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AN402 Coach
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Angles · Mastery · The brief

Angles 402

Fly mixed-orientation angles

Angles with orientations mixed through the group.

What this unit covers

The flying half of the Angles 400 mastery tier: tight, fast angle jumps flown across mixed orientations, slight belly, back, head-up and head-down, with transitions from back to belly and belly to back, never through vertical.
The through-vertical case is Dynamic doctrine (FFP-DY201 onward), not angles: staying off vertical is the boundary that keeps the jump an angle (the project's coaching doctrine). The organiser's half of the tier, multi-group movement days and big-way angles, is FFP-AN401.
The rest of it
One course, one job: this card is the mixed-orientation slot and the transitions that hold it. Every jump in this unit is a led group: the active leader flies belly-to-earth, always, and flyers join only with a trained or approved leader (APF006 §5.12; the project's coaching doctrine belly-led doctrine).
Groups stay small: the leader sizes them to the least experienced flyer, smaller than an equivalent single-orientation angle group, because every orientation change is a fall-rate change waiting to happen.
Head-up angle content runs at 4 or fewer with more experienced participants (the project's coaching doctrine). Environment: sky for the movement content. The tunnel evidences orientation control and transition mechanics only; navigation, breakoff and group flow are sky-only. **Mastery tier: there is no sign-off.
Completion is a milestone recognising mixed-orientation angle capability, not a permission to lead, organise or approve any jump.**

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.

3.1 Safety critical
Hold slot through orientation changes: change orientation without changing level or closing speed, bridging the fall-rate difference with speed range on belly and back rather than letting the transition scatter the group (the project's coaching doctrine, the participant speed-range skill).

Can you change orientation without changing your level or your closing speed, bridging the fall-rate difference with speed range?

3.2
Fly each transition on the leader's key, staying on the line of flight, for head-up-to-head-first conversions use a team layout around a centre point, never the in-place layout Carlton names as the worst option (Carlton; the project's coaching doctrine).

Do you make each transition on the leader’s key, staying on the line of flight?

3.3 Safety critical
Never transition through vertical. If a transition goes long or unstable, recover to the nearest stable orientation on the line and rebuild the slot, never over-rotate through vertical to save it (the project's coaching doctrine).

If a transition goes long or unstable, do you recover to the nearest stable orientation on the line rather than carrying on through vertical?

Screen 3 · What blocks a sign-off

What blocks a sign-off

A safety-critical criterion marked not yet stops the sign-off, however good the rest of the flying was. There is no averaging across this line, and no trading a good jump against it.

Safety-critical criteria on the short list

3.1
Hold slot through orientation changes: change orientation without changing level or closing speed, bridging the fall-rate difference with speed range on belly and back rather than letting the transition scatter the group (the project's coaching doctrine, the participant speed-range skill).

Can you change orientation without changing your level or your closing speed, bridging the fall-rate difference with speed range?

3.3
Never transition through vertical. If a transition goes long or unstable, recover to the nearest stable orientation on the line and rebuild the slot, never over-rotate through vertical to save it (the project's coaching doctrine).

If a transition goes long or unstable, do you recover to the nearest stable orientation on the line rather than carrying on through vertical?

Everything this unit says about breakoff and deployment

1.4
Set the breakoff to the angle standards, guides 5,000 ft up to a 4-way, 5,500 ft for five or more, and raise the floor for head-up content: minimum 6,000 ft, 6,500 ft for a larger group, with the head-first transition initiated by ~6,500–7,000 ft (Carlton). Keep at least 1,000 ft between breakoff and planned deployment (mandatory in Australia, the APF Operational Regulations) (the project's coaching doctrine breakoff standards; FFP-AN301 knowledge evidence).
4.1
Where head-up content is flown, be head-first by the briefed window (~6,500–7,000 ft) so the track has spent its acceleration lag before the breakoff floor arrives (Carlton, the 1,500–2,000 ft lag; the project's coaching doctrine).
4.2
Initiate breakoff at the briefed altitude in the briefed fan, each flyer tracking in a head-first orientation, peeling no more than ~90°, never turning back toward jump run (APF006 §5.10; the project's coaching doctrine breakoff standards).
4.3
Deploy at the planned altitude after visually clearing the airspace in all directions, always assuming somebody is there (APF006 §3.3).

Recording a sign-off says what you saw on one jump. It is not a rating, it is not a permission to jump, and it does not replace anything the drop zone requires.

Screen 4 · Conditions

Conditions

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

Assessment conditions

Sky, in led groups, with the assessing coach on the jump. Sky jumps from a recommended 12,000 ft minimum, mixed-orientation transitions need working time. Video is the primary debrief and evidence tool: footage from within the group or from the leader's slot, paired with the candidate's talk-through.
Required equipment: visual altimeter, functioning audible set to the briefed profile, AAD recommended, freefly-suitable gear. Conditions within every participant's cleared limits.
Assessor: a freefly coach current in movement jumps and mixed-orientation flying, using the published FFP-AN402 checklist (Satisfactory / Not Yet Satisfactory per criterion; unit result Competent / Not Yet Competent, recorded as a Mastery milestone).

Performance evidence

Ability evidenced across a suggested 10 mixed-orientation angle jumps in led groups:
Transitions in both directions (back-to-belly and belly-to-back) held in slot.
At least 2 jumps including head-up content at the raised breakoff floor.
Consecutive jumps flown and broken off to plan.
Across at least two different days and wind pictures.
Within a recommended 12-month currency window. Tunnel time evidences orientation control and transition mechanics only.

Screen 5 · Debrief

Debrief

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

Coaching priorities

Deliver in the project's priority order: Safety → Fun → Learning (curriculum Part A0).
Mixed-orientation angles are among the most enjoyable jumps in the sport, and that is why the boundary and the breakoff floors are non-compensable: flyers will seek these jumps out anyway, and the card exists so they fly them inside a plan, with a leader, at floors that buy the separation back.
The coach ends each debrief on a win with one focus for the next jump.

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. Six points is six points forgotten by the next load.

A jump marked not yet is a jump to re-fly, not a failure, and saying so out loud is part of the debrief.

Record this jump

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 402 unit carries the reasoning, the sources and everything left off here. All briefing cards.