Flight Instructor / Line Pilot - Orange NSW

[Freewheel]

There are some misconceptions here.

The requirement to commence a G3 course is 250Hr PIC.

Given that the CPL course has about 35hrs of solo in it, this amounts to not much less than 350hrs.

Not quite correct sorry - it's 250 hours TT and 100 hours PIC required prior to starting the course (link here)

Or, you can bypass the 250 TT and 100 hour PIC time by doing the following;

(Paraphrased) - You do not have to meet these requirements if you;

1) Complete your CPL through an integrated course of training (including a low-level rating / endorsement).

2) Complete a night visual flight rules (NVFR) rating / endorsement.

Effectively, you can do all the of the above (including your instructors rating of course) with the same school and once you've finished your "training" you can than get a job at said school as a G3 teaching students to do the same thing...

# My two cents worth... I'd rather be taught by a low hour pilot (500 hours is probably a good starting point) who is passionate about instructing than a high hour pilot who doesn't want to be there but is filling in time between fire seasons. The ultimate of course, if a high hour pilot who wants to be an instructor in the off season

Schools offering the integrated course are few and far between, it is unlikely that the majority of people choosing this pathway will be able to meet that requirement.

Your two cents are well worth the spend. People aren’t just good instructors because they have lots of experience and other qualifications, though it does help if you have the “knack” for it.

Finding people with said “knack”, training them and paying them enough to make it viable is a challenge that industry, regulator and marketplace is having difficulty balancing…

[Rotorpilot]

A salary up to $75,000 ?

Everyone knew this would happen when they introduced the G3 rating.

I find it sad.

So bad.
Worst part is it seams the standard. The award wage is ridiculously low across the board for our industry.

[UnObvious]

So did anyone apply for the job?

[Ramjet555]

The Australian and Canadian systems are similar. TC requires 250 PIC helicopter and CASA 250 TT which is
50 hours less. Canada for a conversion requires 15 hrs duel and 10 hrs ground so that makes
Australia a better place to start instructing than Canada.

The US instructor rating is really determined by the experienced instructor signing off your log
book as to having had the required training , that's a responsibility not taken lightly be it
sometimes people do not pass their rides.

I did my Heli FAA CFI and did not get to use any of my prepared PGI's prepatory ground instruction
that are required in Canada and Australia.

In the US , you can't be employed on Robinson unless you do the Robinson Factory Pilot Safety Course.
Every decent school has graduated training, a fresh CFI does not get to do auto's with students
for quite a while and its up to the CFI / owner of the school what hours are required and ability.

In the US, many schools do not have hull insurance , they self insure so they are very highly
motivated to minimize risks and provide a high level of training.

At the end of the day, freshly minted instructors have wide variations in motivation, passion and ability,
few want to stay instructors, by 1000 hours most are on far bigger machines at double the pay.

My view is that a commercial licence is a level of safety to take a passenger for hire, and it should be
just the added training and check rides to be an instructor and that would make a massive improvement
to the availability of instructors.

PM's welcome

[Coyote_]

A salary up to $75,000 ?

Everyone knew this would happen when they introduced the G3 rating.

I find it sad.

So bad.
Worst part is it seams the standard. The award wage is ridiculously low across the board for our industry.

There's commercial operators, tour and schools, out there that do not pay junior pilots and with the insurance minimums set around 250hrs TT, junior pilots will do anything to get a foot in the door.
As companies continue to utilise this method of employment it will drag the whole industry down.