After her recent election to board chair at the National Association of Flight Instructors, Karen Kalishek shared a few moments of reflection with us at Oshkosh. Kalishek had an interesting path to becoming a CFI after discovering her passion. Flight instructing was her 3rd career, after success in banking, as a senior VP, and later the President of her own International Consulting business.
Kalishek is a Designated Pilot Examiner, three-time NAFI Master Instructor, CFI, CFII, MEI, CFI-G, AGI, IGI, FAA Gold Seal Instructor and FAASTeam Lead Representative. She holds an ATP certificate and has ASES and Glider Commercial privileges. “ATP was the culmination of my intentional ratings, and as you can expect, flight instructors are always interested in learning more, so I became a CFII MEI and also a glider instructor which I think is just a lot of fun. It does make you a better pilot, there is no doubt about it,” she says.
She looks forward to the future with NAFI, and growing the pilot community as a whole.
“We would like to have more of the overall flight instructor community join us, and we also realize as part of growing the pilot population, we don’t want flight instruction to be a bottleneck so obviously growing the flight instructor community as a whole is very important to growing the entire pilot community also,” Kalisheck continued. She shares a few words of advice for anyone who is considering joining NAFI or becoming an instructor themselves.
“To anyone who has ever considered becoming a flight instructor, truly it makes you a better pilot. I see a possible growth in the flight instructor community for those pilots who have been flying for quite some time. Perhaps you are nearing retirement, you're a commercial pilot, consider becoming a flight instructor and giving back to the pilot community.”
She notes that becoming a CFI is a very viable job and career opportunity, not only as a stepping stone but as a solid career path.
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