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HD404 Coach
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Head Down · Mastery · The brief

Head-Down 404

Fly open vertical formation skydiving (VFS)

Open vertical formation skydiving: the full draw at close range.

What the course is about

You'll learn to fly your slot in open-class vertical formation skydiving (VFS): the full competition dive pool, with the hardest blocks and inter moves, built to the clock. Head-Down 305 comes first, because open class builds on its draw, grips and fall-rate matching.
Diving and flying base on big-ways help as well. In Australia, head-down formation jumps of more than 3 people need the Freefly Crest (Head-Down).

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.

1.3 Safety critical
State breakoff and deployment altitudes and the lost-formation plan; VFS breakoff runs higher than belly because the head-down fall rate spends altitude faster.

Do you set breakoff higher for vertical formation work than you would for belly, and brief what everyone does if the formation is lost?

3.5
Match fall rate precisely at close range, riding the burble interaction between bodies without overcorrecting.

Can you match fall rate precisely at close range, riding the burble between bodies without overcorrecting?

3.6
Build randoms by approaching from outside the formation, never from directly above a head-down slot (into the feet-side burble).

Do you build randoms by coming in from outside the formation, never from directly above a head-down flyer’s feet?

Screen 3 · What blocks a sign-off

What blocks a sign-off

A safety-critical item marked not yet stops the sign-off, however good the rest of the flying was. The rest of the jump cannot make up for it.

Safety-critical items on the short list

1.3
State breakoff and deployment altitudes and the lost-formation plan; VFS breakoff runs higher than belly because the head-down fall rate spends altitude faster.

Do you set breakoff higher for vertical formation work than you would for belly, and brief what everyone does if the formation is lost?

Everything this course says about breakoff and deployment

2.1
Complete a freefly-specific gear check (handles, hand-deploy pouch, riser covers, closing loop, helmet, audible set and functioning).
4.1
Initiate breakoff at the briefed altitude (within −0/+300 ft).
4.3
Deploy at the planned altitude after checking airspace.

Recording a sign-off says what you saw on one jump. Permission to jump, and anything the drop zone requires, stay with the drop zone.

Screen 4 · Conditions

Conditions

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

Assessment conditions

- Sky and tunnel. The criteria that build points with others are assessed in real VFS formations.
Tunnel work prepares for exits, altitude and breakoff but does not count for them. Those are sky jumps.
Sky jumps from 13,000 ft or higher (recommended), the VFS competition altitude.
The videographer's footage is the main debrief and assessment tool.
Equipment: a visual altimeter, a working audible, freefly-suitable gear, and an AAD (recommended).
The assessor is a freefly coach or a VFS competitor current in open-class VFS coaching, using this checklist. In Australia, an APF Freefly Coach. Elsewhere, the national or drop zone equivalent.
Each criterion is marked Satisfactory or Not Yet Satisfactory. The course result is Competent or Not Yet Competent, recorded as a milestone.
Existing open-class flyers: logbook and video of open-class VFS training or competition (state or national VFS participation is ideal), 4-way VFS tunnel records plus sky jumps for exits and breakoff, or a challenge assessment across a set of draws against the full checklist with a qualifying assessor.
Knowledge to check in the debrief: the competition structure (team sizes, 35-second working time, how randoms and blocks score, Open against Advanced), the randoms, blocks and inters in the current APF dive pool for the flyer's slot, the no-fly zone, why VFS breaks off higher than belly, fall-rate matching in the burble between two vertical bodies, and the cork response in a formation.
There's no set jump count: work through the build in order, and move on when each step is clean.
Tunnel time counts for formations and inter moves, and the exit, altitude awareness and breakoff are assessed in the sky, from 13,000 ft or higher.
If you already fly open-class VFS, your coach can assess you on a set of draws, or from your logbook and video of open-class training or competition.

Performance evidence

Debrief the videographer's footage with the team: it shows the grip, inter timing, heading and fall rate you cannot see from inside the formation. Log your slot, the points built and the next focus. More in The debrief.
You've finished Head-Down 404 when your flying meets everything on the coach's checklist below.

Screen 5 · Debrief

Debrief

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

Coaching priorities

- Safety first, then fun, then learning. Hold the bold criteria to the standard above: never trade a cork recovery or a clean breakoff for a point.
Run debriefs off the videographer's footage, without blame.
Celebrate the points that built, and end on one focus for the next round.

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. One of each is easier to carry onto the next load than six points.

A jump marked not yet is a jump to fly again. Tell them that as part of the debrief.

Record this jump

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 404 course page carries the reasoning, the sources and everything left off here. All briefing cards.