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Angles · Relative · The brief

Angles 201

Fly angles in a belly slot

Holding a slot on someone else’s line.

What the course is about

You'll learn to fly a belly slot on an angle behind a trained leader: get on level, hold your slot, take a dock, and break off cleanly. This follows Angles 101, because you fly its slot, heading and fan here on a steeper angle.
The back-fly slot is Angles 203; fly this belly slot first if you can, because on your back you can't see where the group is going. In Australia, angle jumps at Certificate B are training jumps approved by the chief instructor, signed off for each body orientation.

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 to the assigned quadrant first, get on level, a straight line through the group's heads, and only then close the distance; never approach from below and behind through the burble.

Can you approach the formation on belly from high and in front of the group, staying out of the burble and the cork zone?

3.4
Hold the assigned slot at docking distance on level and on the group's heading within ±45°, for the majority of the working time.

Can you stay in your briefed slot for the majority of the jump whilst on level?

3.6
Take the briefed dock without changing the leader's speed or pitch, and transition over the top of the body to the opposite slot, never dropping a shoulder underneath.

Can you take a dock during an angle jump without disturbing the leader, then transition up and over the leader to pick up a slot on the other side?

3.9 Safety critical
Execute in-slot recovery immediately on any instability: keep speed on the group's direction and angle, never ball up, never track away; re-approach only when stable, and if separation persists, follow the group at a distance until breakoff.

If you get unstable, do you keep your speed on the group’s direction and recover in your slot, re-approaching only once you are stable?

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
Execute in-slot recovery immediately on any instability: keep speed on the group's direction and angle, never ball up, never track away; re-approach only when stable, and if separation persists, follow the group at a distance until breakoff.

If you get unstable, do you keep your speed on the group’s direction and recover in your slot, re-approaching only once you are stable?

Everything this course says about breakoff and deployment

1.4
State the breakoff and deployment altitudes and the lost-flyer plan: breakoff guide 5,000 ft for groups up to 4-way, 5,500 ft for 5 and larger (most modern jumpers plan 5,500 ft for movement jumps of any size), separating at least 1,000 ft above planned deployment. Movement-jump separation is designed on the ground, not improvised in the air.
2.1
Complete a movement-jump gear check on self and cross-check the group: hand-deploy BOC or pull-out, bridle fully covered, tight riser covers and closing loop, secure handles and clothing, helmet, audible set and functioning. Audibles fail silently, and an angle breakoff depends on hearing yours.
2.2
Walk the dive with the group, including the breakoff fan with eye contact between neighbouring flyers, the first time you see the flyer on your breakoff line should not be in freefall.
3.8
If left behind, keep flying the group's heading and closing correctly; stop closing by ~7,000–7,500 ft, hold the distance, and break off on the group's timing, not its altitude, because the classic pull-time collision is a trailing flyer still closing while the group slows to deploy.
4.1
Initiate breakoff at the briefed altitude (−0/+300 ft as a working guide).
4.3
Accelerate flat to build separation, then flatten and decelerate progressively before deployment, angle speeds sit outside the deployment envelope, and a gradual flatten converts vertical speed into horizontal separation; snapping flat kills both.
4.4
Visually clear airspace in all directions before deploying at the planned altitude, by looking under the arms and between the legs, or a clean transition to the back (a barrel roll only if smooth and reliable), never treating the deployment itself as clearing airspace: pulling dumps fabric into the airspace, it does not clear it.
4.5
After opening, hold position and heading until the other groups' canopies are seen open before flying toward the jump run, and keep heading discipline in the first seconds under canopy, post-breakoff wraps come from two flyers turning toward each other immediately after opening.

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).
Groups of 2–3, including the assessor or leader, who flies belly to earth in the lead slot on every jump.
Conditions within the flyer's cleared limits, with the upper winds and any other movement groups on the load briefed.
Footage of every assessment jump from any workable source: leader-flown, outside camera or helmet-mounted, with the flyer identifiable. The flyer talks the assessor through their heading, level, slot and altitude decisions.
Equipment: a visual altimeter, a working audible (a second is recommended), an AAD (recommended), and gear suited to movement jumps: hand-deploy pilot chute pouch or pull-out, bridle fully covered, tight riser covers and secure handles. A GPS log is optional and useful feedback.
Assessed on belly-slot jumps only. The back-fly slot is assessed separately in Angles 203, and a result in one does not count toward the other.
The assessor is a freefly coach or a trained, approved angle leader, current in angle coaching.
Each criterion is marked Satisfactory or Not Yet Satisfactory.
As a guide, it takes about 4 coached angle jumps, across at least two days or conditions within six months.
Tunnel belly carving can stand in for up to two practice jumps, but the final two are sky jumps.
If you already fly belly slots on angles, your coach can assess you on one jump, backed by your logbook and leader endorsements, British Skydiving TR1 and TR2, a drop zone angles endorsement or footage.

Performance evidence

After each jump, talk your coach through your heading, level, slot and altitude decisions on the footage, and log one fault and its fix. With a GPS, compare the trace with the plan. You've finished Angles 201 when you fly two jumps in a row in the belly slot 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. Never trade heading, left-behind or breakoff discipline for slot quality or for getting more jumps done.
Plan sessions to be enjoyable. Flat and fast jumps are fun at every level ("when in doubt, flat and fast"), and a plan-B jump is still a good skydive. Flyers choose this expensive hobby, and enjoying it keeps them in the sport.
Enjoyable coached jumps also keep flyers in led groups, and unled beginner groups are where the recorded incidents happen.
Set one objective per jump, and end each debrief on something that went well, with one thing to improve.

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

Your notes for this course

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This card is a summary. The full Angles 201 course page carries the reasoning, the sources and everything left off here. All briefing cards.