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HD401 Coach
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Head Down · Mastery · The brief

Head-Down 401

Organise head-down big-ways

Organising a head-down big-way: slotting people and designing the breakoff.

What this unit covers

Covers the organiser's craft on a head-down big-way: sizing the group, slotting people to jobs, briefing the jump, and designing the breakoff. The participants fly their slots: base FFP-HD304, floats FFP-HD302, divers FFP-HD303.
The organiser builds the plan they fly and owns the breakoff architecture. Formation shape engineering (base shape, build order, wacker lines) is FFP-HD403; multiple-aircraft loads are FFP-HD402.
The rest of it
Assumes the organiser has flown base, float and diver slots and holds the relevant credentials. Environment: sky for the jumps; the design work is done on the ground.

What comes before it

Screen 2 · What to watch

What to watch

The same short list the flyer sees on their card, in the same words.

1.2
Assign each flyer to base, float or diver by weight, build and demonstrated competence, resolving the heaviest-flyer trade-off consciously.

Can you assign flyers to base, float or diver by weight, build and demonstrated ability, and resolve the heaviest-flyer trade-off deliberately?

2.1 Safety critical
Choose single-stage or two-stage against the group size, verifying at least 1,000 ft banked per wave.

Can you choose single-stage or two-stage breakoff for the group size, and verify at least 1,000 feet is banked for each wave?

4.3 Safety critical
Initiate the breakoff on the base wave at the briefed altitude regardless of formation completeness.

Do you start the breakoff on the base wave at the briefed altitude even when the formation is incomplete?

Screen 3 · What blocks a sign-off

What blocks a sign-off

A safety-critical criterion marked not yet stops the sign-off, however good the rest of the flying was. There is no averaging across this line, and no trading a good jump against it.

Safety-critical criteria on the short list

2.1
Choose single-stage or two-stage against the group size, verifying at least 1,000 ft banked per wave.

Can you choose single-stage or two-stage breakoff for the group size, and verify at least 1,000 feet is banked for each wave?

4.3
Initiate the breakoff on the base wave at the briefed altitude regardless of formation completeness.

Do you start the breakoff on the base wave at the briefed altitude even when the formation is incomplete?

Everything this unit says about breakoff and deployment

2.2
Assign each flyer a breakoff wave, altitude, radial and deployment altitude giving about 30° of radial separation.
2.4
Coordinate exit separation with the loadmaster in both directions. A long stack needs more room from the group ahead; the group behind needs room for large drift and up-jump-run breakoffs.
3.2
Brief the breakoff, waves, altitudes, radials, shade/hold assignments, and confirm each flyer sets their audible to their own wave.
3.3
Run the mock-up and at least two full dirt-dives including the breakoff.

Recording a sign-off says what you saw on one jump. It is not a rating, it is not a permission to jump, and it does not replace anything the drop zone requires.

Screen 4 · Conditions

Conditions

Where the evidence is allowed to come from, and how much of it there needs to be.

Assessment conditions

Assessed on real organised head-down big-way jumps of a recommended 6-way minimum, with some evidence at 10-way or larger. The design work is assessed on the ground and the breakoff in the air. Video: outside footage is the most valuable organiser debrief tool.
Assessor: an experienced head-down big-way organiser or freefly coach current in the discipline, using the published FFP-HD401 checklist. Each criterion Satisfactory / Not Yet Satisfactory; unit Competent / Not Yet Competent, recorded as a milestone.

Performance evidence

A guide to how long organiser competence takes; competency against the criteria is the standard. The evidence is a record of organising head-down big-ways across a range of sizes, including some above a 10-way and some flown to a two-stage breakoff.
It should span at least two events or days, with consecutive jumps run and broken off to plan. The candidate learns organising by doing it under an experienced organiser, then solo.

Screen 5 · Debrief

Debrief

Safety first, then fun, then learning. In that order, every time.

Coaching priorities

Deliver in the project's priority order: Safety → Fun → Learning (curriculum Part A0). The organiser owns the load's safety, the breakoff design and the credential check are non-compensable, and the plan holds regardless of whether the formation builds.
The organiser runs debriefs without blame and ends each one on a win with one focus for the next jump.

One fault, one correction

Ask for their read before you give yours. Then leave them with one fault and one correction, in their words if you can get them. Six points is six points forgotten by the next load.

A jump marked not yet is a jump to re-fly, not a failure, and saying so out loud is part of the debrief.

Record this jump

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