Skip to content
DY402 Coach
Flyer card Full unit

Swipe sideways, or tap the dots. 5 screens.

Dynamic · Mastery · The brief

Dynamic 402

Mirror the leader

Mirroring: two flyers doing the same thing at each other.

What this unit covers

Covers mirroring, the second dynamic fundamental: flying side by side or in a line, passing by each other, or flying in a line facing each other.
Where FFP-DY401 trains the follower behind a leader, this unit trains flyers holding each other in reference, matching moves across a gap, through passes and facing formations. The suggested format is a 3-way: one flyer on belly (the coach) and two on back.
The rest of it
The unit's suggested dive flow, each phase briefed and flown in order: the leader takes an angle off the door and establishes safe navigation. The leader keys a transition to belly, the belly flyer performs a backflip while the back flyers transition over the feet, and the group joins on belly in an open accordion.
The leader initiates and all move to a stand. The group drives forward past each other, mirroring each other, holding sight of each other through the pass, then transitions into a head-down carve.
The carve stops in a round; the group forms an open accordion; and the leader pushes through the formation with a transition to head-up through the belly, with the followers copying, so the group finishes facing each other in head-up. The jump can be varied with any formation in which flyers face each other.
The flow holds inside a contained footprint, tunnel-in-the-sky flying, and the leader owns navigation and the opening point throughout, checking landmarks at each named phase key.
Two terms of dynamic flying language carry this unit: a push-through is a leader's transition to head-up through the belly, pushing through the formation, with the followers copying; an over-the-feet transition is the back flyer's transition to belly.
A push-through is a deliberate transit through occupied airspace, so it carries a traffic rule: the formation holds position and level, the transiting flyer owns clearance and lateral spacing, and followers copy one at a time on the leader's completion.
Two of the four attack patterns live here. Vertical mirroring, flyers side by side; the leader initiates a vertical manoeuvre (a layout or a stall) and the second mirrors it. Front attack with pass-by, flyers converge offset, pass each other, then mirror a transition (through back or belly) to finish face-to-face, generally flowing into a carve; the vertical move can also be a stall, creating a second pass-by or stalling into a line.
The suggested flow's stand pass is the pass-by inside a full dive flow.
The jump ends head-up, and the breakoff carries the head-up doctrine: the floor rises to 6,000 ft minimum (6,500 ft for a larger group, the FFP head-up standard applied in FFP-AN301), and each flyer rotates to a head-first orientation before tracking the fan-out radial.
Fly it small: 2–3 flyers is the sweet spot and 4 the practical maximum. Jumps beyond 6 flyers are the territory of dedicated competition teams that work up to a bigger-way dynamic jump incrementally over many practice jumps, and are outside this unit.
The group plans, briefs and debriefs its jumps in the FAI Dynamic vocabulary (snakes S1–S6, verticals V1–V8, mixers M1–M9, carving), the only officially defined language for this flying (FAI/ISC Dynamic Competition Rules 2025, Annexes A–B). Applies to flyers competent in following (DY 401). Environment: sky.
This style of flying realistically requires substantial dynamic tunnel work, layouts, stalls, carving in both orientations, transitions through belly and back, before it transfers; tunnel time is preparation and calibration only. Supervision: flown with an experienced dynamic group; in the suggested format the coach flies the belly slot and leads. **This is a Mastery-tier unit: there is no sign-off.
Completion is a milestone recognising the mirroring fundamental, it is not a permission, and it does not authorise 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.

3.3
Move to a stand on the leader's initiation, driving forward past each other and mirroring each other's speed and line through the pass.

Can you move to a stand on the leader’s initiation and mirror their speed and line through the pass?

3.4 Safety critical
Hold visual contact with the crossing flyers throughout the pass; on losing sight mid-pass, hold the briefed line and level and fly the pass through, never turning into the crossing lane, then re-acquire visual or separate per the brief.

If you lose sight of a crossing flyer mid-pass, do you hold the briefed line and level and fly the pass through, never turning into them?

3.7
Copy the leader's push-through, the transition to head-up through the belly, pushed through the formation, so the group finishes facing each other in head-up.

Can you copy a push-through, transitioning to head up through the belly and finishing facing the other flyer?

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

3.4
Hold visual contact with the crossing flyers throughout the pass; on losing sight mid-pass, hold the briefed line and level and fly the pass through, never turning into the crossing lane, then re-acquire visual or separate per the brief.

If you lose sight of a crossing flyer mid-pass, do you hold the briefed line and level and fly the pass through, never turning into them?

Everything this unit says about breakoff and deployment

1.5
State the breakoff plan, the jump ends head-up, so the breakoff floor rises to 6,000 ft minimum (6,500 ft for a larger group, the FFP head-up standard applied in FFP-AN301); each flyer rotates to a head-first orientation (head-down or belly) before tracking the assigned fan-out radial; deployment altitudes stated, with separation complete at least 1,000 ft above the planned deployment height.
4.1
Initiate breakoff at the briefed altitude (within −0/+300 ft) by rotating from head-up to a head-first orientation, head-down or belly, then tracking the assigned fan-out radial away from the group; never back-track away while still head-up.
4.3
Deploy at the planned altitude, inside the group's planned opening airspace, after checking own airspace.

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 jumps from a recommended 13,000 ft minimum, the multi-phase flow consumes the full working time at angle and vertical speeds.
A real small group, the suggested 3-way with the coach on belly; 4 flyers at most, is required for the group criteria; tunnel evidence is preparatory only. Video of assessment jumps is required for a valid assessment: dedicated camera flyer or leader-flown, candidate identifiable.
Required equipment: visual altimeter, functioning audible (two recommended), AAD, freefly-suitable gear with a genuinely tight BOC. Conditions within the group's briefed limits, winds aloft assessed in planning.
Assessor: an experienced dynamic/movement organiser or freefly coach current in mixed-orientation coaching, using the published FFP-DY402 checklist, each criterion marked Satisfactory / Not Yet Satisfactory. Completion is recorded as a Mastery milestone only: it is not a sign-off, confers no privilege, and is not a permission to plan, lead or join any jump.

Performance evidence

Ability evidenced across mirroring jumps in small groups, 2–3 flyers is the sweet spot, 4 the practical maximum. The evidence should include:
The full suggested flow, every phase flown.
At least one variation using a different formation in which flyers face each other.
Both patterns carried by this unit, the front attack with pass-by and vertical mirroring.
At least two different partners, camps or organisers.
two consecutive jumps flying every briefed phase and meeting all criteria without coach assistance or prompts. As a guide to how long this might take, competency is the standard, not the jump count, expect on the order of 10 jumps within a recommended 12-month currency window, more if the tunnel transitions are still consolidating. Substantial dynamic tunnel time (front and back layouts, vertical stalls, carving in both orientations, transitions through belly and back) is realistically a precondition for this style of flying, and is strongly recommended as vocabulary and calibration development. It substitutes for no sky assessment jump: it exercises no jump run, navigation, altitude or breakoff.

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). Safety criteria are non-compensable; at Mastery tier the group still designs the jump to the least experienced participant, and standing down when readiness is not met is itself competent behaviour.
Design the session to be enjoyable, participants choose this expensive hobby, and enjoyment sustains both the flyer and the sport, and end each debrief on a win with one improvement focus.

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