CFIs Are Professional Pilots

FLYING staff writer and certified flight instructor gives spirited rebuttal to contributor’s recent column.

Friday, January 14, 2022 at 10:00 AM ET

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The writer contends that CFIs have to master a list of skills, including flying at a commercial level. [File Photo: Adobe Stock]

Key Takeaways:

The article asserts that flight instructors (CFIs) are professional pilots, directly countering a colleague's definition that excluded them.
It argues that CFIs are required crewmembers who are paid for their in-aircraft services, actively demonstrate flying skills, and must possess at least commercial pilot-level proficiency.
The author critiques the narrow definition that separates education from flying, suggesting it's flawed and could logically exclude even airline pilots whose primary tasks often involve monitoring rather than continuous hands-on control.

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Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines a professional as “someone engaged in a specified activity as one’s main paid occupation rather than as a pastime.” Given this definition, I submit that flight instructors are indeed professional pilots. I write this to counter colleague Sam Weigel’s recent “V1 Rotate” column that defined professional pilots, but did not include CFIs.

READ MORE: What Defines a Professional Pilot?

Weigel recognized his position was controversial, stating, “My definition of a professional pilot, for the purposes of this web series, is a person whose primary income is derived from acting as a required crewmember of a crewed aircraft in flight. The primary profession of flight instructors, he stated, is education, not flying.