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AN101 Flyer
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Angles · Stability · The jump

Angles 101

Track and navigate

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

What this unit covers

Covers the tracking and navigation fundamentals every movement jump depends on, learned in small coached jumps behind a trained leader flying belly-to-earth, the setting where the published sources and contemporary practice agree they are best learned.
Content: flat belly tracking (progressive acceleration, heading, speed and pitch control), on-level slot discipline at docking distance, back tracking in slot behind a belly-flying leader, active navigation while following (jump run, winds, drift, ground references, the flight plan), heading discipline, in-slot recovery, the left-behind protocol, and the movement-jump breakoff fan.
The rest of it
"Tracking" and "angle flying" are one discipline: movement jumps. They differ only in steepness and speed.
This unit works the flat, learning end of that spectrum, because flat-and-fast is both the safest and the most instructive place to build the skills (Leading Workshop: "for safety reasons and for performance reasons, if you want to learn, go on the flat angles").
Delivery context: 2-way jumps with a movement-trained coach, or slots in small groups (guide: 3-way maximum including the leader) led by a leader trained and approved for movement jumps. The leader of any angle or movement group flies belly-to-earth, angles are never led from the back. The leader navigates off ground references that only a belly-to-earth flyer can reliably see.
Back-flying in an angle group is a follower skill flown in slot, not a leading position (APF006 §5.12 "The lead flyer must always fly belly to earth"; Leading Workshop –). The FFP does not recommend solo movement jumps.
Movement skill is uniquely hard to self-assess ("you don't know what you don't know", Leading Workshop), and a structured, led jump is safer and faster to learn from than an unstructured one (Leading Workshop). Environment: sky.
The tunnel cannot evidence this unit: there is no jump run, no wind layer and no navigation in a tunnel. Tunnel belly/back time is still valuable body-position preparation, and tunnel footage is welcome evidence for the coach. Supervision: coach-led.
The coach leads the first jumps directly; as the criteria become consistent, the coach steps back to fly as a reference in the group.

What comes before it

Screen 2 · What you are watched on

What you are watched on

The same short list a coach ticks, in the same words. Nothing is hidden from you.

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

Do you take the level first, a straight line through the group’s heads, and only then close the distance?

3.3
Close to the briefed slot at docking distance without overshoot: aim ahead of the group (never at it), cut the distance in half and re-set, and only fly as fast as you can think.

Do you close by aiming ahead of the group rather than at it, halving the distance and re-setting, flying no faster than you can think?

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, do you add speed again on the group’s heading rather than balling up or tracking away?

Screen 3 · Safety and altitudes

Safety and altitudes

Everything here is a recommendation with a reason behind it, not a rule. The drop zone you are jumping at, and your own limits on the day, decide what actually happens.

Safety-critical criteria 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, do you add speed again on the group’s heading rather than balling up or tracking away?

Everything this unit 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.

Altitudes here are the guides this curriculum recommends and argues for. Where the drop zone briefs something different, the drop zone is what you fly.

Screen 4 · After the jump

After the jump

From this unit's own closing element, review.

5.1
Debrief with the leader against the declared objective, talking through own decision-making over the jump video: how aware were you of heading, turns and altitude, and why did you fly what you flew.
5.2
Draw the flown path on the DZ map and compare it with the plan (and with the GPS trace, where one was worn).
5.3
Identify one fault and its correction for the next jump.
5.4
Log the jump with criteria results.

One fault, one correction

Before the video, before anyone else speaks: name the single thing that went wrong, and the single thing you will do differently next jump. One of each. A list of six is a list you will not fly.

Write them into your notes at the bottom of this card, and they will be here next time you open it.

Record this jump

Most records are the flyer's own, and that is the point: your own read of your own flying is worth keeping. A record only counts as verified once a coach signs it.

Your notes for this unit

Saved on this device only. Nothing is sent anywhere, there is nowhere for it to go, and no account is involved. They will be here next time you open this card.

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