Exit order and separation

Two questions get settled before every load: who exits when, and how long each group waits. Freeflyers inherit standard answers to both, and the reasoning behind them is worth owning, because you will one day need to argue the case at the mockup with a load that wants to do it differently.

Why vertical freefly exits after belly

The after-belly rule applies to vertical groups: head-up and head-down jumps falling fast and straight down. Movement jumps play by different rules, covered below.

On a jump run flown into wind, faster-falling groups exit after slower ones. A freefly group falls faster and therefore spends less time in freefall drifting with the wind. Put the fast group out first and the slow group behind them drifts further down jump run during their longer freefall, closing the gap the exit order was supposed to create.

Belly groups first, freefly groups after, preserves the spacing all the way to opening.

The same logic handles the working-time difference. From 13,000 ft a freefly group has roughly 20 seconds less freefall than a belly group. Plan the dive accordingly; a drill sequence written for a belly-jump clock runs out of sky.

Why separation is ground covered

The wait between groups exists to put horizontal distance between opening points. Distance over the ground is what separates columns of falling people, and a fixed count buys different distances on different days. With a strong headwind on jump run, the aircraft covers ground slowly, and a lazy eight-count can put the next group almost on top of the last.

The habit that works is watching the ground: let the aircraft cover the briefed distance, checking straight down past the previous group, then go.

Winds aloft set the number. On a windy day the wait grows, and the loads that grumble about it are trading seconds of impatience against opening in traffic.

The freefly additions

Two habits sit on top of the standard rules for vertical flyers:

• Work 90° to jump run. Any drive or backslide you have not noticed then moves you across the line of flight rather than up or down it, into empty air instead of the previous or following group’s column.
• Declare movement. If your jump involves deliberate horizontal travel, brief the load: direction, distance, and where you plan to open.

Movement jumps are different

Angle and tracking groups do not slot into the belly-then-freefly ladder. They travel, so their exit position is about lane geometry rather than drift.

• Loads commonly carry a limit of two movement groups. A third movement group is rare in modern practice; the sky only has so many clean lanes.
• Movement group 1 exits first on the load. This convention is well established: the group flies its lane away from everyone who exits after it.
• Movement group 2’s slot varies by drop zone. Some put it last. Some place it before students, because a student may deploy higher than 5,500 ft and a late movement group must never converge on airspace above an early deployment. Others place it after tandems. Learn the local convention before you brief.
• The two groups take different directions where local conditions allow, so their lanes never share sky.
• Dynamic groups blur the boundary. A jump that passes through vertical spends part of its time as a movement group and part as a vertical group; brief it with whichever rules cover its widest footprint, and expect the load organiser to treat it conservatively.

A recommended mixed-load ladder

When a load carries the full mix of disciplines, this is the order The Freefly Project recommends. It is a starting point to adapt to the day, not a rule, and it always defers to your load organiser and drop zone.

1. First movement group.
2. Belly groups, largest to smallest.
3. Freefly groups, largest to smallest.
4. Second movement group.
5. Students and accelerated freefall.
6. Tandems.
7. High pulls.
8. Wingsuits.

The one placement that surprises people is putting the second movement group ahead of the students and accelerated-freefall jumps rather than last. The reasoning is canopy traffic, not freefall.

A movement group flies faster, more mobile canopies. Placing it ahead of the student groups keeps those canopies from transiting through student landing patterns: get the quick, roving canopies down and clear before the slower, less predictable ones are in the air.

Once the exit order is set, one more habit follows from it: board in reverse exit order. The group that exits last stands nearest the front of the aircraft and boards first, so the whole load settles into the plane in the sequence it will leave it. Nobody climbs over anybody at the door.

Wind drift comes first

Every group on that load drifts. Before you draw a single movement footprint, you plan the wind. Total displacement is wind drift plus intentional movement, and the drift half is the part that acts on everyone equally, whether they move or not.

Drift depends on how long a group spends in freefall, so it differs by discipline: a belly group drifts furthest because it falls slowest and stays up longest, an angle group less, a fast freefly group least of all. Work the drift out first, picture it on the drop zone board, and only then add the intentional movement on top. A lane drawn without the drift underneath it is a lane drawn in the wrong place.

None of this is ceremony. Exit order and separation are the load’s collective collision avoidance, agreed on the ground because it cannot be negotiated at 250 km/h.

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Advisory, educational content. Exit order and separation are set by your drop zone and load organiser for the day’s conditions. When in doubt, ask before boarding.