By Angie Aragon

Photo Credit: Steve Barker

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Just as many industries are lacking people to employ after “the COVID shuffle”, we as a skydiving industry are also currently faced with a growing problem, there aren’t enough tandem instructors.  This was a major topic of discussion during the recent Parachute Industry Association Symposium as well as the subject that I presented on during both the DZO & PIA Conference.  I received great feedback with regards to my presentation and topic of discussion.  Many DZO’s and Instructors alike approached me stating that they were appreciative of the research and new perspective.   We were in agreement that this topic is one which needs additional study and research.  

Below is a basic summary of my findings, a full article will be published in the May 2023 edition of Parachutist Magazine.  Please stay tuned for the article and links, which I will share on my social media. 

The fact is that as an industry 25% of new tandem instructors do not renew their rating after their first year.  And, to take it a step further, by the 4th year 60% of those instructors would have left their drogue throwing days behind.  The average TI has a life cycle of 3 years.  Why does that happen and how can we increase our tandem instructor pool? 

Before getting into the nitty gritty of this let me explain how this study came about.  As a seasoned examiner and a person who is obsessed with stats and numbers, I noticed that my graduates (both male and female at the same rate) were no longer doing this thing that they were so eager to learn how to do.  After years of seeing these motivated individuals come and go, I started to identify a trend.  I took this idea to the USPA and got stats from 2019-2023, we confirmed that this was not only happening within my graduates, this was happening on a national level!  The obvious next question was WHY?! 

I created a two part survey to help figure out what was happening. I obtained 400 responses, 150 responses were from former instructors and 250 responses were from within our 4,000 active instructor pool, which is approx 6.25% of our active instructor population.  The survey has approximately a 7% margin of error.

When studying the responses I wanted to focus on two groups, new instructors & experienced instructors.  

For the new instructors it was all about mentorship!!  The sink or swim mentality is alive and well within the tandem industry.  Expectations do not match up with experience.  The probationary period for a new tandem instructor is currently 25 tandem jumps, but the learning curve is somewhere between 100-150 tandem jumps.  There is an obvious mismatch here!

Regarding the experienced instructors it was obvious from the survey that the highest motivation to doing tandems was for the LOVE OF TAKING PEOPLE ON TANDEM JUMPS!!  Ok, so if TI’s love this job then why is the average life cycle of a tandem instructor 3 years?  Why do they quit?  When asked the questions they responded as follows: 

I love doing tandems but…

1. It is too physically demanding
2. The money is inconsistent
3. It lacks growth and opportunity
4. I am bored/mentally burned out
5. Rotation and scheduling are challenging
6. Other (medical, family, distance to dz, other obligations).

When asked what their biggest deciding factor in choosing a place to work the overwhelming response was “work conditions”, including quality of equipment, aircraft and experience level of co-workers.  Within our industry tandem instructors bring a lot to the table.  If we want them to last longer we need to step up!  Be more supportive of our new instructors and be more appreciative of our experienced ones.  

The following is an additional question that was asked to my pool of experienced tandem instructors.  Survey question: “In your opinion, what is the appropriate pay for a tandem instructor in 2023?  

Below are the averages that I collected from the responses:

Tandem instructor pay expectation is $50 per jump (survey responses had a low of $35 and a high of $75)

Handcam pay expectation is $30 (survey responses had a low of $15 and a high of $60 and is dependent on number of clips)

Overweight consensus is considered to be 210+ lbs and the pay expectation is either a flat rate of $26 or $1 per lbs (this questions was answered by only 80% of survey participants)

Annual bonus incentive is $2 per jump or $1200 per year (this questions was answered by only 45% of survey participants)

I am currently running for USPA National Director and part of the motivating factor was due to my time doing this research and presenting at PIA, which was then followed by the USPA Examiner Standardization Meetings.  We need to have new discussions and someone has to bring up different ideas.  That person is ME!  #PatientYetPersistentAngie

A few other items on my agenda have to do with addressing the canopy incident issues at the instructor training level.  Candidates need to have a canopy focused curriculum added to all USPA Instructor Rating Courses.  At the moment it seems like a bit of an afterthought, it needs to be front and center.  How can we do that?  I have some ideas so please stay tuned…

Regarding tandem training, candidates should have formal canopy dive flows during the phase 2 tandem training progression.  Followed by advanced canopy coaching for tandem instructors as they become more experienced doing their tandem jumps, at about the 150-200 tandem jump number.  Perhaps this training can be done along with the handcam training.

In further surveys and discussions I plan to Ask the Instructors for their opinions.  I was recently added as an Advisor to the USPA Safety & Training Committee.  I’m in the right place, talking to the right people, and making legitimate arguments so as National Director I will have the opportunity to make a difference.

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Keep an eye out for further communication from me.  We have a long way to go…

Thank you for your time!!

#Angie4NationalDirector #AVoice4Instructors