Skydiver in stable freefall after exiting aircraft

Your First Skydive

The USPA A License: Requirements and Cost in 2026

Learn the requirements, costs, and timeline for earning your USPA A license, the first skydiving license in the U.S.

By Up Is Jump TeamOctober 9, 20269 min read

You landed your tandem, unclipped from your instructor, and started wondering how much it would take to make that jump on your own. That next step is the USPA A license, the first skydiving license in the U.S. It lets you jump without supervision at drop zones that follow USPA rules. Here's the short answer: you need 25 jumps, a full skills card, a check dive and two exams. Based on prices drop zones listed as of October 2026, a clean run with no repeated levels comes to roughly the mid-$3,000s to about $5,000 before travel. That's the UpIsJump team's estimate.

What the A license actually is

The A license is the first of four licenses, A through D, issued by the United States Parachute Association. USPA is a voluntary nonprofit membership group, not a government agency, so the A license isn't like a pilot's license. It's valid only while your USPA membership is current. It's also recognized in countries that belong to the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale.

Once you hold it, you can jump without supervision, pack your own main parachute, make formation skydives with other jumpers, and train for water landings.

The requirements

According to USPA's A-license page and the 2026 Skydiver's Information Manual (SIM), you need:

A current USPA membership, plus an introduction to the SIM and Section 1-6 of USPA's Governance Manual.
25 jumps. Documented tandems, static-line jumps and instructor-assisted jumps can count toward the total. You still have to finish every skill on the card. The SIM doesn't set a minimum number of freefall minutes for the A license. Wind tunnel time doesn't count toward the 25 jumps.
The A-License Progression Card, Categories A through H. Early categories cover a stable arch, watching your altitude, deploying your parachute, and flying a landing pattern with help. Later categories add turns, loops and rolls, tracking (flying forward across the sky), docking on another jumper, and spotting (choosing where to leave the plane). Your landing accuracy also has to improve. You start by landing within 330 feet of a target with help and finish by landing within 65 feet without help.
Packing. You pack with help in Category F and on your own in Category G. Your reserve parachute is different: an FAA-certificated rigger still has to pack it every 180 days.
A check dive with a USPA Instructor. You spot the jump, check gear, do a right 360 turn, a left 360 and a back loop, dock with the instructor from 20 feet away, track at least 100 feet, and break off as planned. Then you fly your landing pattern and pack for your next jump. If you miss something, you get more training and make another jump.
A written exam: 40 questions, closed book, with a passing score of 75%. If you fail the online version, you can retake it twice more that same day. If you fail the paper version, you wait 7 days.
An oral exam: at least 20 questions, and you have to get every one right. Topics include cloud clearance, gear, canopy traffic, aircraft emergencies, malfunctions and Federal Aviation Regulations.

Under USPA's Basic Safety Requirements, the minimum age is whatever age lets you sign a waiver where you jump. USPA says that's usually 18. You'll also need an accepted medical certificate, a doctor's statement that you're fit to jump, or USPA's medical self-statement. You can't jump within 8 hours of drinking alcohol.

The two main training routes

USPA recognizes four training methods: accelerated freefall (AFF), instructor-assisted deployment, static line and tandem. Most students use one of the first three.

AFF is the most common choice. After several hours of ground school, you wear your own parachute and exit the plane with instructors holding your harness. You get 30 to 60 seconds of freefall, then deploy and fly the parachute yourself. You jump with two AFF instructors until you can deploy on your own, belly-to-earth, at the planned altitude. If you've shown certain skills in a wind tunnel first, you may jump with one instructor instead. Once you can recover from instability and hold your heading, usually around Category E, a coach can take over for the rest of the card.

Static line and instructor-assisted deployment start with almost no freefall. On a static line, a line attached to the plane opens your parachute. With instructor-assisted deployment, an instructor in the plane throws your pilot chute as you fall away. You make three stable practice-deployment jumps in a row, then one successful jump where you leave the plane and pull on your own. Freefall usually starts around your sixth jump. Fewer drop zones offer these methods. They suit people who would rather learn canopy flight before adding long freefall.

Your tandem can count, too. With any method, your first one or two jumps can be tandems, and you can switch methods once you show the right skills. Drop zones set their own rules here:

Skydive Perris doesn't require a tandem before training.
Skydive Spaceland Dallas requires two of its own tandems first.
Skydive Arizona requires a tandem within the past year.

What it costs

These are prices listed as of October 2026. Totals assume you never repeat a level.

USPA fees:

New annual membership: $98. Renewal is $83.
Temporary three-month membership: $38. You can use it to earn a license.
A license: a one-time $43 fee, plus an optional $20 to expedite it.
USPA doesn't list a separate exam fee.

Skydive Spaceland Dallas, Texas: The "A license in a week" package costs $3,226. It includes the transition class, 18 training levels, five practice jumps, a packing class, USPA membership and the $43 license fee. Paying level by level costs $647 more:

Ground school: $75
Levels 1–16: $199 each
Level 17: $130
Graduation jump: free

The package doesn't include the two required tandems. At Spaceland Houston's $229 weekday prepaid tandem rate, the total is about $3,684.

Skydive Arizona, Eloy: The Economy package costs $4,199. It covers 24 jumps, a packing class, the exam and bunkhouse lodging. It doesn't include the required $259 tandem, a $60 ground-school booking fee, $190 of wind tunnel time, or USPA fees. Adding those brings the total to about $4,849. If you pay jump by jump, coach jumps and the check dive are $196 each, and solo jumps are $86 each.

Skydive Perris, California: The first-jump course costs $379, and prepaid training after that costs $4,450. Add the $98 membership and the $43 license fee and the total is about $4,970. Once you're cleared to jump solo, you also pay $125 a day plus tax to rent gear.

Skydive DeLand, Florida: The prices here cover early training only, not a finished license:

First-jump course plus Category A: $379
Categories B and C: $225 per jump
Category D onward: $189 per jump
Prepaid 7-jump bundle: $1,429

Our estimate: plan on about $3,500 to $5,000 for a clean path, plus travel. Set aside extra for repeated levels, which cost about $200 each at these schools.

How long it takes

Spaceland says some students have finished in as little as 4 days, and its students make 1 to 8 jumps a day. Arizona says as little as 9 days. Both schools say it can also take months.

A few things stretch the timeline:

Weather. Solo students can't jump in surface winds above 14 mph. Under federal rules (2025 edition), you can't jump through clouds, and there are minimum distances from them. Below 10,000 feet above sea level, for example, you have to stay 500 feet below clouds.
Daylight. Student jumps must happen between sunrise and sunset, so fall's shorter days mean fewer jumps per day.
Breaks. If you go 30 days without a jump, the SIM puts you back under an instructor. Spaceland charges a $65 refresher for that.

If you're hoping to use the Thanksgiving weekend (November 26) for a jump-heavy push, schedule backup days in case the weather doesn't cooperate.

After the A license

With your license, you can jump without supervision, pack your own main and join formation skydives. You still have to open your parachute by 3,000 feet. Night jumps require a B license. Wingsuit flying requires at least 200 jumps.

The B license requires:

50 jumps
At least 30 minutes of controlled freefall
A canopy proficiency card
Water training
10 landings within 33 feet of a target
10 planned formation jumps
Another written exam and another $43 fee

You don't need your own gear to earn or use the A license. Renting works fine at first. People usually start shopping once they're confident on the canopy they've been renting and are ready to downsize, which the card says to do only after you're proficient. New gear costs a lot. One Georgia dealer listed a complete new rig at $10,210.

Before you sign up

Ask the drop zone these questions:

Is it a USPA Group Member? Group Members pledge to follow USPA's safety rules, use current USPA instructors, and teach with USPA methods.
Which training method do you teach?
Does the price cover all 25 jumps and the full card? Ask whether tandems, tunnel time, membership, the license fee, gear rental, the packing class, video and lodging are included or extra.
What does a repeated level cost, and what happens after a 30-day break?
What are your age, weight and medical rules? These vary by drop zone. Skydive DeLand, for example, lists ages 18 to 60 and a weight limit of 220 pounds.
What happens if weather cancels the day?

Sources (18)

Photo by dan321132 on Pixabay.