Also called: Certified Flight Instructor
Teaches people to fly small airplanes and earn pilot licenses.
CFIs fly with students in small planes like Cessnas, teaching takeoffs, landings, and emergency procedures, then ground-school weather and navigation. Most new airline pilots instruct for a year or two to build hours.
Estimate; many CFIs move to airlines after reaching 1,500 hours.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Certificate, about 2 years after high school. Commercial pilot certificate plus flight instructor certificate (about 1-2 years of flight training).
Ways in: Certification, Trade school, 2-year college. Training cost: $60k – $150k.
Majors to look at: Professional Flight, Aviation.
Growing faster than average. Pilot demand keeps instructors busy.
Low risk for 10 years. Simulators and AI ground school help, but teaching takeoffs and landings in a real plane requires a certified instructor.
Classes: Physics, AP Calculus, Earth science or meteorology.
Official data: O*NET occupation 53-2012.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.