What a movement-jump leader owns

A movement jump crosses kilometres of sky that every other group on the load is using. That is why angle jumps are flown behind a trained leader. One person plans the jump, and everyone else flies inside that plan.

Every movement group flies behind a leader approved by the drop zone safety officer, and the leader flies belly to earth. On their belly the leader can see the ground, the group and the other groups for the whole jump, read the traffic and adjust. Learners fly angles only behind a trained, approved leader for the same reason.

Some drop zones, Hunter Valley for example, set both as a rule.

What a leader can do

A movement leader can:

• Plan the flight path from the day’s winds and weather.
• Draw the path on the map, and hold it in the air.
• Read the pitch and adjust it to suit the group.
• Decide the group size from the skill of the people on it.
• Plan the breakoff, explain it to the group, and say why it matters.
• Understand weather, freefall drift and navigation.
• Know the outs: safe landing areas away from the drop zone.

The flight path

The plan starts on the ground with the day’s picture: jump run, upper winds, freefall drift, where every other group will be, and where your group needs to end up to open safely.

From that, draw the path. Keep its lanes clear of the other groups’ columns, and set a steepness and tempo the group can fly. Key the turns to landmarks, and choose the opening point before you board.

Talk the navigation plan through with the load master before the jump: the flight path, its direction, and the exit point and order.

Plan no more than two movement groups on one load, unless the drop zone safety officer approves more (a skills camp is the usual case). Two groups can fly opposite or diverging directions, and a third has no clean airspace left.

In Australia, the leader shows the drop zone safety officer a clear flight-path plan before the jump. It is a useful check wherever you jump. Explaining the plan to someone else shows up any part you have not thought through.

Keep movement jumps out of cloud and away from it. You navigate off the ground for the whole jump, and in or near cloud you lose sight of it. Have a plan B ready for the days when cloud rules the movement jump out.

The briefing

The briefing hands the plan to the group: the slots and lanes, the steepness and speed to expect, where the transitions happen, and the breakoff. It also covers what to do if you fall off the jump, so a flyer who loses the group knows where to go next.

A group briefed like that can cover for a mistake. A group told “follow me, we’ll do something fun” has nothing to fall back on.

In the air

Run a continuous check: heading, group, self. Is the path where the plan put it? Who is in their slot, and who is struggling? What does the group need next?

Most of the work is tempo. Watch how the group is keeping up. If it falls behind, slow the angle, because a leader the group cannot hold is out in front on their own.

The breakoff

Design the breakoff on the ground, and fly it as briefed. The usual shape is the peel-off fan: the leader carries on straight while the flyers peel away in the briefed order onto diverging lines.

Keep moving through the breakoff. A leader who turns in place sweeps their body through the group’s airspace.

In larger groups, have the flyers head-first well before the track. Separation comes from an efficient track with altitude in hand.

Before you lead

Fly slots behind several leaders and in several group sizes before you lead. You learn how a plan is built by flying inside other people’s. By the time you run the plan, brief, fly and debrief cycle yourself, you have seen it done many times.

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Advisory, educational content. Leader approval is a formal process in most places. In Australia it sits with the drop zone safety officer under the APF Operational Regulations. Follow your federation and your drop zone.