The ratings compared

What USHPA P2, BHPA Club Pilot and APPI 3 Pilot each demand and allow — flights, tests, exams, sign-offs and limits — how they map onto the IPPI stages, and what comes next.

In this lesson you will

Near the end of training your instructor starts to talk about “your rating”. It is a real milestone: the point where you may fly without an instructor at your side. It is also easy to misread, because the three systems use similar-sounding names for quite different steps.

What paragliding training looks like put the three ladders side by side. This lesson looks closely at the first rating in each system: what it takes, what it allows and what comes next.

Three first ratings

USHPA’s P2 (Novice), the BHPA’s Club Pilot and APPI’s APPI 3 Pilot each let you fly without an instructor at your side, but they sit at different points of the SafePro ladder: stage 2, stage 4 and stage 3¹²³. None of them is a state licence. In the US and the UK the law asks for no pilot licence, but sites, clubs and insurers rely on ratings; APPI’s carries legal weight only where a country recognises it⁴⁵⁶.

What you must show

Standards differ Experience before the rating

Common ground: These are minimums. Ratings are issued for witnessed tasks, and your instructor must be satisfied that every part has been covered⁷⁸.

USHPA (USA): P1 skills first, then at least 8 h of ground school, 35 logged flights with a proper landing approach and 7 flying days. You plan every witnessed flight and discuss it with your instructor⁹¹⁰.
BHPA (UK): Ten training phases, with at least 12 successful flights in the flight-exercise phase, then 4 pre-soaring and 5 soaring flights: 21 or more after your first hops. No minimum number of days is published⁸¹¹.
APPI (international): APPI 2 or an IPPI 2 rating first, then at least 15 course days in total and 30 high flights under supervision, signed in your logbook, plus a Thermalling or Dynamic soaring certification¹².
FAI/CIVL SafePro (international reference): Stage 2: at least 4 practice days and 10 flights. Stage 3: at least 3 successful flights with that stage’s exercises. Stage 4: at least 25 flights from 3 sites and 15 h of flying, thermal soaring included¹³.

Summarised from each body’s published material, which changes over time. Check the current official documents and follow your school.

Standards differ The practical tests

Common ground: Landing standards differ: compare them below¹⁴.

USHPA (USA): Witnessed tasks include 5 forward and 5 reverse inflations in a row, 2 min of kiting, S-turns and 180° turns, tip folds, speed bar, a reserve parachute throw while hanging in a harness, a PLF (parachute landing fall) and 5 landings within 7.6 m25 ft of a target, or the SOP’s optional landing task¹⁵¹⁶¹⁷. You also need a launch special skill, such as Foot Launch¹⁸.
BHPA (UK): Phases 7 to 9 add soaring and flying with others, more ground handling and launch types, active flying, rapid descent and collapses. A Senior Instructor then assesses your attitude and airmanship⁸. The landing standard is in the school’s training record, which is not public; the post-CP Foundation syllabus asks for controlled landings in a defined area in wind under 8 km/h5 mph¹⁴.
APPI (international): According to the APPI logbook, two exam flights, plus a spare if needed: a correct weather analysis, a pre-flight check with no mistake or hesitation, a 5-phase take-off, an S, 8 or U approach and a landing on your feet less than 40 m130 ft from the target¹⁹.
FAI/CIVL SafePro (international reference): Stage 3 asks for a precision landing inside an area set by the instructor, flown both as a figure of eight and as an aircraft pattern²⁰.

Summarised from each body’s published material, which changes over time. Check the current official documents and follow your school.

Standards differ Theory exams

Common ground: Every system ends with a theory exam¹⁷²¹¹⁹.

USHPA (USA): The USHPA Novice written exam; you must also explain the right-of-way rules¹⁷.
BHPA (UK): The Elementary Pilot exam, then the Club Pilot exam with a 70% pass mark and an environment exam, also 70%. Get the collision-avoidance questions wrong and you fail the whole exam²¹.
APPI (international): A theory exam passed with at least 80% correct answers, according to the APPI logbook¹⁹.
FAI/CIVL SafePro (international reference): An air-law test before Stage 3 is complete²⁰.

Summarised from each body’s published material, which changes over time. Check the current official documents and follow your school.

Standards differ Who signs you off

Common ground: Your logbook is the evidence, so keep it up to date and get your flights signed²².

USHPA (USA): A USHPA Basic or Advanced Instructor issues P1 and P2, which can be issued together. Ratings do not expire until a higher one replaces them⁷.
BHPA (UK): A Senior Instructor makes the final assessment, and the Chief Flying Instructor must be satisfied that every part of the programme, theory included, has been covered and tested⁸.
APPI (international): An APPI professional holding at least the instructor rating issues APPI 3; your high flights are signed in your logbook¹².

Summarised from each body’s published material, which changes over time. Check the current official documents and follow your school.

Getting ready for your rating

Keep your logbook up to date, with each flight signed where your system asks for it.
Why The logbook is the evidence your instructor works from²²¹².
Ask which tasks you still need, and plan each witnessed flight with your instructor.
Cue You can name the tasks that remain, and the plan for each.
Why Ratings are issued for witnessed tasks⁷⁹.
Study for the theory exam, starting with collision avoidance and air law.
Why In the BHPA’s Club Pilot exam, wrong collision-avoidance answers fail the whole exam²¹.
Learn your rating’s limits before you fly without an instructor.
Why Every first rating comes with limits, written or set by the site²³²⁴²⁵.

What the rating lets you do

Each first rating lets you fly without an instructor at your side, but keeps limits. SafePro still calls you a student until Stage 4 is complete, though from Stage 3 you may fly on your own under an instructor’s supervision²⁶.

Standards differ What your first rating allows, and its limits

Common ground: You may fly without an instructor at your side, within limits. The first hours after the rating, and every step up, are recognised risks²⁷²⁸.

USHPA (USA): Fly without direct instructor supervision within significant limits, for example with experienced local pilots at easier sites. Most sites want P3 for independent flying, and each club sets its site’s minimum⁹²⁹. Recommended P2 limits include a base wind of 19 km/h12 mph, gusts to 24 km/h15 mph, no thermals with peak climbs over 1 m/s200 ft/min, at most 2/3 brake and 30° of bank²³³⁰.
BHPA (UK): Leave the school and fly within BHPA clubs without formal instruction, but not beyond your launch site’s immediate locality. Cross-country needs the Pilot rating, and BHPA insurance does not cover a Club Pilot flying it³¹²⁴. New Club Pilots fly with a red streamer for about their first 10 h²⁸.
APPI (international): Fly fully independently at your learning site; elsewhere, choose sites where an APPI school can help. Carry a certified reserve on high flights, report accidents and hold third-party insurance where available²⁵.

Summarised from each body’s published material, which changes over time. Check the current official documents and follow your school.

Your IPPI stage abroad

Abroad, site managers and schools compare ratings by their IPPI stage, shown on the IPPI card. The card is valid only alongside your national rating card, and it is not insurance³².

Standards differ Your IPPI stage

Common ground: Countries set their own rules for visitors. Germany needs IPPI stage 4 to fly unsupervised and stage 5 for cross-country; Switzerland lets non-residents make occasional flights with level IV or V³³.

USHPA (USA): P2 converts to SafePro 2, printed on your membership card¹. In Germany you would fly only under a German instructor’s supervision³³.
BHPA (UK): Club Pilot shows as SafePro stage 4 on the BHPA’s current IPPI table: unsupervised flying in Germany, but not cross-country²³³.
APPI (international): APPI 3 Pilot is IPPI 3. The stamp appears on your APPI licence where APPI issues IPPI stages in that country³. In Germany, IPPI 3 means flying only under a German instructor’s supervision³³.

Summarised from each body’s published material, which changes over time. Check the current official documents and follow your school.

What comes next

Your first rating starts the next stage of learning.

Standards differ After the first rating

Common ground: Keep logging every flight, fly with experienced pilots, and step up gradually²²²⁷.

USHPA (USA): Special skills such as Turbulence, Ridge Soaring, Restricted Landing Field and Cross Country are signed off separately. P3 needs at least 30 flying days, 90 flights and 20 h of solo airtime, plus knowledge of the FAA rules, ridge rules and thermal right of way³⁴¹.
BHPA (UK): The optional Pilot Foundation syllabus covers about your first 10 h after the rating, with flights from 5 sites, top landings and at least 20 flights. It counts towards the Pilot rating, which you need for cross-country³⁵²⁴.
APPI (international): Earn both certifications, Thermalling and Dynamic soaring. APPI 4 Progress then needs at least 50 flights and 30 h on 3 different sites³⁶.

Summarised from each body’s published material, which changes over time. Check the current official documents and follow your school.

Common mistake Comparing ratings by name

Symptom: You assume that a P2, an APPI 3 Pilot and a Club Pilot have done the same training.
Cause: The names sound alike, and each is “the first rating”.
Fix: Compare the IPPI stage and the tasks behind it¹²³.

Common mistake Treating the rating as a passport

Symptom: Straight after your rating you plan to fly a new site, or a new country, on your own.
Cause: Forgetting that sites set minimum ratings and countries set their own rules.
Fix: Check the site’s minimum rating and the local law, and get a site briefing first³⁷³³³⁸.

Instructor's note Why the first rating sits at different stages

The systems cut the same ladder in different places. USHPA issues P2 at stage 2 and then leans on operating limits and site rules; the BHPA teaches soaring and flying with others before Club Pilot; APPI 3 needs a soaring or thermalling certification²³⁸¹². None of them makes you an expert. A newly rated pilot in any system is still a beginner, and SafePro warns about the “Icarus syndrome” of believing you now master everything²⁷.

Questions students ask

Is my rating a licence?

Not in the US or the UK, where the law asks for none and ratings are what sites, clubs and insurers use⁴⁵. APPI’s rating carries legal weight only where a country recognises it⁶.

Do ratings expire?

USHPA ratings do not expire until a higher one replaces them⁷. Skills do fade, though, and USHPA advises pilots who have been inactive for a long time to see an instructor for a proficiency check²².

Can I move from one system to another?

Often, yes. APPI 3 Pilot, for example, accepts an IPPI 2-equivalent rating as its starting point, so a P2 pilot can train towards it¹²¹. Ask the school what it will recognise.

Key points

P2, Club Pilot and APPI 3 Pilot each let you fly without an instructor at your side, at different SafePro stages: 2, 4 and 3.
The minimums are floors: 35 flights and 7 days for P2, 21 successful flights for Club Pilot, 15 days and 30 high flights for APPI 3.
Theory exams: 70% for the Club Pilot exams, with collision-avoidance answers that must be right; 80% for APPI 3 (APPI logbook).
Every first rating has limits: P2 operating limits and site rules, no cross-country for Club Pilots, APPI 3 independent only at the learning site.
Abroad, your IPPI stage and the national rules decide what you may do.
Next come P3 and special skills, the BHPA Pilot rating, or APPI 4 Progress.

Ground to Solo is a study aid. Paragliding is learned in person with a qualified instructor at a recognised school; nothing here certifies you to fly.