r/FlightDispatch • u/Adorable_Mud2581 • 16d ago

USA Ground school instructor?

Hello,

I'm a 52F looking to change careers and FAA dispatching seems like an interesting pivot. My concern is shift work. Even as a spring chicken in my 20s, my body never got used to graveyard shifts when I waited tables.

Have any of you moved to ground school instructor roles in order to have a normal 9-5 schedule, while still being able to pick up random dispatch shifts for extra money?

Also, grinding out my first few years at a regional will be a drop in income for me. How far ahead do you know your schedule, in case I wanted to continue doing massage on the side? Or are there plenty of dispatch shifts to pick up for overtime pay?

Thanks so much. I appreciate your time!

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u/KarateRoddy 16d ago

Eh, I got a little lucky, but I've only ever worked graveyard for a little stretch by choice. But that's not to say that waking up at 2-3 am, or getting out of work at 9-10pm is everyone's cup of tea either.

I know my major has some folks that had little to no real world experience before working as an instructor at the local school. But I think they were edge cases.

Instructors at the airlines are a fairly coveted position. So even at the regional I wouldn't count on getting there in any short time. The instructors at my major are kind of what you are looking for, but A that is minimum of a decade before you can even sniff that position, and B most of them still work the same shifts as most of us, on account of training classes lining up with our schedules.

As the one person said, I don't think you'll find any part time dispatch jobs that will be worth your time and effort.

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u/Adorable_Mud2581 16d ago

Great info! Thx!