A logbook is evidence. Every license and rating threshold is proved from it, and an entry that is missing a field or a signature is not evidence of anything. The requirements are specific enough to be worth reading once rather than discovering at application time.
What each entry must contain
USPA SIM 3-1, under "Logging jumps for licenses and ratings", requires that evidence "must be legibly recorded in chronological order in an appropriate log", and names the fields:
- jump number
- date
- location
- exit altitude
- freefall length, as time
- type of jump
- landing distance from the target
- equipment used
- a verifying signature, "to include a legible USPA membership number, skydiving license number, or pilot certificate number"
Read from USPA SIM 3-1 on 2026-09-24.
Who has to sign
The signature requirement differs by what the jump is being offered as evidence of.
For a number-of-jumps requirement, the witness may be another licensed skydiver, a pilot, or a USPA Instructor, Examiner, S&TA or board member.
For a skill requirement, a USPA Coach, Instructor, Examiner, S&TA or board member must sign the logbook entry. A licensed skydiver who watched it is not sufficient.
Different officials verify different license levels, so check the level you are applying for rather than assuming the signature you already have carries forward.
Digital logbooks
A digital log is acceptable and carries the same signature burden: verification from a licensed skydiver, the pilot, or a USPA National or FAI Judge who witnessed the skydive. Some dropzones run a management system that records loads, which is not the same thing as a signed entry.
The practical consequence
Get the signature on the day. A witness who has left the dropzone cannot verify a jump they can no longer place, and a jump you cannot prove does not count toward the license it was meant to count toward. Keeping a running list of what the next license still needs, at the back of the book, is the cheapest way to notice a gap while it is still fixable.
The fields and signature rules above are quoted from USPA SIM 3-1 on the date given. Check the current edition before you apply.