An altimeter is the instrument almost every jumper wears and almost nobody is required to. The rule covers students and the instructors working with them. For a licensed jumper it is practice, not a requirement, and the difference is worth knowing before someone tells you otherwise.
What the Basic Safety Requirements actually say
The USPA Basic Safety Requirements put the obligation in two places, both in section M of USPA SIM 2-1:
- M.2.c requires a student to have "a visually accessible altimeter (except tandem students)" until they hold a USPA A license.
- M.4 requires that "all instructional rating holders must have a visibly accessible altimeter when conducting student jumps."
Beyond those two, the BSRs set no altimeter requirement for a licensed jumper. Nearly every licensed jumper wears one, and many wear a second audible unit, but that is convention rather than a rule. Read 2026-09-24.
Visual and audible are different instruments
A visual altimeter shows altitude continuously and asks you to look at it. An audible altimeter sounds at altitudes you set yourself, and asks nothing. They fail differently, which is why jumpers who carry both treat neither as the primary.
Audible alarm altitudes are configured by the owner, not fixed by the device. There is no standard set of altitudes to quote here, so set them against the dive you are doing and the deployment altitude you have briefed.
Analog and digital
Analog altimeters use a dial and a pointer. They cost less, they need no power, and they take a moment longer to read precisely.
Digital altimeters use a display, and many add descent rate, freefall time and a jump log. They cost more and they depend on a battery.
Neither is more accurate in a way that matters at deployment altitude. The choice is about how you read an instrument under load, not about precision.
Before the jump
Check that the altimeter reads zero on the ground at the place you are jumping, because it reads air pressure rather than height above the landing area. Confirm your audible is on, and that its altitudes are the ones you briefed. If you are wearing someone else's audible, find out what it is set to before you put the helmet on.
Follow your equipment manufacturer's manual for maintenance intervals. We do not publish a calibration schedule here, because it varies by manufacturer and a generic figure would be wrong for most units.
Nothing here is instruction, certification or a substitute for your rigger, your instructor or your equipment manufacturer's manual.