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HD302 Flyer
Coach card Full course

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Head Down · Group · The jump

Head-Down 302

Fly the float slot on a head-down big-way

The float slot: dropping low and behind, then coming up from underneath.

What the course is about

You'll learn to fly a float slot on a head-down big-way, approaching and docking from below, out of the divers' airspace. Head-Down 301 comes first, because this course starts from head-down docks in a small group.
The organiser runs the jump (Head-Down 401), and this is your job inside it. In Australia, a head-down jump with more than 3 people needs a Freefly Crest (Head-Down), and more than 10 also needs a Star Crest.

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.

3.1
Exit in the assigned outside-float position and drop off on own staged count, low and behind the base, without contacting the aircraft or another jumper.

Can you exit from the outside float position and drop off on your own staged count, low and behind the base, without touching the aircraft or another jumper?

3.2
Rotate from a de-powered back-fly attitude to head-down, powering up once the sight picture to the base is set.

Do you rotate from a de-powered back-fly to head down and power up only once your sight picture to the base is set?

3.4 Safety critical
Keep the base in the blue throughout the approach, sky behind the base at all times, aborting below and re-setting if the base sinks toward the green.

Do you keep sky behind the base the whole way in, and abort below and re-set if the base starts to sink toward the ground?

Screen 3 · Safety and altitudes

Safety and altitudes

Everything here is a recommendation with a reason behind it. The drop zone you are jumping at, and your own limits on the day, decide what happens.

Safety-critical items on the short list

3.4
Keep the base in the blue throughout the approach, sky behind the base at all times, aborting below and re-setting if the base sinks toward the green.

Do you keep sky behind the base the whole way in, and abort below and re-set if the base starts to sink toward the ground?

Everything this course says about breakoff and deployment

1.4
State own breakoff wave, altitude, radial and deployment altitude (the organiser owns the breakoff design, see FFP-HD401).
2.1
Complete a freefly-specific gear check (handles, hand-deploy pouch, riser covers, closing loop, helmet, audible set to own wave and functioning).
2.3
Dirt-dive own exit, drop-off, approach lane, dock and breakoff radial at least twice.
4.1
Initiate breakoff with own wave at the briefed altitude (within −0/+300 ft), regardless of formation completeness.
4.3
Deploy at own wave's briefed altitude after checking airspace (barrel roll only if smooth; if directly above another jumper, deploy rather than out-track).
5.3
Write the jump up naming the unit and slot (e.g. "HD302, float slot, wave-2 breakoff"), the results and the next objective.

The altitudes here are the guides this site recommends, with the reasons on the full course page. Where the drop zone briefs something different, fly what the drop zone briefs.

Screen 4 · After the jump

After the jump

From the course's closing section, review.

5.1
Debrief own float slot against video, classifying each approach as clean, corrected or aborted.
5.2
Identify any overfloating indicator (base toward the green, reaching, drive over the top) and its correction.
5.3
Write the jump up naming the unit and slot (e.g. "HD302, float slot, wave-2 breakoff"), the results and the next objective.

One fault, one correction

Before the video, and before anyone else speaks, name the one fault from the jump and the one thing you will change on the next jump. Keep it to one of each, so you have one clear thing to 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

You can record the jump yourself, because your own read of your flying is worth keeping. A record counts as verified once a coach signs it.

Your notes for this course

Saved on this device only, with no account. They will be here next time you open this card.

This card is a summary. The full Head-Down 302 course page carries the reasoning, the sources and everything left off here. All briefing cards.