach higher levels of education than flight instructors. In fact, adjunct faculties are 23.7% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 8.8% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.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.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real flight instructor resumes. While flight instructor responsibilities can utilize skills like "aircraft systems," "syllabus," "cfi," and "excellent interpersonal," teachers-in training use skills like "classroom management," "k-12," "staff development," and "student achievement."
Teachers-in training earn a lower average salary than flight instructors. But teachers-in training earn the highest pay in the education industry, with an average salary of $39,697. Additionally, flight instructors earn the highest salaries in the manufacturing with average pay of $59,418 annually.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Teachers-in training tend to reach higher levels of education than flight instructors. In fact, they're 14.2% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 8.8% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Flight instructor vs. Cooperative education student
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, flight instructors are more likely to have skills like "aircraft systems," "syllabus," "cfi," and "excellent interpersonal." But a cooperative education student is more likely to have skills like "patient care," "co-op," "gpa," and "classroom management."
Most cooperative education students achieve a similar degree level compared to flight instructors. For example, they're 1.4% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 1.6% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Flight instructor vs. Instructor, adjunct faculty
Types of flight instructor
Updated January 8, 2025
