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HD301 Flyer
Coach card Full unit

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Head Down · Group · The jump

Head-Down 301

Fly head-down in groups

Head down in a group: stings, presented grips and break-ins.

What this unit covers

Covers flying head-down as a working member of a group: 4-way linked exit slot craft (Inside Centre, Front Float, Outside Centre, Tail, plus the Camera Step stinger), post-exit base stabilisation, approaches, docking craft (sting, present, dock, break-in) and group breakoff.
Applies to flyers holding crest-standard head-down competence (HD 202) who are combining slot skills while managing their position relative to several other flyers. Group sizes 3–6 are the guide for this unit; big-way method (divers/floaters, staged drop-offs, two-stage breakoff) is the mastery tier.
The rest of it
This unit keeps the small-group treatment of the 4-way exit slots. The full base doctrine at big-way depth, Outside Centre's rotate-the-base job and all three rotation cases, the Front Float anchor logic, the Tail flop, launch and stack-up, lives in FFP-HD304.
Community norms suggest matching group size to experience, e.g., one published ladder holds flyers to a 5-way maximum until roughly 500 freefly jumps (head-down community-sources research, Skydive Arizona/Harwood). Environment: sky, with tunnel drills as preparation for docking mechanics.
Exits and breakoff are sky-only skills. Supervision: with a coach in the group, flying passively; peer group jumps follow once the standard is met. Slot descriptions assume a port-side (left-hand) door, reverse left/right for a starboard door.
The Camera Step slot assumes an aircraft fitted with a step (most skydiving aircraft are).

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.

3.5
Hold level with the formation (head-height tolerance) for 3 seconds, then hold the slot for 3 seconds, before initiating any dock (Level → Slot → Dock).

In a formation, do you hold level for three seconds and the slot for three seconds before you initiate any dock?

3.7
Sting with a thumb-down overgrip on the same arm of a linked flyer, using light grip pressure.

Can you sting onto a linked flyer’s arm with light grip pressure, without loading the formation?

3.10
Complete a break-in: sting one arm, dock the other, adjust the sting to an undergrip, pull the dock apart and join the round, finishing with the stabilising twist.

Can you complete a break-in: sting one arm, dock the other, adjust the grip, pull the dock apart and join the round?

3.11 Safety critical
Back out to level at the first sign of instability in the slot or on the grip, re-approaching only when stable.

At the first sign of instability in the slot or on a grip, do you back out to level and re-approach only when stable?

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

3.11
Back out to level at the first sign of instability in the slot or on the grip, re-approaching only when stable.

At the first sign of instability in the slot or on a grip, do you back out to level and re-approach only when stable?

Everything this unit says about breakoff and deployment

1.4
State breakoff and deployment altitudes (guide: 5,000 ft up to a 4-way; 5,500 ft for 5-way and larger), the fan-out breakoff plan, and the lost-group/instability plan.
4.1
Initiate breakoff at the briefed altitude (within −0/+300 ft).
4.3
Deploy at the planned altitude 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
Diagnose own slot's faults against the per-slot failure-mode table (Appendix A) and state the correction for the next jump.
5.3
Write the jump up in the logbook with a reflection naming the unit and skills assessed (e.g., "HD301, Tail slot, break-in") alongside the criteria results, unit-tagged entries turn the logbook into a training record, not just a jump count.

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 Head-Down 301 unit carries the reasoning, the sources and everything left off here. All briefing cards.