Angles 201 — Fly angles in a belly slot

The checklist

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.

Criteria in bold are safety-critical: they protect the flyer and everyone else on the load. A coach should not sign off the course while a bold criterion is Not Yet Satisfactory, however good the rest of the flying. Outside a course they are strongly recommended practice. Regulation stays with your federation and your drop zone.

Assessment conditions

• Sky jumps from 10,000 ft or higher (recommended).
• Groups of 2–3, including the assessor or leader, who flies belly to earth in the lead slot on every jump.
• Conditions within the flyer’s cleared limits, with the upper winds and any other movement groups on the load briefed.
• Footage of every assessment jump from any workable source: leader-flown, outside camera or helmet-mounted, with the flyer identifiable. The flyer talks the assessor through their heading, level, slot and altitude decisions.
• Equipment: a visual altimeter, a working audible (a second is recommended), an AAD (recommended), and gear suited to movement jumps: hand-deploy pilot chute pouch or pull-out, bridle fully covered, tight riser covers and secure handles. A GPS log is optional and useful feedback.
• Assessed on belly-slot jumps only. The back-fly slot is assessed separately in Angles 203, and a result in one does not count toward the other.
• The assessor is a freefly coach or a trained, approved angle leader, current in angle coaching.
• Each criterion is marked Satisfactory or Not Yet Satisfactory.
• As a guide, it takes about 4 coached angle jumps, across at least two days or conditions within six months.
• Tunnel belly carving can stand in for up to two practice jumps, but the final two are sky jumps.
• If you already fly belly slots on angles, your coach can assess you on one jump, backed by your logbook and leader endorsements, British Skydiving TR1 and TR2, a drop zone angles endorsement or footage.

Coaching priorities

• Safety first, then fun, then learning. Never trade heading, left-behind or breakoff discipline for slot quality or for getting more jumps done.
• Plan sessions to be enjoyable. Flat and fast jumps are fun at every level (“when in doubt, flat and fast”), and a plan-B jump is still a good skydive. Flyers choose this expensive hobby, and enjoying it keeps them in the sport.
• Enjoyable coached jumps also keep flyers in led groups, and unled beginner groups are where the recorded incidents happen.
• Set one objective per jump, and end each debrief on something that went well, with one thing to improve.

• APF Freefly and Angles Guide (APF006, August 2023): equipment, planning and the jump (§3), recovery (§4.3), belly before back, the angle definition and speeds, head-first exits, the progressive peel-off, cautionary notes and safe zones (§5), and the Angles Level 1 training table (§8.7).
• The Leading Workshop (Modern Skydiving Concepts, 2021), sessions A to C: level, slot and dock on movement jumps, quadrants, the burble, closing in halves, heading discipline, the left-behind plan, in-slot recovery, the breakoff fan and flatten, clearing the air, holding after opening, and leading from the belly.
• Newcastle Sport Parachute Club, Hunter Valley angle and movement jump guidelines: movement groups per load, the leader’s navigation brief with the load master, cloud, leaders approved and flying belly, and beginner group sizes for belly and back.
• USPA Skydiver’s Information Manual (2026, sections 5-10 and 4-7): movement lanes and groups flying opposite directions.
• British Skydiving Tracking Progression Manual: the TR grades, the 45° limit and the leader flying belly to earth.
• Skydive Arizona and Skydive Spaceland approved-leader policies: leaders on their bellies, and angle groups placed separately from tracking groups in the exit order.
• Joyriders (Har-Noy), “Covering All the Angles”: levels, quadrants, catching up on heading and leading from the belly.
• Alethia Austin, “Freefly Breakoff”: progressive fanning, and pulling early as a failed breakoff.
• Jon Burke, “The Horizontal Flight Problem”: angle groups and tracking groups in the exit order.
• Jake Carlton, “Head Up Angles and the Breakoff Problem”: GPS separation data on head-up and head-first breakoffs.
• Articles by Folgerts, Miilumäki and Corby: exit technique and braking too early, the speed ranges and staying open in recovery, and back-to-belly transitions at breakoff.
• IBA belly and back carving as tunnel preparation.
• APF Operational Regulations (V01-2026), as jurisdictional context.

Regulations change, so each rule is given with its document edition, as context for where you jump.

• Australia (APF), Operational Regulations V01-2026. A Certificate Class B holder may take part in tracking descents of up to 3-way (OR 9.9.2(b)). Angles at Cert B are CI-approved training descents only (OR 9.9.1), and Angles 101 is designed to meet that training course where a CI adopts it.
• At Certificate Class C, DZSO-approved angle groups larger than 3-way are available (OR 9.9.2(c)). Leaders are an approved Freefly Coach, or a Cert C holder approved by the DZSO at the drop zone where the jump is made (OR 9.9.3(a)).
• Before the jump, participants show the DZSO a clear flight-path plan and an understanding of the current jump run (OR 9.9.2(d)(i)).
• Groups separate at least 1,000 ft above deployment (OR 9.1.4, mandatory). The APF Freefly and Angles Guide gives breakoff minimums of 4,500 ft and 5,000 ft.
• This course is built on the APF Freefly and Angles Guide’s Angles Level 1 training table (APF006 §8.7): at most 3-way including the Freefly Coach or DZSO-approved leader, angles up to about 60°, a minimum of 3 jumps showing consistency, and sign-off for each body orientation. The group flies at the angle set by its least experienced jumper.
• The assessor is an APF Freefly Coach or a DZSO-approved leader (OR 9.9.3). Results for each orientation are recorded toward the written logbook endorsement in OR 9.9.2(c)(ii).
• UK (British Skydiving). No angle steeper than 45° in any group whose flyers do not hold, or are not training for, TR3. A British Skydiving TR coach is the equivalent assessor.
• Elsewhere. A national or drop-zone equivalent, such as the approved-leader schemes at Skydive Spaceland and Skydive Arizona, which apply the same trained-leader model as drop-zone policy.

Acronym key. APF, Australian Parachute Federation. OR, the APF Operational Regulations. CI, chief instructor. DZSO, drop zone safety officer. TR, a British Skydiving tracking grade.