Skip to content
F101 Flyer
Coach card Full unit

Swipe sideways, or tap the dots. 4 screens.

Foundations · Stability · The jump

Freefly 101

Fly your back

Back-fly as a position you actively pilot, not just survive.

What this unit covers

Covers back-fly as a piloted orientation: the neutral back-fly position, the range of motion around it, fall-rate range, heading changes, forward and backward drive, side slides, and the back-to-sit transition flown in both directions.
Freefly 100 establishes back-fly as the recovery position and proves a usable fall-rate range. This unit takes the same orientation and makes it something the flyer can steer. That matters for three reasons the curriculum relies on later.
The rest of it
A flyer who can drive and slide on their back can hold a slot without rolling to belly to fix it. A flyer who can change heading on their back can keep a group in sight through a recovery.
And the de-arch used to fly fast on the back is the same input that drives head-up out-face carving and layouts, so range built here is spent for the rest of the progression. Applies to flyers who have completed Freefly 100. Environment: tunnel for acquisition, sky for validation.
The tunnel is the strong recommendation for this unit, because back-fly drills are cheap on the net and every fault is visible to an instructor standing beside you. Supervision: coached, with the coach as reference, fading to solo consolidation jumps flown under the Freefly 100 solo protocols.

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.

3.8
Drive forward a briefed distance (guide: 5 to 10 m) and arrest the drive completely, finishing on heading with no residual movement.

Can you drive forward on your back, five to ten metres, and stop the drive completely with nothing left running?

3.11
Transition back-fly to sit and back to back-fly, re-establishing a settled neutral within 3 seconds of each.

Can you transition from back-fly to sit and back again, settling into a neutral position within about three seconds each way?

3.12 Safety critical
Arrest any unplanned drive on recognition, before it accumulates, and correct back toward the briefed working area rather than letting successive drives carry you out of your own column.

Do you notice unplanned drive early and correct it, rather than letting it carry you out of your own column?

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

3.12
Arrest any unplanned drive on recognition, before it accumulates, and correct back toward the briefed working area rather than letting successive drives carry you out of your own column.

Do you notice unplanned drive early and correct it, rather than letting it carry you out of your own column?

Everything this unit says about breakoff and deployment

1.4
State the altitude for ending work and the planned deployment altitude (breakoff guides: 5,000 ft up to a 4-way and 5,500 ft for 5 or more, noting most modern jumpers set 5,500 ft for any freefly group and will generally not accept 4,500 ft).
4.2
End the jump per the briefed protocol: on a coached jump, transition to belly, slow to belly fall rate and track 90° from jump run while checking airspace; on a solo consolidation jump, end the work without tracking (turn 90°, pause, slow down, transition to a belly orientation), dissipating speed over at least 1,000 ft before deployment, because a soloist's movement risks are already the dominant hazard.
4.3
Deploy at the planned altitude, at belly fall rate, after clearing 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 against the declared objective using video.
5.2
Name the direction in which control ran out first, and its body-position cause, using the reference table below.
5.3
Log the jump with a reflection naming the unit and skills assessed (e.g. "F101 back-fly drive and slides"), the criteria results and one correction for the next jump.

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 Freefly 101 unit carries the reasoning, the sources and everything left off here. All briefing cards.