Finding vertical: how head-down starts

Head-down is the fast end of freefly, with working speeds from around 270 km/h to well past 400. That speed decides how it is taught, and when. Start it after your head-up is under control, so you arrive at vertical with a recovery you trust and a wide back-fly range.

The shuttlecock

A stable head-down works like a shuttlecock. Your head and shoulders lead, and your legs sit high behind you in the wind, giving the drag. With that shape the position holds itself pointed at the ground.

The first jumps are spent finding that axis. Exit presenting your head and shoulders to the relative wind, pick a horizon reference and hold it, and keep your inputs wide and slow while your body learns where vertical is.

The straddle, legs spread wide, is the usual first position. The daffy, one leg forward and one back, comes close behind. It is the one to fly on jumps on your own, because its front leg stops a forward drive building. Both give you big, forgiving surfaces to steer with. Leave the refinements for later. The early work is holding the axis and knowing your heading.

Head-Down 101 sets out the positions and the drills.

Learn the recovery first

Before any head-down flying with other people, practise recovering to back-fly from head-down. When you drop out of head-down at speed you slow hard toward belly speed. That is corking, and anyone still above you can hit you.

Drill the recovery: leave head-down, recover to back-fly, get back to head-down, and repeat until it is automatic. If you have never practised the recovery, the first time you become unstable may be next to someone else.

Transitions from back-fly to head-down and back again build the same recovery from both directions. If you become unstable in head-down, recover to a back-fly position. More on corking.

What comes later

Leave carving, and any turning flight with drive in it, until you can hold a static head-down comfortably. A carve adds horizontal speed to the vertical speed, so losing it sends you further and faster.

Group flying builds up the same way. Fly 2-ways with a coach first. That is where you learn to get on level, move to your slot and then dock, before you fly head-down in bigger groups.

The tunnel speeds all of this up where you can get to one. Exits, altitude awareness, breakoff and deployment are sky skills, so the sky assessments are flown in the sky.

---

Advisory, educational content. Head-down training runs under coach supervision, and jurisdictional requirements apply. In Australia, head-down training jumps have specific prerequisites and briefing requirements. Comply with your federation and drop zone.