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 refutes a previous definition that excluded flight instructors (CFIs) from being professional pilots, arguing that CFIs' primary profession is education, not flying.
The author contends that CFIs are professional pilots because they are paid for their services in the aircraft, act as required crewmembers (especially for learners), and must possess commercial pilot-level flying skills.
It is emphasized that teaching flying is a complex skill requiring both flying proficiency and strong instructional abilities, which CFIs must demonstrate.
The author criticizes the exclusionary definition, suggesting its logic could illogically extend to exclude even airline pilots due to their role in monitoring and automation.

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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.