Photo by Matt Jackson.
USPA Tandem Instructors have always juggled a wide range of responsibilities, and for years, one rating covered it all. However, the ratings system didn’t always match the work they were doing. In particular, USPA Tandem Instructors who work at drop zones that have no student program and hold no first-jump courses were struggling to stay compliant with the student-training requirements for renewal. It ultimately took a structural change—developed over four years of discussion among tandem instructors, tandem examiners, manufacturers’ tandem-program directors and USPA’s board members and staff—to create a workable solution. The new tandem-rating structure in the 2026 USPA Instructional Rating Manual splits the rating into two parts: Tandem Trainer and Tandem Instructor. Each reflects a different function. Each serves a different need.
Tandem Trainer
USPA will issue the Tandem Trainer rating to anyone holding a manufacturer’s tandem qualification once that documentation is on file. Trainers conduct discovery tandem flights, brief passengers in accordance with Federal Aviation Regulation 105.45 and teach the physical skills required for a safe skydive. They teach the student what they need to do in the air—exit preparation, body position, canopy drills and landing technique—and, more importantly, how to cooperate with the instructor during emergencies in the aircraft, in freefall or under canopy. Trainers do not provide student-skydiver instruction or student-skydiver evaluations because their role is not to teach theory or progress a student through the USPA licensing system. Their renewal requirement is simplified by removing the first-jump course and student-skydiver-training requirements.
Tandem Trainer ratings also do not include a pre-requisite to have a USPA Coach Rating. USPA worked with manufacturers to develop an online coaching certificate that teaches basic instructional methodology specific to FAR 105.45. This certificate provides the teaching foundation necessary to brief passengers, debrief the skydive and teach the physical safety skills required to make the jump successful. Some manufacturers are already accepting the coaching certificate in place of a USPA Coach Rating for their tandem rating courses. Members should contact their tandem examiner in advance to confirm whether the manufacturer they plan to train with recognizes the certificate before beginning their course.
Tandem Trainers who later choose to upgrade to the Tandem Instructor rating must hold a USPA Coach Rating. Anyone who currently holds, or has previously held, a USPA Coach Rating will already meet that prerequisite. The distinction is simple: the coaching certificate prepares a Tandem Trainer to teach the FAR 105.45 briefing and the immediate physical skills needed for a safe tandem skydive, while the USPA Coach Rating provides the broader instructional ability required to prepare and progress students toward a license.
Tandem Instructor
Tandem Instructors, by contrast, teach both physical and cognitive skills. They work within the Integrated Student Program, teach canopy-flight concepts, evaluate student performance and advance students toward their licenses. The Tandem Instructor Rating Course includes two evaluated training jumps: one Category A and one Category B, each with a qualified jumper simulating a student. Instructors supervise and debrief the entire skydive, including logbook entries and retraining when needed.
Requirements for keeping the Tandem Instructor rating current remain the same. Instructors working at drop zones that have a student program and use tandem as part of their student progression will continue to meet renewal requirements through the teaching and student activity already built into their environment. For others, the new rating structure removes the pressure to meet requirements that may not be realistically available by allowing them to renew as Tandem Trainers instead.
The two-rating structure also allows flexibility. Tandem rating holders can move between trainer and instructor status as their situation changes. Someone working at a DZ with no student program may renew as a trainer and later upgrade to instructor when working at a location with student training opportunities.
Some drop zones may require the instructor rating for all tandem rating holders. Some may not.
For the first time, tandem ratings reflect what tandem rating holders actually do: introduce people to the sport or progress them further by training to become a licensed skydiver. The change strengthens rating integrity and removes the renewal obstacles that have frustrated tandem-rated members for years.
In the end, two ratings solve a problem that one rating couldn’t. Trainers train student passengers. Instructors train student skydivers. And both roles matter.
Ron Bell D-26863
USPA Director of Safety and Training