From the editor: A mentor shortage?

There’s more, Blair says. CFIs at local airports are dwindling, while more and more CFIs work at colleges and other pilot training institutions that feed the airlines’ insatiable need for pilots.

What does this mean to the owner-flown market, with its need for mentor pilots? Seems this very specialized niche is a largely neglected one. Pilots of light jets with single-pilot certification may require supervised operational experience (SOE) for, say, 25 hours before having that SOE limitation removed from their newly earned type ratings.

And who would provide the supervision for those mandated 25 hours? CFII mentor pilots with plenty of experience in make and model, that’s who. Nobody keeps track of their numbers, but Blair says there are very few of them. Few CFIIs have big-iron experience, even though they’re logging time for the day when they’ll get it.

Few CFIIs have big-iron experience, even though they’re logging time for the day when they’ll get it.This leaves single-pilot jet owners—and the CFIIs who aspire to train and fly them—with few training options. Owner-pilots can hire the few qualified mentor pilots, but there may well be tax consequences depending on the circumstances. Is the mentor an employee who’ll need a 1099 and Social Security deductions from his or her paycheck? (Cirrus’ factory-conducted training course for owners of its new SF50 Vision Jet could be a new model for avoiding these issues).

Aspiring mentor CFIs may not have enough experience to do the job, unless they’ve built time in type flying for charter or other operations. The same problems crop up with those wanting traditional, dual instruction in older, larger piston twins and turboprops. CFIs with time in Cessna 421s, Piper Navajos, and Cessna Conquest IIs can be hard to find.

Of course, there is another option. Owners with enough total turbine time and time in type to qualify for insurance can give their mentors named-insured status. Owners who don’t qualify can fly “naked,” meaning without insurance. Not the wisest choice, especially when flying the kind of airplanes that don’t forgive the inexperienced.

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