Rating Corner: Introducing the 2025 Skydiver’s Information Manual
The 2025 USPA Skydiver’s Information Manual (SIM) received a comprehensive update designed to enhance the learning and teaching experiences of skydivers and instructors. While the fundamental concepts remain mostly unchanged, the manual’s reorganization and rewritten sections improve clarity, terminology and readability across all topics.
The updated SIM provides a streamlined structure that addresses feedback from skydivers who found the previous format hard to read and use. The 2025 version has taken the previous outline format and rewritten it in a narrative, paragraph form. The manual now flows easily from one idea to the next, presenting technical information with continuity. The Integrated Student Program section now incorporates practical learning elements including scenarios, decision-making exercises and quizzes.
Here is where you can find information from the previous SIM in the new version:
Although the SIM received continual updates since its introduction, this is the first time it has been revised in its entirety. In April 2024, a task force formed at the direction of the president of the USPA Board of Directors began collaboration on the document, meeting weekly (and sometimes daily) online. The task force consulted multiple subject-matter experts in various disciplines to ensure that the manual includes the most up-to-date recommendations for the industry. After an extensive review process, headquarters staff began its own edit and review, added graphics and laid out the full document.
Among the improvements that readers may notice is that the task force transitioned most of the material into paragraph form for greater readability. The main ideas are bolded to draw attention to structure, which reduces cognitive load as the reader can understand the point faster, and also supports scanning for desired content. The outline lists that remain are limited to two levels for simplicity, when possible.
The audience for the SIM is broad, so each chapter addresses a certain type of reader. For example, the BSRs remain undisturbed, but the ISP focuses on addressing only students using a textbook format and second-person, point-of-view framing. The entire manual, including the student section, uses “callout boxes” to present terminology and other information related to the content without disturbing the flow. The updated material, which includes new guidelines, may affect your instructional approach and the training aids you use. Familiarize yourself with these changes before the 2025 season starts to ensure you are prepared to deliver the best experience to your students.
Most of the SIM content has been retained; the reworking focused mostly on style, clarity and correcting outdated information or inconsistencies. Some content was reorganized within chapters for better flow. This is where the content differs most significantly:
Ron Bell D-26863
USPA Director of Safety and Training