The Road to Becoming an AFF Instructor

By Nicole Richards

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“I love skydiving! I can’t wait to teach others the sport I love!” If these are your thoughts, then this information is for you!

We interviewed Becca Farewell, a recent graduate of the Skydive University/USPACourses.com Accelerated Freefall Instructor Rating Course, and Josh Colby, co-owner of USPACourses.com and evaluator of AFF-I candidates, to get a better understanding of what obtaining this instructional rating is all about.

The AFF Instructor rating is the most advanced instructional rating a skydiver can hold and by some, considered to be the most prestigious rating. That being said, making the decision to take the course should be made with the utmost respect for the rating and the future students you will be taking into the sky. Compared to the Coach Course, which is mainly a classroom course, the AFF-I Rating Course is a jumping course. You will meet with your examiner each morning to be introduced to or review course materials. Then, you will take your learning to the sky!  Plan to make a minimum of 10 jumps throughout the course; 7 of those jumps will be teaching the techniques to read the student’s body position and move with the student, present corrective hand signals, perform spin stop and roll over maneuvers, and assist or deploy for the student. The last 3 jumps of the course will be for evaluating your in-air and instructional abilities.

When you make the decision to take the AFF Instructor Rating Course, the first step is to put down your deposit and secure your slot.  After that you take a deep breathe and acknowledge that you have begun the process to becoming an AFF Instructor, the next step is to get started on your prerequisites right away.  Josh Colby shared that one of the common mistake candidates make is to wait until the last minute to begin working on the AFF Instructor Rating Course Proficiency Card. This card can be located at the back of the USPA Instructor Rating Manual (IRM).  Most importantly, of those prerequisites, is to assist in teaching two AFF first-jump courses. This prerequisite is the most time consuming and your local dropzone may not offer them every day or even every week. You will also need to complete the General USPA Instructor and the AFF Instructor exam (these can be found in Appendix B of the IRM). This all needs to be completed prior to beginning the course. Getting started as early as possible will reduce the amount of unnecessary stress you experience during this process of obtaining this rating.

Since you are considering teaching skydiving, you should already have the basic belly flying skills that are needed to fly a slot on a skydive. Josh Colby shared that while preparing to become an AFF-I, slot flying is the most important skill you can continue to work on. Get with the belly fliers on your dropzone and practice flying slot specific formations. If you aren’t able to do bigway jumps, plan slot specific jumps with your friends where there are no docks. Learning to fly a slot while not being docked is a crucial skill for an AFF-I to possess as you will need to let go of your student while continuing to fly in close proximity to redock and give corrective hand signals as necessary. Additionally, you can go to the tunnel with an AFF Evaluator and have them teach you the techniques (specifically roll over and spin stop maneuvers) in an environment where you don’t feel pressures of passing the course. Becca shared with us that this was something that helped immensely with her self-confidence going into the course. Although you may be an excellent flier, these are skills you will not have previously learned and it can be awkward to learn how to dodge one spinning limb while preparing to catch the next limb coming around.

If you are totally terrified of this course, realize that this is normal. Obtaining this rating is an immense amount of responsibility and again, is a decision that should be made with the utmost respect for the rating and your future students. Some helpful advice Becca offered us is to go into the course with the acceptance that it might not be the right time, that you might not be ready yet, or that teaching skydiving might not be for you at all.  USPACourses.com works closely with Skydive University, together they bring in the best examiners available to teach you how to be an AFF Instructor; they are there to help you succeed, not to fail you. Their course is structured slightly differently than other rating schools, instead of offering a “pre-course” to weed out candidates who might not be ready, those “pre-course” jumps are built into the course. This is to find each candidate’s individual shortcomings and work on them so they will succeed.  Their goal is to teach you, not to fail you.

Passing the course and obtaining the rating is the goal and we are here to help you succeed in that. However, no matter what the outcome at the end of those 5-7 days, you will leave learning a lot about yourself, skydiving, and how to teach others. Everyone has something different to learn and the course is all about finding out your individual needs. As Rob Laidlaw, AFF-I Examiner says in the beginning of the course, “Get ready for the greatest freefall game in the world!”

Ready to register? Click here!!

Check out our CALENDAR. USPACourses.com, along with Skydive University will be offering courses at Skydive Perris & Skydive Chicago.  We also offer bilingual English/Spanish courses and all Spanish courses for those who prefer.

2021 Course Schedule:

Skydive Perris: 

Tandem Instructor Course – Apr 20-23

AFF Instructor Rating Course – Apr 24-30

Coach PRE-COURSE – May 1

Coach Course – May 7-9

Skydive Chicago: 

Tandem Instructor Course – May 20-23

AFF Instructor Rating Course – May 27-Jun 2

Coach PRE-COURSE – Jun 5

Coach Course – Jun 11-13

About The Author:  

Nicole Richards is an experienced skydiver, aspiring professional skydiver, and the official blog writer for USPACourses.com. Her home dropzone is Skydive Chicago where she currently as an AFFI during the summer season.  Nicole has been working in the sport since 2014. Her 2021 goals include obtaining a Tandem Instructor Rating.

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