USPA Ratings

How to pass a USPA rating / certification

Introduction

USPA Coach is the first of three instructional ratings USPA administers, followed by Instructor and Instructor Examiner. Each of the USPA ratings is accessible via a USPA training that we can provide you. Indeed as a professional training organization and USPA examiners we can prepare you for the exam and examine you, for the rating of your choice. Moreover, you may request for financial support from your federal financial aid organizations (e.g. FONGECIF in France).

Existing USPA ratings

USPA ratings are broken down into three levels.  We will explain how the first two levels work: COACH and INSTRUCTOR.

COACH rating

The COACH rating is the first mandatory step before becoming a USPA Instructor: it is a must.

The COACH course teaches effective methods for training adults to skydive. This is the basics of the USPA teaching method.

USPA COACH PREREQUISITE:

  • Have made a minimum of 100 skydives
  • Hold a USPA B license
  • Hold a current membership

USPA COACH PREROGATIVE:

  • Conduct training in the non-method-specific portions of the skydiving ground school.
  • Conduct group freefall skills training and jumps with students who have been cleared by a USPA Instructor
  • Supervise recurrency jumps with licensed skydivers
  • etc…

All student training and recurrency jumps with a USPA Coach are conducted under the supervision of a current and appropriately rated USPA Instructor.

Click here for more details about the USPA COACH rating.

USPA Instructor rating

Once you hold the COACH rating, you can take USPA INSTRUCTOR training. There are different types of instructors, each with their own prerequisites and prerogatives. We will explain the different options available to you.

Depending on your need, desire or motivations, you can opt for one or more of the following options:

USPA Tandem Instructor rating

The USPA Tandem Instructor rating must be accompanied by one or more manufacturer’s rating. Indeed the Tandem Instructor rating is the educational part of the progression which can go through one or more jumps in Tandem.

The manufacturer rating allows you to acquire knowledge of the equipment as well as the Tandem Technique applied to the equipment. The most requested and used manufacturer’s ratings are:


– UPT SIGMA TI (More details)
– Touch TI (More details)
– Wings TI (More details)

USPA Tandem Instructor PREREQUISITE :

  • Logged 500 jumps on a ram-air canopy
  • Have made a minimum of 5 hours of freefall
  • Have earned a USPA D license
  • Hold a current membership

USPA Tandem Instructor PREROGATIVE :

  • conduct tandem instruction jumps and the tandem first-jump course
  • Verify certain USPA license applications
  • Supervise a USPA Coach
  • …

Click here for more details about the USPA TANDEM INSTRUCTOR rating.