Flight Instructor Jobs in New York: Part-Time CFI and CFII

No. There is no 1,500-hour minimum and no airline experience requirement; newer CFIs and CFIIs are welcome. Our teaching team is led by active airline pilots who mentor the instructors working here, so you learn professional standards on the job instead of needing them on day one. What we do require is fluency in Garmin G1000 procedures. If your overall experience is limited, that is fine: we mentor instructors, and before your interview we send a short set of our YouTube videos covering the G1000 procedures we expect, so you know exactly what to prepare. If you love teaching and want paid, flexible instruction work in Manhattan, you are exactly who this job is designed for.

This is part-time, independent contract work, not full-time employment. Most Aviator.NYC instructors teach 5 to 15 hours per week around their other commitments. You set your own availability through our scheduling system and we match you with students who fit your open slots. There are no minimum-hour requirements: some instructors teach one session a week, others teach five or more. Because all training happens on simulators in our Hudson Square, Manhattan studio, sessions are never cancelled for weather or maintenance, so the hours you commit to are hours you actually teach and get paid for. You maintain complete control over when and how often you work.

Yes. G1000 fluency is the one requirement we do not flex on. You will teach on a Garmin G1000 AATD and on G3000-equipped Cirrus simulators, and students expect an instructor who is completely at home in the flight deck. Limited overall experience can be mentored, but you must demonstrate fluency in G1000 procedures at your interview. To make that fair, the exact procedures we expect are covered in the Garmin G1000 playlist on our YouTube channel, linked in the requirements above. Watch it and you will know what the evaluation looks like before you walk in.

Ideally, yes, but it is not a hard requirement. We teach on both flight decks, and the best-fit candidate has flown both. If you are strong on the G1000, we can teach you the G3000 during onboarding: the familiarization covers the touchscreen controllers, flight management workflows, and the specific configuration of our simulators. Instructors who are already fluent on Garmin flight decks typically pick it up quickly. Be upfront in your application about which avionics you have flown and how much time you have on each.

No. Cirrus familiarity is a plus, not a requirement. Our simulators replicate the Cirrus SR20 and SR22, and we cover the airframe specifics, from avionics configuration to safety systems, during onboarding. The requirement is avionics fluency: you must know your way around the Garmin G1000, because that is the foundation everything else builds on. If you have real SR20 or SR22 time, mention it in your application; it helps. If you do not, apply anyway and show us strong G1000 procedures and a genuine interest in teaching.

No, and that is by design. Time spent teaching in a simulator does not count toward the 1,500 flight hours most airline jobs require, so this is the wrong job for hour-building. It is the right job for instructors who teach because they love it. Our instructors fly professionally and keep teaching here anyway, on schedules they control, because sharing the craft is the point. If you move on to an airline or corporate flying job later, that is normal and we support it; plenty of instructors keep a few teaching hours a week even after they do.

The senior instructors at Aviator.NYC are active airline pilots who fly professionally and teach here around their schedules. As a newer instructor, you work alongside them: they review how you teach, share how airline training departments approach instruction, and help you sharpen both your flying knowledge and your teaching craft. Over time they become people who know your work personally, which helps if you later apply to airlines and want recommendations or interview preparation. Mentorship is a real benefit of the job, one of several alongside the schedule you control and the students you teach. It is not the reason to take the job; loving to teach is.

Yes. As an independent contract instructor, you will need your own professional liability insurance, commonly known as CFI insurance. This is standard practice for contract flight instructors across the industry and is not unique to Aviator.NYC. CFI insurance typically covers you for claims related to instruction services and is available from aviation insurance providers at reasonable annual premiums. We can recommend specific providers and policies that our current instructors use if you need guidance. Having your own policy ensures you are personally protected regardless of where or how you instruct, which is especially important if you also teach at other locations or in actual aircraft.