Angles 201 — Fly angles in a belly slot

Application

Covers flying a belly follower slot in a 2–3-way angle (movement) jump behind a trained leader: exits, quadrant entry, getting on level, closing to docking distance, briefed docks and transitions over the body, speed and pitch changes, heading discipline, the left-behind protocol, in-slot recovery, breakoff and post-opening discipline.

Belly and back-fly are trained and assessed as two separate evidence streams, recommended order belly first. This unit is the belly stream; the back-fly stream is FFP-AN203. A Satisfactory belly stream does not credit the back-fly stream, and vice versa. The split follows the APF signing off per body orientation (APF006 §8.7).

Angle groups are never led from the back, the leader flies belly-to-earth on every jump. Navigation and ground reference come from the belly, and a back-flying “leader” cannot reliably see where the group is going.

Every jump in this unit is flown behind a freefly coach or a trained/approved angle leader. The Freefly Project does not recommend learner-organised or unled angle jumps at any point in the progression. Structured, led movement jumps are the safety mechanism that replaces the unstructured beginner angle jumps where the incidents happen.

Angles are flown flat to moderate, and flat and fast by default; the leader always sets the angle to the least experienced flyer. Flat, fast angles are the contemporary learning environment: safer breakoffs, no popcorning, and the micro-input laboratory where technique is built.

Environment: sky, with tunnel belly/back carving as preparation.

Pre-requisite units

FFP-F100, FFP-AN101 (coached tracking and navigation, tracking fundamentals built in 2-ways with a coach or trained leader). RPL route: British Skydiving TR1 + TR2 (or national equivalent), or logbook plus footage of coached belly and back tracking with heading control, plus one challenge jump against the FFP-AN101 criteria.

Elements and performance criteria

1. Plan the jump

1.1

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

1.2

Honestly represent own currency and orientation competence to the leader, and confirm the planned angle and speed are set to the least experienced flyer (flat and fast by default).

1.3

Restate the leader's briefed plan before boarding: jump run direction, the flight path and own slot and quadrant, plan B, and the left-behind protocol.

1.4

State the breakoff and deployment altitudes and the lost-flyer plan: breakoff guide 5,000 ft for groups up to 4-way, 5,500 ft for 5 and larger (most modern jumpers plan 5,500 ft for movement jumps of any size), separating at least 1,000 ft above planned deployment. Movement-jump separation is designed on the ground, not improvised in the air.

2. Prepare

2.1

Complete a movement-jump gear check on self and cross-check the group: hand-deploy BOC or pull-out, bridle fully covered, tight riser covers and closing loop, secure handles and clothing, helmet, audible set and functioning. Audibles fail silently, and an angle breakoff depends on hearing yours.

2.2

Walk the dive with the group, including the breakoff fan with eye contact between neighbouring flyers, the first time you see the flyer on your breakoff line should not be in freefall.

2.3

Confirm exit order with the load and identify any other movement groups and their declared directions.

3. Perform

3.1

Exit head-first into the relative wind, establish the belly orientation, and accelerate off the hill to the group's speed without braking early.

3.2

Fly to the assigned quadrant first, get on level, a straight line through the group's heads, and only then close the distance; never approach from below and behind through the burble.

3.3

Close in stages, aiming ahead of the formation (never at it), halving the distance and re-setting speed and angle each time, flying no faster than you can think.

3.4

Hold the assigned slot at docking distance on level and on the group's heading within ±45°, for the majority of the working time.

3.5

Follow the leader through briefed speed and pitch changes, re-establishing level and slot.

3.6

Take the briefed dock without changing the leader's speed or pitch, and transition over the top of the body to the opposite slot, never dropping a shoulder underneath.

3.7

Keep the body pointed on the group's heading at all times when displaced, side-slide to close, turn with the group if it turns toward you, and never turn 180° from the group's heading or back toward the jump run, because off-heading collisions are the collisions that kill.

3.8

If left behind, keep flying the group's heading and closing correctly; stop closing by ~7,000–7,500 ft, hold the distance, and break off on the group's timing, not its altitude, because the classic pull-time collision is a trailing flyer still closing while the group slows to deploy.

3.9

Execute in-slot recovery immediately on any instability: keep speed on the group's direction and angle, never ball up, never track away; re-approach only when stable, and if separation persists, follow the group at a distance until breakoff.

4. Complete

4.1

Initiate breakoff at the briefed altitude (−0/+300 ft as a working guide).

4.2

Look before turning, then fan away from the centre line in the briefed order, turning flat from the hips, no more than ~90° off the group's heading, never turning in place and never toward the jump run, always assuming somebody is exactly where you are about to go.

4.3

Accelerate flat to build separation, then flatten and decelerate progressively before deployment, angle speeds sit outside the deployment envelope, and a gradual flatten converts vertical speed into horizontal separation; snapping flat kills both.

4.4

Visually clear airspace in all directions before deploying at the planned altitude, by looking under the arms and between the legs, or a clean transition to the back (a barrel roll only if smooth and reliable), never treating the deployment itself as clearing airspace: pulling dumps fabric into the airspace, it does not clear it.

4.5

After opening, hold position and heading until the other groups' canopies are seen open before flying toward the jump run, and keep heading discipline in the first seconds under canopy, post-breakoff wraps come from two flyers turning toward each other immediately after opening.

5. Review

5.1

Debrief against the declared objective using the available footage (leader-flown, outside or helmet-mounted), talking the coach through own heading, level, slot and altitude decisions.

5.2

If you have access to a GPS, compare the flown trace against the briefed plan.

5.3

Identify one fault and its correction for the next jump, and log the jump with criteria results against the belly stream.

Bold criteria are safety-critical: non-compensable, any Not Yet Satisfactory on one of them makes the unit Not Yet Competent, however good the rest of the flying.

Foundation skills

• Briefing comprehension and read-back (restating a flight plan accurately).
• Shared movement vocabulary (movement jumps, levels, slots, quadrants, docking distance, getting on level).
• Altitude, speed and separation numeracy.
• Honest self-assessment (answering “how close do you fly to your leader?” with evidence, and demonstrating the body position on the ground).
• Self-management under stress, holding heading and discipline while left behind, and in-slot recovery instead of flight.

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

Ability evidenced across around 4 coached 2–3-way angle jumps behind a trained/approved leader, flown in the belly slot. The APF Freefly and Angles Guide Angles Level 1 guide is a minimum of 3 jumps showing consistency, signed off per body orientation; the back-fly stream is evidenced separately in FFP-AN203.

Tunnel belly carving may inform and substitute for up to two skill-development jumps, not the assessment jumps.

The evidence should also include:

• at least two different days/conditions.
• at least 2 consecutive jumps meeting all criteria without coach assistance.
• All within a recommended 6-month currency window.

No jump in this unit is flown without a trained/approved leader flying belly-to-earth in the lead slot.

Knowledge evidence

At this tier the candidate is asked to state, describe, explain and analyse:

• Breakoff guides: state the guides for movement jumps, 5,000 ft up to 4-way, 5,500 ft for 5 and larger, noting most modern jumpers plan 5,500 ft regardless of group size, and the principle of separating at least 1,000 ft above planned deployment.
• Closing speed: explain why closing speed, not proximity, causes movement-jump collisions, and why the group flies at docking distance even when not docking.
  • Distance invites closing speed: “the tighter we are, the safer we are”.
• Gear: describe the movement-jump gear check and why each item matters, including the audible check protocol. Audibles fail silently, and an angle breakoff depends on hearing yours.
• Burble geometry: explain it on an angle, the burble trails up-and-back; flatter angles enlarge it; belly flyers sit level and slightly ahead. The back-fly slot geometry is covered in FFP-AN203.
• Leadership: explain why angle groups are only ever led from the belly and why learners fly angles only behind trained/approved leaders.
  • The leader’s job is to bring everybody safely to the ground.
  • Incidents come from an accumulation of small flags rather than one big cause, and an unled beginner angle group is exactly that accumulation.
• Left behind: explain the doctrine, break off on the group’s timing, not its altitude, and why breaking off early and high means losing sight of everyone (“blind in the sky”).
• Heading: explain why you never turn 180° from the group’s heading and never count on vertical separation.
• In-slot recovery: explain why the response to instability is speed on the group’s direction and angle, never balling up and never tracking away (“Do not track away!”).
• Clearing airspace: explain why pulling does not clear airspace and how to clear airspace before deployment from the belly.
• Movement lanes: describe the logic, fly perpendicular to jump run.
  • Two movement groups fly opposite directions.
  • An angle group is not a tracking group for exit-order purposes.
  • Angle groups fall at freefly rates with roughly half a tracking group’s horizontal coverage.
• After opening: describe the hold-after-opening rule, do not fly toward jump run until the other groups’ canopies are seen open.
• GPS speed bands: if you have access to a GPS, state the reference bands, a flat track descends around 180 km/h with around 160 km/h (100 mph) horizontal achievable, steep angles descend at 300+ km/h, and how a dropped flyer uses pitch to re-join within the band.
• Breakoff orientation: state, as briefing knowledge for the larger groups this unit leads toward, the evidence, head-up breakoffs generate far less separation than head-first, and GPS data argues groups of 6+ should be head-first by ~6,500–7,000 ft.
• Footage analysis: analyse own footage against the line-through-heads test to diagnose a level, quadrant or heading fault.

Assessment conditions

Sky jumps from a recommended 10,000 ft minimum. Group size 2–3 including the assessor/leader, who flies belly-to-earth in the lead slot on every jump. Conditions within the candidate’s cleared limits, with upper winds and any other movement groups on the load briefed.

Footage of assessment jumps from any workable source, leader-flown, outside camera or helmet-mounted, candidate identifiable, supported by the candidate talking the assessor through their heading, level, slot and altitude decisions.

Required equipment: visual altimeter, functioning audible (second audible recommended), AAD recommended, movement-suitable gear (hand-deploy BOC or pull-out, bridle fully covered, tight riser covers, secure handles). A GPS log is optional but valuable feedback where available.

Assessed on belly-slot jumps; the back-fly stream is assessed separately under FFP-AN203. Assessor: a freefly coach or trained/approved angle leader current in angle coaching, using the published FFP-AN201 checklist (Satisfactory / Not Yet Satisfactory per criterion).

Coaching priorities

Deliver in the project’s priority order: Safety → Fun → Learning (curriculum Part A0). Safety criteria are non-compensable, the coach never trades heading, left-behind or breakoff discipline for slot quality or jump throughput.

The coach designs the session to be enjoyable, flat and fast jumps are fun at every level (“when in doubt, flat and fast”), plan-B jumps are still great skydives, and participants choose this expensive hobby: enjoyment sustains both the student and the sport.

Enjoyment also does safety work here: many flyers learn angles informally with friends, coaching is chosen, and unled beginner groups are where the documented incidents happen. End each debrief on a win with one improvement focus.

RPL evidence set

• Alternative evidence for experienced entrants (any combination satisfying the same criteria): logbook showing coached movement jumps flown in the belly slot behind trained/approved leaders, with leader endorsements.
• British Skydiving TR1 + TR2 grades (TR3 where steeper work is evidenced) or national equivalent.
• An existing drop zone safety officer tracking/angles logbook endorsement.
• Tunnel records of sustained belly carving across a speed range.
• A footage portfolio with talk-through passing the line-through-heads test, ideally including a visible recovery or re-join.
• Plus one challenge jump in the belly slot behind a qualifying leader/assessor against the Element 3–4 criteria under the assessment conditions above.

Sources