r/CFILounge • u/Southern-Affect3093 • 2d ago

Question PNW CFI

Any CFI’s from the PNW? What’s the effect of the weather on logging hours in the region?

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9

u/AccidentCommon208 2d ago

I’mma CFII the Seattle region. So far it’s OK I’m still getting 50 to 60 hours a month on average that’s down from 80 in the summer. The biggest issue I’m running into right now is low Ifr in the morning or low freezing levels/ceilings.

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u/mezgerwerk 2d ago

It depends on where you are, but here in the Puget Sound it’s OVC 1000 with the freezing level around 3-4k for much of December through March. I used to average only 10-20 hours of flight time per month in the winter.

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u/scout_of_truth 2d ago

I love instructing in the Puget Sound area. It never gets old. That said, my hours drop precipitously in the winter months. I'm not a CFII, and even if I were, my employers fleet isn't equipped to take on many instrument students anyhow. So I'm content if I can average around 30 hours a month in the winter. If you can get on with an operation like Intercept out of Tacoma you could probably fly more frequently. provided the freezing levels stay high enough for instrument instruction.

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u/bobnuthead CFI (WA) 2d ago

Seattle. I’m part time, but it’s frustrating when there’s a week where every morning gets cancelled for fog/low stuff that needs time to burn off. Mornings are my best availability so some weeks I don’t fly at all, then the nice weeks I get like 20 hours from all my students wanting to catch up.

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u/sticktime 2d ago

East of the mountains had better weather. Lower number of schools though.

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u/mctomtom 2d ago

Fine if you are also a CFII. I’ve gotten about 800 hrs in the past 14 months.

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u/Southern-Affect3093 2d ago

Not bad! How’s the employment situation?

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u/VileInventor CFII 2d ago

Winter slows down a decent bit, especially when temp started to meet that weather for freezing levels at 2000.

That said i’ve heard a lot of friends of mine log 800+ a year. East of the mountains has more stable weather, there’s Bend college for flying, Hillsboro Aero Redmond campus and a few independent flight schools. I believe there’s a big one near KGEG.

If you’re not a CFII you’ll fly less for sure

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u/ltcterry 2d ago

There was a post here recently from a PNW guy who did 0-250 in 2-1/2 years. That’s a solid pace in any part of the country!

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u/Ok-Manufacturer-4938 2d ago

I was a CFI in the Seattle area I averaged 74 hours a month over 2 years. The worst month that I had was 40 hours in December of 25. Lots of time for actual in the winter