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3 Answers

Flight instructor hours per month

Asked by: 9491 views FAA Regulations

I have been looking for an answer on how many hours per month and week an instructor fly. I now it is 8 hours in a 24 hour period but would like to know how many hours per week and month.

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3 Answers



  1. Russ Roslewski on Mar 27, 2018

    Your question is too vague – are you asking about full-time flight instructors at a busy “pilot mill” school, full-time CFIs at a “regular” flight school, part-time instructors, etc?

    The range of answers is from 0 hours per year to probably over 1000. I know a guy who did 900 hours of instruction in a year. He was young, motivated, and basically lived at the airport. And this was in an area of the U.S. not really known for great flying weather, so he undoubtedly had a lot of cancellations.

    Understand, 8 hours may be the maximum per day, but most instructors don’t fly anywhere near that amount. 8 hours a day of flying means you’re at work for most likely at least 12 hours a day, especially if most of your flights are of the 1.2-1.5 hour variety.

    Of course, the number of hours a week depends on how many days a week you work, and how good the weather is.

    Let us know why you’re asking and we can provide a better answer – are you asking from the standpoint of trying to build hours quickly? Are you trying to get a sense of the average weekly pay? Trying to see if it will work for you as a side job, or have enough time for something else as a side job? All different answers.

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  2. Best Answer


    RACINE on Mar 27, 2018

    ​What I am asking is the regulatory limit of hours an instructor can instruct in a week and month. I know it is 8 hours in a 24 hour period but can\’t find the weekly and monthly regulatory limits.​

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  3. Russ Roslewski on Mar 27, 2018

    61.195 has the 8 hours of flight instruction in 24 hours rule. Note that it’s 8 hours of flight instruction, not 8 hours of flying. You could do non-instructional flying in addition to that. Of course, there’s always the fatigue issue.

    Note also that it say nothing about weekly or monthly limits – therefore, there are none, for Part 61 instructors. Flight instruct 8 hours a day all year long if you have the clients and the stamina.

    I do not believe there are any additional restrictions on this for Part 141 instructors, therefore the Part 61 rule applies.

    Part 135 and 121 and other parts may have different limits on flight instruction.

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