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Angles · Stability · The brief

Angles 101

Track and navigate

Tracking with a group, and knowing where you are while you do it.

What the course is about

You'll learn to track behind a trained leader: hold a slot on level and on heading, know where you are over the ground, and break off in a fan. This follows Freefly 100: every movement jump uses its gear check, exit order, breakoff and audibles.
In Australia, tracking and angle jumps need at least a Certificate B and a tracking and navigation course approved by the chief instructor.

What comes before it

Screen 2 · What to watch

What to watch

The same short list the flyer sees on their card, in the same words.

3.2
Fly on level with the leader, a straight line through the heads, taking the level first, then closing distance.

Can you stay on level with a beginner group, and roughly keep up with it?

3.7
Identify the jump run direction and at least one briefed ground reference during the working track, and report own position picture in the debrief.

Can you notice jump run and a couple of ground references during an angle jump, and say afterwards where you actually were?

3.6
On back-track jumps, hold the slot below and slightly behind the belly-flying leader, using the leader as the directional reference.

On back-track jumps, can you hold your slot below and slightly behind the belly-flying leader, using them as your reference? Answer not yet if you have not flown a back track.

3.9 Safety critical
Recover from any instability by re-adding speed on the group's heading, never ball up, never track away; stay with the group until breakoff (a flyer who leaves the group becomes untracked traffic for the whole load).

If you get unstable, can you stay on level with the group and continue closing in an angle, rather than corking to belly and losing the group?

Screen 3 · What blocks a sign-off

What blocks a sign-off

A safety-critical item marked not yet stops the sign-off, however good the rest of the flying was. The rest of the jump cannot make up for it.

Safety-critical items on the short list

3.9
Recover from any instability by re-adding speed on the group's heading, never ball up, never track away; stay with the group until breakoff (a flyer who leaves the group becomes untracked traffic for the whole load).

If you get unstable, can you stay on level with the group and continue closing in an angle, rather than corking to belly and losing the group?

Everything this course says about breakoff and deployment

1.4
State the breakoff and deployment altitudes (guide: 5,000 ft for groups up to a 4-way; 5,500 ft for 5 or more; most groups now brief 5,500 ft regardless of size), the fan needs time to settle, separate and decelerate before anyone deploys.
2.1
Complete a movement-specific gear check on self and partner: hand-deploy BOC or pull-out, bridle fully covered, tight riser covers, closing loop, handles, helmet, visual altimeter, audible set and functioning.
2.2
Brief and dirt-dive with the leader: exit and slot, levels and burble offsets, heading discipline, the left-behind plan, and the breakoff fan, walking the breakoff with eye contact on the people beside you.
4.2
Accelerate on the diverging line, then flatten progressively, converting speed into separation before deployment.
4.3
Check airspace in all directions before deploying, assume somebody is there; from a back track, roll belly-to-earth only when on a clear trajectory with no one above.
4.4
Deploy at the planned altitude within the planned opening area.

Recording a sign-off says what you saw on one jump. Permission to jump, and anything the drop zone requires, stay with the drop zone.

Screen 4 · Conditions

Conditions

Where the evidence is allowed to come from, and how much of it there needs to be.

Assessment conditions

- Sky jumps from 10,000 ft or higher (recommended), manifested and declared as movement jumps. The tunnel can't be used for assessment: there is no jump run, wind layer or navigation in it.
Every assessment jump is led belly to earth by the assessing coach or a trained and approved leader.
Conditions within the flyer's cleared limits, with the upper winds known before boarding.
Video can be light at this tier. Helmet-mounted footage showing the flyer's heading and stability is enough, with the flyer talking the coach through their decisions on it: heading awareness, turns and altitude checks.
Leader-flown or outside video is used where available, and tunnel footage supports the body-position picture.
A GPS trace supports the plan-versus-flown debrief where the flyer has one. It is optional. As a reference, flat tracks run at about 130–180 km/h (a good flat track below about 140 km/h), and steepening angles run to 300+ km/h.
Equipment: a visual altimeter, a working audible set to the briefed altitudes (a second audible recommended), an AAD (recommended), and movement-suitable gear to the Freefly 100 standard.
The assessor is a coach current in movement-jump coaching, using this checklist. Each criterion is marked Satisfactory or Not Yet Satisfactory.
As a guide, it takes at least 6 coached movement jumps, belly first and at least 2 back-track, over at least two days with different upper winds within six months.
All of them are sky jumps: the tunnel has no jump run, wind or navigation.
If you already fly movement jumps, your coach can assess you on one led 2-way, backed by video and a logbook of 15 or more coached or led movement jumps, British Skydiving TR1 and TR2, or a tracking endorsement.

Performance evidence

After each jump, talk the leader through the video, draw your path on the drop zone map beside the plan, and log one fault and its fix. You've finished Angles 101 when you fly two jumps in a row that meet everything on the coach's checklist below.

Screen 5 · Debrief

Debrief

Safety first, then fun, then learning. In that order, every time.

Coaching priorities

- Safety first, then fun, then learning. Hold the bold criteria to the standard above.
Plan sessions to be enjoyable: flyers choose this expensive hobby, and enjoying it keeps them in the sport.
On movement jumps, enjoyment also does safety work. Coaching is a choice, and unled beginner groups are where the documented incidents happen.
Set one objective per jump to keep the load on the flyer light.
Brief breakoff orientation ahead of larger jumps later in the progression: head-up flying gains almost no separation at breakoff, so in groups of 6 or more be head-first by about 6,500–7,000 ft.
Run the debrief with the safety points first, then what worked (a held slot, or a map that matches the plan), then one thing to improve. End on something that went well.

One fault, one correction

Ask for their read before you give yours. Then leave them with one fault and one correction, in their words if you can get them. One of each is easier to carry onto the next load than six points.

A jump marked not yet is a jump to fly again. Tell them that as part of the debrief.

Record this jump

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This card is a summary. The full Angles 101 course page carries the reasoning, the sources and everything left off here. All briefing cards.