Career spotlight: A noble calling
Teach for a living
Photography by Mike Collins
Qualifications
Commercial and flight instructor certificate; third class medical or BasicMed; in most cases, 250 hours of total flight time. CSIP certification requires 500 hours total time and 250 hours of dual given. Insurance companies will require jet instructors to be more experienced.
Benefits
Self employment, with flexible schedule and travel schedule. Basically, you create the life you want.
Drawbacks
Trescott says he sits a lot, so maintaining a healthy lifestyle is challenging. Also, no pension or employer-provided health care benefits.
Pay
Many instructors start at about $20 an hour, but professionals with a strong specialization can make six figures.
While most pilots consider flight instruction a necessary evil on the way to bigger and better things, modern professional flight instructors have shown it is a job fully worthy of being its own career. California-based Max Trescott has made instructing into a career, and he couldn’t be happier. A former sales and marketing professional for a tech firm, Trescott now instructs primarily locally in the Cirrus SR22 and SF50 Vision Jet.
Since starting to instruct full-time, Trescott has written books on advanced avionics such as the Garmin G1000. It’s part of his successful strategy of specializing in a specific area. “Very early on I decided to specialize in glass cockpits,” he said. “Specialization has worked extremely well for me.” In 2006 he became a Cirrus Standardized Instructor Pilot, or CSIP, and about three years ago decided to teach only in Cirrus aircraft. You would think going from any airplane to only one would limit your market, but for Trescott it turned out to be a great decision. “I instantly got much busier and had to raise my rates.”
About 18 months later he paid for a Cirrus SF50 Vision Jet type rating, and he now has about 200 hours of instruction and mentoring in the aircraft. When not flying he’s continuing to write books (one on the Garmin G3000 will be out this summer), and he hosts and produces the popular Aviation News Talk podcast.
To be a great instructor Trescott says you must be knowledgeable, but willing to admit when you don’t know the answer. You also need to put your client’s needs ahead of your own, and most important, be patient. “You’re going to say, ‘more right rudder’ 100 times to the same person,” he said. “I joke that I can say it in 12 languages.”
For his previous career in tech Trescott traveled extensively and he wasn’t interested in doing more, so the airlines were never a goal. He’s found that he loves helping people achieve their goals. “I’m always having fun when I’m in an airplane,” he said. “We’re joking, we’re laughing, we’re learning. I get to watch the world go by below me.”
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