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HD304 Flyer
Coach card Full unit

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Head Down · Group · The jump

Head-Down 304

Fly base on a head-down big-way

Flying base: being the reference everyone else is flying to.

What this unit covers

Covers flying a base slot on a head-down big-way: launching and stacking up the base, steering it onto heading, holding heading and fall rate as the formation's clock, absorbing docks and knocks without corking, and executing the breakoff the organiser designed.
Every float and diver (FFP-HD302, FFP-HD303) sets their sight picture off a base that must not move. This is the authoritative home for the base and exit theory at big-way depth; FFP-HD301 carries the same slot craft at small-group scale.
The rest of it
Assumes HD301; base slots are usually organiser-picked. Sky only.

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.

3.4
Hold fall rate steady as the reference for every approaching flyer, absorbing docks without being driven down.

Can you hold a steady fall rate as the reference for everyone approaching, absorbing docks without being driven down?

3.5 Safety critical
Take a knock without corking, tuck the chin, close the legs and go faster; do not spread the legs.

Can you take a knock without corking: chin tucked, legs closed, going faster rather than spreading?

3.7 Safety critical
Hold the base's slot rather than chasing a lost stinger, a base that moves defeats every sight picture on the load.

Do you hold the base’s slot rather than chasing a stinger who has lost it?

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
Take a knock without corking, tuck the chin, close the legs and go faster; do not spread the legs.

Can you take a knock without corking: chin tucked, legs closed, going faster rather than spreading?

3.7
Hold the base's slot rather than chasing a lost stinger, a base that moves defeats every sight picture on the load.

Do you hold the base’s slot rather than chasing a stinger who has lost it?

Everything this unit says about breakoff and deployment

1.3
State the briefed breakoff, own wave, altitude, radial and deployment altitude, confirming own wave banks at least 1,000 ft between breakoff and deployment.
2.1
Complete a freefly-specific gear check (handles, hand-deploy pouch, riser covers, closing loop, helmet, audible set to the base wave and functioning).
2.3
Dirt-dive the launch, heading hold, dock absorption and breakoff sequence at least twice.
4.1
Initiate breakoff at the briefed base-wave altitude (within −0/+300 ft), regardless of formation completeness.
4.2
Break grips, turn 180° from the formation, clear airspace, peel onto the back clearing above, rotate to belly and keep clearing, decelerate, then deploy, turning 180° before tracking, or risk being cut across by another jumper's line.
4.4
Deploy at the base wave's briefed altitude after checking airspace, ready on the rear risers in a crowded column; barrel roll only if smooth.
5.1
Debrief the base's heading, fall rate and breakoff against video.
5.2
Contribute observations of exit, traffic and breakoff to the organiser's debrief.
5.3
Write the jump up naming the unit and slot (e.g. "HD304, Outside Centre, wave-2 breakoff"), the results and the next objective.

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 base's heading, fall rate and breakoff against video.
5.2
Contribute observations of exit, traffic and breakoff to the organiser's debrief.
5.3
Write the jump up naming the unit and slot (e.g. "HD304, Outside Centre, wave-2 breakoff"), the results and the next objective.

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