Angles 101 — Track and navigate

Application

Covers the tracking and navigation fundamentals every movement jump depends on, learned where the corpus and contemporary practice agree they are best learned: in small coached jumps behind a trained leader flying belly-to-earth.

Content: flat belly tracking (progressive acceleration, heading, speed and pitch control), on-level slot discipline at docking distance, back tracking in slot behind a belly-flying leader, active navigation while following (jump run, winds, drift, ground references, the flight plan), heading discipline, in-slot recovery, the left-behind protocol, and the movement-jump breakoff fan.

“Tracking” and “angle flying” are one discipline, movement jumps, differing only in steepness and speed; this unit works the flat, learning end of that spectrum, because flat-and-fast is both the safest and the most instructive place to build the skills (Leading Workshop: “for safety reasons and for performance reasons, if you want to learn, go on the flat angles”).

Delivery context: 2-way jumps with a movement-trained coach, or slots in small groups (guide: 3-way maximum including the leader) led by a leader trained and approved for movement jumps.

The leader of any angle or movement group flies belly-to-earth, angles are never led from the back. Navigation is flown off ground references that only a belly-to-earth flyer can reliably see; back-flying in an angle group is a follower skill flown in slot, not a leading position (APF006 §5.12 “The lead flyer must always fly belly to earth”; Leading Workshop –).

The FFP does not recommend solo movement jumps: movement skill is uniquely hard to self-assess (“you don’t know what you don’t know”, Leading Workshop), and a structured, led jump is safer and faster to learn from than an unstructured one (Leading Workshop).

Environment: sky. The tunnel cannot evidence this unit, there is no jump run, no wind layer and no navigation in a tunnel, though tunnel belly/back time is valuable body-position preparation and tunnel footage is welcome evidence for the coach.

Supervision (scaffold stage): coach-led → coach as reference in the group.

Pre-requisite units

FFP-F100 (Establish freefly foundations), supplies the freefly-safe gear audit, exit-order and separation logic, breakoff doctrine, back-fly control and altitude-device discipline this unit builds on.

RPL route into the unit: national licence evidence of belly-tracking capability (e.g. APF Certificate Class B “capable tracking and deployment skills”; British Skydiving B licence with FS aerial awareness) plus one challenge jump against FFP-F100 air criteria.

Elements and performance criteria

1. Plan the jump

1.1

State the jump's single declared objective and success criteria.

1.2

Identify the day's jump run direction and the forecast winds in the three briefing categories, freefall, canopy and landing.

1.3

With the leader, state the flight plan: direction off jump run (90° guide), the planned opening area, and the left-behind plan.

1.4

State the breakoff and deployment altitudes (guide: 5,000 ft for groups up to a 4-way; 5,500 ft for 5 or more; most groups now brief 5,500 ft regardless of size), the fan needs time to settle, separate and decelerate before anyone deploys.

1.5

Confirm the jump is led belly-to-earth by a coach or a leader trained and approved for movement jumps, and has been declared to manifest/DZ operations, a movement group's safety case rests on its leader's navigation, and navigation is flown from the belly.

2. Prepare

2.1

Complete a movement-specific gear check on self and partner (hand-deploy BOC or pull-out, bridle fully covered, tight riser covers, closing loop, handles, helmet, visual altimeter, audible set and functioning).

2.2

Brief and dirt-dive with the leader: exit and slot, levels and burble offsets, heading discipline, the left-behind plan, and the breakoff fan, walking the breakoff with eye contact on the people beside you.

2.3

Confirm exit order and separation with the load, identifying every other movement group and its planned direction (counting novice solo freeflyers as moving groups).

3. Perform

3.1

Exit and establish a stable belly track on the leader's line within 5 seconds, accelerating progressively off the hill (no early brakes).

3.2

Fly on level with the leader, a straight line through the heads, taking the level first, then closing distance.

3.3

Close to the briefed slot at docking distance without overshoot: aim ahead of the group (never at it), cut the distance in half and re-set, and only fly as fast as you can think.

3.4

Hold the group heading within ±45° throughout, side-sliding to adjust position.

3.5

Match the leader's speed and pitch through line changes on flat-to-shallow angles, holding the slot.

3.6

On back-track jumps, hold the slot below and slightly behind the belly-flying leader, using the leader as the directional reference.

3.7

Identify the jump run direction and at least one briefed ground reference during the working track, and report own position picture in the debrief.

3.8

If left behind, hold the group's heading and keep closing correctly until about 7,000 ft, then hold the distance and break off on the group's timing, never turn away onto a personal jump and never break off early and blind: an off-plan flyer in movement airspace is the collision nobody's plan can see.

3.9

Recover from any instability by re-adding speed on the group's heading, never ball up, never track away; stay with the group until breakoff (a flyer who leaves the group becomes untracked traffic for the whole load).

4. Complete

4.1

Break off with the group at the briefed altitude: look first, then peel off flat (turning from the hips, not the shoulders) to no more than the briefed fan angle (≤90° guide), never turn in place, and never turn 180° back toward jump run: the leader continues straight as everyone's reference, and a reversed or stationary flyer is on a collision line with the flyers behind.

4.2

Accelerate on the diverging line, then flatten progressively, converting speed into separation before deployment.

4.3

Check airspace in all directions before deploying, assume somebody is there; from a back track, roll belly-to-earth only when on a clear trajectory with no one above.

4.4

Deploy at the planned altitude within the planned opening area.

4.5

After opening, hold position until the other groups' canopies are seen open before flying back toward jump run; then fly the planned canopy path to the holding area.

5. Review

5.1

Debrief with the leader against the declared objective, talking through own decision-making over the jump video: how aware were you of heading, turns and altitude, and why did you fly what you flew.

5.2

Draw the flown path on the DZ map and compare it with the plan (and with the GPS trace, where one was worn).

5.3

Identify one fault and its correction for the next jump.

5.4

Log the jump with criteria results.

Bold criteria are safety-critical: non-compensable (any Not Yet Satisfactory = unit Not Yet Competent, regardless of flying quality).

Foundation skills

• Numeracy for altitudes, wind speeds and drift.
• DZ map reading and ground-reference orientation (compass points, landmarks, distances).
• Briefing communication, stating a flight plan, jump run picture and breakoff clearly.
• Self-management under task load (heading, level and altitude awareness held simultaneously).
• Teamwork in a led group, flying your role in someone else’s plan and holding it under pressure.

Performance evidence (suggested sufficiency — a guide to how long it might take; adjust locally)

• Ability evidenced across at least 6 coached movement jumps (guide), 2-ways with a movement-trained coach or slots in leader-led small groups, belly-track jumps first, adding back-track jumps once the belly criteria are consistently met (guide: at least 2 back-track jumps), across at least two different days and upper-wind conditions, including at least 2 consecutive jumps meeting all criteria without coach assistance.
• Within a recommended 6-month currency window.

Tunnel time does not substitute for jumps in this unit, there is no jump run, wind or navigation in a tunnel, but tunnel belly/back records and footage are welcome evidence of body-position readiness and will shorten the series in practice.

Knowledge evidence

• Explain why the FFP’s recommended path into angles is coached: movement-jump skill is uniquely hard to self-assess (“the fastest you’ve gone felt really fast”, you don’t know what you don’t know), novices should not jump with each other until specifically trained, and a structured led jump beats an unstructured one.
• Explain why angles are led from the belly only and never from the back, the leader navigates off ground references only a belly-to-earth flyer can reliably see, and a back-flying leader loses navigation and group awareness at once.
• State that back-flying in an angle group is a follower skill flown in slot.
• Describe the movement-specific gear check and why each item matters, at track speeds an exposed bridle or pin is a premature-deployment/horseshoe risk, and the audible backs up altitude awareness under navigation task load (APF006 §3.1).
• State the breakoff guides, 5,000 ft up to a 4-way, 5,500 ft for 5 or more, with most groups now briefing 5,500 ft regardless, and the principles behind them: stop work at least 1,000 ft above planned deployment, make the last turn by ~7,000–7,500 ft, and never break off in a turn, a group still in motion at breakoff is where the collisions happen.
  • in Australia this separation is mandatory, the APF Operational Regulations; the APF educational minima are 4,500 ft for a 2-way and 5,000 ft for 3 or more, APF006 §3.3.
• Describe the peel-off fan: leader continues straight (the reference line, never killing speed), outer flyers turn furthest, everyone ≤90°, look before turning, flat hip turns, then a progressive flatten that converts vertical speed into horizontal separation, “breakoff is not a race, it’s a basketball game”, and before deploying check airspace in all directions, always assuming somebody is there.
  • From a back track, stay on the back until the trajectory is clear with no one above, then roll to belly (USPA SIM 5-10.E).
• State, as briefing knowledge for larger jumps later in the progression, the orientation evidence: head-up flying buys almost no breakoff separation, so in groups of 6 or more be head-first by ~6,500–7,000 ft (Carlton GPS data).
• Explain heading discipline: never turn 180° from the group’s heading even if you believe no one is behind you, off-heading collisions carry the highest closing speeds, and why “the tighter we are, the safer we are”: deliberately creating separation inside a moving group creates closing speeds, and closing speed, not proximity, is what kills.
• Explain the left-behind protocol: hold heading, keep closing correctly, stop closing by ~7,000 ft, break off on the group’s timing rather than its altitude.
• Explain recovery on a movement jump: re-add speed on the group’s heading, never ball up, never track away (APF006 §4.3 “Do not track away!”).
• Explain drift and exit order: belly groups drift more because they are in freefall longer, not because of orientation.
  • Separation is judged by ground covered, never a fixed count of seconds.
  • Movement groups fly perpendicular to jump run, two movement groups fly opposite directions, no movement group exits immediately after another, and about two movement groups per load is the working guide, with every movement plan declared to manifest so groups deconflict before boarding.
  • Angle groups do not claim tracker exit priority, an angle dive falls at freefly rates and covers less than half a flat track’s distance (the “horizontal flight problem”).
• State the hold-after-opening rule: do not fly back toward jump run until the other groups’ canopies are seen open.
• Explain the flags model: incidents come from accumulations of small factors, not one big one, count the flags (winds, other groups, group size, your own inexperience with today’s conditions) and simplify or stand down as they stack.
  • “there is no flag that’s too small.” Describe the modern body-position model: tracking and angle flying are one neutral position, lift from engaged shins and lifted hips, to which brakes or speed are applied.
  • The old brakes-on “angle pose” is a legacy misunderstanding, and flat-and-fast is the learning default.
  • If you have access to a GPS: flat tracks descend around 130–180 km/h (a good flat tracker gets below ~140 km/h), and steepening angles run to 300+ km/h, a worn GPS turns every jump into a plan-versus-flown lesson, but few jumpers fly one and none of this unit requires it.
• Explain, as risk education rather than encouragement, what a solo tracker takes on where regulation permits it: the whole corridor perpendicular to jump run, both sides, is theirs to deconflict, they carry no group redundancy on altitude devices, and they must be able to identify jump run unaided.
  • This is why the FFP-recommended path is coached.

Assessment conditions

Sky jumps from a recommended 10,000 ft minimum, manifested and declared as movement jumps; every assessment jump led belly-to-earth by the assessing coach or a trained/approved leader; conditions within the candidate’s cleared limits, with upper winds known before boarding.

Video evidence is deliberately light for this tier: helmet-mounted footage showing the candidate’s heading and stability is sufficient, with the candidate talking the coach through their decision-making on it (heading awareness, turns, altitude checks); leader- or outside-flown video is used where available, and tunnel footage is welcome supporting evidence of body position.

• A GPS trace supports the plan-versus-flown debrief where the candidate has access to one.
• It is not required. Required equipment: visual altimeter.
• Functioning audible set to the briefed altitudes (second audible recommended).
• AAD recommended.
• Movement-suitable gear per the FFP-F100 audit.

Assessor: a coach current in movement-jump coaching, using the published FFP-AN101 checklist, each criterion marked Satisfactory / Not Yet Satisfactory; unit result Competent / Not Yet Competent.

Coaching priorities

Deliver in the project’s priority order: Safety → Fun → Learning (curriculum Part A0). Safety criteria are non-compensable; the session is designed to be enjoyable, participants choose this expensive hobby, and enjoyment sustains both the student and the sport.

On movement jumps fun is doing real safety work: a flyer who enjoys coached angle jumps stays inside the trained-leader system instead of going “full send” with mates in unled groups, exactly the unstructured jumping this unit exists to replace.

Debriefs run safety points first, then celebrate what worked (a held slot or a matched plan-versus-flown map is a visible win), then one improvement focus; one declared objective per jump keeps the cognitive load light; end on a win.

RPL evidence set

• For experienced entrants, the following alternative evidence is suggested in place of the full jump series: (1) logbook evidence of coached or leader-led movement jumps (guide: 15+, with leaders’ names, dates and drop zones).
• (2) helmet or outside video showing on-level slot flying, heading discipline and a clean fan breakoff, talked through with the assessor (decision-making narration, as above).
• (3) recognised national grades, British Skydiving TR1 + TR2 map directly onto this unit’s belly/back scope, and an Australian drop zone safety officer tracking/angles logbook endorsement is strong supporting evidence.
• And (4) one challenge jump, a led 2-way flown against the full criteria, including the pre-jump plan statement (element 1) and the plan-versus-flown debrief (element 5).

The challenge jump is retained in every route: flying your role in a leader’s plan is the unit’s core and is demonstrated live.

Sources