Find the Right Flight Instructor for Your New Airplane

Here are some tips to vetting CFIs, understanding insurance, and securing safe training.

Meg Godlewski

Tuesday, May 12, 2026 at 08:00 AM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

Flight instructor and student inside small Piper aircraft [Credit: FLYING Archive]

Key Takeaways:

Finding a suitable flight instructor for your new aircraft can be done through type clubs for specialized expertise, professional CFI organizations like NAFI and SAFE, or by inquiring at local flight schools.
Key considerations when hiring include ensuring the instructor meets your insurance's specific experience requirements (including recency in type), confirming both parties' insurance coverage, and providing fair compensation for experienced CFIs.
Effective flight training requires thorough ground instruction for airworthiness and safety, and instructors value students who respect aviation rules and commit actively to the learning process.

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Congratulations! You just bought an airplane—or a share of one—and now you need to find a flight instructor who can teach you how to fly it.

Luckily for you, pilot hiring at the airlines appears to have slowed down a bit, which means commercial pilots who became flight instructors to build their hours for jobs at airlines are staying flight instructors for a bit longer than they were even a year ago. This means they have more time to develop as teachers.