Fellow CFIs/Checkpilots, doing BFRs for CAP folk?

[AlaskanCFI]

How many of you brother and sister CFI/Check Pilots get hit up for free BFRs from other CAP members?  How do you handle it?

I do the CFI gig for a living, so one or two free ones did not kill me, at first,  but when word gets out, some folks think that everything should be on the CAP dime, including a new flight reviews.  So far these have been the types that also never fly unless it is on mission or SAR money.

What do you other folks do?  Any squadron policies other than the standard National policy?

[CadetProgramGuy]

I look at it like this.

Several years ago I needed a BFR.  I joined CAP to fly.  I needed to prepare for the Form 5 Ride, so I rode with a CAP CFI knowing full well I needed the BFR as well as the Instruction.

I see no problem with CAP CFI's (or II's) giving BFR's to CAP members.

[CadetProgramGuy]

Sorry I should have read furthur in your post.  If you are a CFI trying to make a living, then you may just have a problem.

Mandate your "new" CAP pilots to 3 or 5 hours a month of flying CAP aircraft.  If they are unwilling to accept this then tell them to see you at the FBO on Monday morning.

If theyare willing to commit to the Flight Schedle, then they can only carry other CAP members, and you may just end up with the family joining CAP as well.

[Trung Si Ma]

My problem is just the opposite - I think seniors should be able to pay CAP CFI's for their time.  I don't mean to make it mandatory, but when I want to work on something - like x-wind landings the other day, I made sure we were in a rental aircraft so that the CFI could make a little.  Lord knows that they make little enough as it is.

I don't do FR's, I get a new FAA Wings level every 12 months and that always resets my FR clock.

Thread steal - Al: Did you get a table for the trade show?

[bosshawk]

Folks: it seems to register in my gray head that we have already discussed this topic in this thread.  Just don't remember where and when.

Trung: as you are likely painfully aware, it is against CAP regs for a CAP CFI to charge a CAP member for flight instruction.  I commend you for using a non-CAP CFI in your flight instruction.

In general, CAP check pilots are plenty willing to give a Flight Review during a Form 5 check ride: just let the Check Pilot know ahead of time, so that he/she can plan the time accordingly.

[Trung Si Ma]

Boss -

Actually, I took my CAP CFI (who is wise, smart, and a pretty decent instructor) up in a different a/c.

I didn't need the training for CAP, I wanted training to make me better.

[AlaskanCFI]

Table 196 at the trade show:

I don't mind doing a little extra, but it  does kinda burn my chops when some folks expect you to give away the services from your regular source of income.  Year after year.
As I told one guy, "Should I expect my plumber to not charge, my dentist to not bill or my driveway gravel free of charge, just because there are folks in my squadron who do that for a living?"

Maybe I am just blowing off steam, but it does seem like the people who try to pull that,,, are never the ones who will fly a real SAR mission or go to training seminars. 

BTW, I already give a CAP discount for float ratings and renting my guest cabin.  So I am not being a total tight-@#$

[sparks]

I do part time instructing with a local flying club so my livelyhood isn't at stake. If it were my point of view might be different. When a CAP pilot is due for a CAPF 5 I try to remember to ask if it will also be a BFR. I don't mind doing them if I'm warned ahead of time . If the pilot drops the request on me at the last minute the request is denied or the check ride is rescheduled.  CAPF 5's and BFR's take a substantial amount of time to complete. Ground reviews take at least the same amount of time as flying if not more.  Sometimes the ground time is double the flight time. If a person is rusty (not very active) I'll schedule ground and air on different days. Taking all day to do one check ride doesn't make any sense. Rusty pilots must get some dual before taking the check ride so the result is positive.

[Mustang]

What's on a BFR that isn't covered in a Form 5?

Captain, I think this might sit with you better if you look at yourself not as a CFI getting fleeced by members, but as a valued member of the CAP Stan/Eval team whose responsibility is ensuring the safety of CAP flight operations, and that YOU are part of the infrastructure that requires our pilots to undergo a flight check twice as often as their nonmember counterparts, at their expense (most of the time). The least the Stan/Eval team can do is make sure our members get some utility out of it in the form of a BFR endorsement for their trouble. 

Having said that, attention pilots: if you go into a Form 5 expecting a BFR signoff and you don't at least OFFER to buy your check pilot lunch for HIS trouble, then you likely need to send in your attitude indicator for an adjustment as that is just rude.

Member retention is everyone's job, and it's a two-way street.

Now, to be fair, ALL MEMBERS--not just CFIs--are expected to contribute their talents for the betterment of the organization.  We expect it of lawyers, medical folks, communications folks, and quite increasingly, computer/IT folks.  It's part and parcel of volunteering, and if you're not here to volunteer your skills, then why ARE you here? If it's simply for the free flying, then you ought to be thanked for your service and shown the door.  There is way too much to be done to allow people to freeload without contributing SOMETHING to the mission other than their presence.

I've just concluded training for both my instrument and commercial tickets, all in corporate aircraft (my wing has a 182 turbo RG for the complex requirement, thankfully!), all with CAP instructors, all at no charge to me, other than that for the aircraft.  Now, while I wouldn't expect that they'd gleefully do the same for someone who joined last month, these instructors know that I've "paid it forward" for 20+ years in this organization, and that I'll use the new flying skills they've cultivated in me to CAP's benefit for the next 20+ years, God willing.  And to them, that's a reasonable return on investment for their time.

[flynd94]

yup covered in another thread.  I  don't mind as long as I know ahead of time.  They are basically the same except you have a 1 hr min of ground time.