Building Flight Hours When There's No Appetite for Instruction

Here are nine options beyond the CFI route that will build flight hours along the way to airlines.

Friday, April 07, 2023 at 01:35 PM ET

Verified

Flight instruction requires organizational ability, good communication skills, steady nerves, and the patience of Job. [File Photo: Adobe Stock]

Key Takeaways:

Despite a historic pilot shortage, low-time pilots (under 1,500 hours) still face significant challenges in securing their initial flying jobs.
Flight instructing, while demanding and often unappealing, remains the most common and accessible route for building flight hours for new pilots.
Various alternatives to flight instructing exist for time-building, such as flying skydivers, ferry flying, or SIC roles, but these are generally less prevalent, often geographically limited, and heavily reliant on strong networking.
The article emphasizes that the entry-level phase of a pilot's career will likely involve hard work, uncomfortable conditions, and lower pay, regardless of the path chosen.

See a mistake? Contact us.

It was the spring of 2001, and after years of being foretold, the pilot shortage had finally arrived.

The major airlines’ hiring was in full swing, smaller upstarts like Southwest and JetBlue were rapidly expanding, and the regional airlines’ competitive minimums had fallen well below 1,000 hours. There were rumblings about slowing business-travel bookings for that summer and beyond, but this did little to darken the sunny outlook. Flight schools everywhere were jam-packed.