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DY404 Flyer
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Dynamic · Mastery · The jump

Dynamic 404

Combine following, mirroring and eagles

Following, mirroring and eagles combined into one jump.

What this unit covers

Covers the combination: following, mirroring and an eagle flown in one jump.
This is the Dynamic track's integration unit, each fundamental was trained on its own in FFP-DY401 (following), FFP-DY402 (mirroring) and FFP-DY403 (eagles), and this unit chains them, and it is the home of the curriculum's capstone, the challenge jump below.
The rest of it
The unit's dive flow, suggested as a 3-way: exit unlinked into a head-down carve, or move for a period to clear the jump run, then flock-and-roll into the carve. Follow the leader through a mixed snake, a follow-the-leader snake flown across orientations, as the following component.
At the head-up component the leader initiates head-up movement on belly with the followers on back, the group in an angle/accordion arrangement.
The arrangement carries the sustained back-fly's mitigation: the belly leader doubles as the mirror the published movement-jump policies ask for, holding visual on the back flyers and the line ahead.
Then the leader initiates an offset eagle, a front layout flown back into an angle heading back the way the group came, the reciprocal line flown laterally offset from the outbound lane with each flyer's offset side pre-assigned in the brief, and the followers hold the outbound lane until their own layout key, then go from the head-up back angle through a layout into a back angle on their assigned side.
Chasing the leader back along the previous direction and never crossing the leader's reciprocal lane. The mirroring fundamental runs through the second half of the jump: the followers mirror the leader's transitions across orientations, facing the leader through the head-up component and matching the layout into the reversed angle.
The group plans, briefs and debriefs in the FAI Dynamic vocabulary (snakes S1–S6, verticals V1–V8, mixers M1–M9, carving, eagles, FAI/ISC Dynamic Competition Rules 2025, Annexes A–B) plus the track's own terms: the mixed snake and the offset eagle above.
The push-through (the leader's transition to head-up through the belly, pushing through the formation, with the followers copying) and the over-the-feet transition (the back flyer's transition to belly). It grades and briefs jump difficulty by transition count, 0 / 1–3 / 4+ (USPA SIM 5-10 skill matrix, 2026 numbering; §6-12 in the 2023-24 SIM), and a full combination sits in the 4+ grade. Combination jumps stay 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, not weekend jumpers, and are outside this unit. Competition pathways, indoor Dynamic 2-way/4-way, 2-way Mixed Formation Skydiving (MFS), Vertical Formation Skydiving (VFS) and the APF Angle Flying dive pool, are context for continued development. Applies to flyers competent across the dynamic fundamentals: following (DY 401), mirroring (DY 402) and eagles (DY 403). Environment: sky. The combination realistically requires the tunnel-built skills of the three fundamental units already in place; tunnel time is preparation and calibration only. Supervision: flown with experienced dynamic partners. The progression runs from flying a briefed component in another flyer's plan, to briefing and flying the full combination, to co-designing the jump, with the challenge jump at the far end of that road. This is a Mastery-tier unit: there is no sign-off. Completion is a milestone recognising the combined dynamic fundamentals, it is not a permission, and it does not authorise any jump.

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 the following component: follow the leader through the mixed snake, copying the leader's moves across orientations while holding the lane, level (within a head height) and spacing at the briefed tempo.

Can you follow a leader through a mixed snake across orientations while holding your lane and level?

3.4
Fly the offset eagle in role, the leader initiating the front layout back into an angle laterally offset from the outbound lane and heading back the way the group came, each follower going from the head-up back angle through a layout into a back angle on their pre-assigned side and chasing the leader back along the previous direction.

Can you fly an offset eagle in role, laying out back into an angle offset from the outbound lane?

3.5 Safety critical
Fly the offset-eagle lane discipline: each follower holds the outbound lane until their own layout key, reverses onto their pre-assigned offset side, and never crosses the leader's reciprocal lane.

Do you hold the outbound lane until your own key, reverse onto your assigned offset side, and never cross the leader’s line?

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

3.5
Fly the offset-eagle lane discipline: each follower holds the outbound lane until their own layout key, reverses onto their pre-assigned offset side, and never crosses the leader's reciprocal lane.

Do you hold the outbound lane until your own key, reverse onto your assigned offset side, and never cross the leader’s line?

Everything this unit says about breakoff and deployment

1.5
State the breakoff plan, breakoff altitude, the head-up rotate-head-first rule, the back-flyer roll rule and deployment altitudes, with separation complete at least 1,000 ft above the planned deployment height (guides: 5,000 ft for freefly groups up to 4-way, noting most modern jumpers use 5,500 ft for any freefly group and will generally not accept 4,500 ft; the head-up-movement component raises the floor to 6,000 ft minimum, 6,500 ft for larger groups).
3.10
Once the group has reversed, never rejoin across the reciprocal: a dropped flyer holds an offset line, follows from below on the new direction only once the group is re-acquired, and otherwise separates and deploys higher after checking airspace.
4.1
Initiate breakoff at the briefed altitude (within −0/+300 ft), rotating from head-up to a head-first orientation first if breaking from a head-up segment, then turning onto a clear radial while flattening pitch to a track; never back-track away while still head-up.
4.2
If on the back at breakoff, roll to belly only once on a clear trajectory with no one above.
4.3
Deploy at the planned altitude, inside the group's planned opening airspace, after checking own airspace.

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 the line component-by-component against the plan on video, in the shared vocabulary.
5.2
Analyse own execution against competition-derived quality criteria: closeness of passes, synchronisation, uniformity of body position, no loss of balance.
5.3
Evaluate the flown difficulty against the briefed grade, setting the next jump's components and transition count accordingly.
5.4
Log the jump in the logbook naming the unit and components flown (e.g. "DY404, mixed snake, head-up component, offset eagle"), with criteria results and a short reflection, the curriculum is what makes the log entry meaningful.

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 Dynamic 404 unit carries the reasoning, the sources and everything left off here. All briefing cards.