How to chose your flight instructor as a new student pilot ? You don’t know anything about flying and have to select someone you will spend more than 50 hours with… There is certainly some magic in the relation between a student and his instructor, and no one can predict if a pair will match or not.

I flew with 12 different instructors or examiners of various breeds, so here is a guide of those I know or heard of.

Airline Pilot Wannabe
Because most airlines impose minimum flight experience to new hirees, newly certified pilots can’t get hired immediately. To build up experience many get through the intructor training, and then teach newbies for a couple of years.

As they aim at an aviation career, they teach in a very professional way. The only issue with such an instructor is the risk to loose it by the second an airline will hire him.

Side-Job Pilot
Commercial pilots operating as “taxi drivers” in business aviation do often complement their income by instructing. On the plus side, their experience flying in more varied airports than airlines is extremely valuable. They also frequently operate on their own, where airline pilots get more support from their company.

The negative side with such instructors is their lower availability, and sometimes extremely volatile schedules. If you select one, expect some last minute cancellations.

Side-Job Non-Pilot
Many instructors have another “main job”. This can be aviation related (airplane mechanic, air traffic controller) or not. I even know a head hunter and a college maths teacher which are also flight instructors.

There is nothing wrong with that, and even if they are not available full time for their trainees, their schedules are usually stable, and despite not being optimal, planning is easy. Because they are active outside aviation, these instructors can understand easily how complex it is to learn flying parallely to a job.

Volunteer
I never flew with a volunteer instructor. I heard of them via friends who fly in French aero-clubs, where they are quite numerous. If you have any information or experience flying with a “free” instructor, let me know in comments please.

Retired pilot
This is a rare specie, and by luck I got one and made my basic and IFR training with him. Because of age restriction in airlines and other flying companies, pilots tend to still be very active when reaching retirement. Some don’t go playing golf, but start or continue to train new pilots.

They combine the advantage of high experience of side-job pilot, professionalism of airline pilots wannabe, and all their time is available.

Final word
Remember that as a student pilot, it’s important to feel good with your instructor. If it’s not the case, you can ask for a new instructor if you don’t like yours. Dot.