Angles 203 — Fly angles in a back-fly slot

The checklist

1. Plan the jump

1.1

State the jump's single declared objective and success criteria for the back-fly stream.

1.2

Honestly represent own currency and back-fly 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.

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 back-fly orientation, and accelerate off the hill to the group's speed without braking early.

3.2

Fly to the assigned quadrant first and get on level, 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 back-fly slot below and slightly behind the leader's line with a lateral offset, never letting the legs pass the leader's head, keeping visual on the leader throughout.

3.5

Hold that slot at docking distance for at least 10 seconds, on the group's heading within ±45°.

3.6

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

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.

3.10

Transition between the back-fly and belly slots on the briefed key, remaining on level and in slot through the change.

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

Roll from back to belly only once established on a clear trajectory with no one above.

4.4

Accelerate flat to build separation, then flatten and decelerate progressively before deployment.

4.5

Visually clear airspace in all directions before deploying at the planned altitude, never treating the deployment itself as clearing airspace: pulling dumps fabric into the airspace, it does not clear it.

4.6

After opening, hold position and heading until the other groups' canopies are seen open before flying toward the jump run.

5. Review

5.1

Debrief against the declared objective using the available footage, talking the coach through own heading, level, slot and altitude decisions.

5.2

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

Criteria in bold are safety-critical: they protect the flyer and everyone else in the group. 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. No jump in this course is flown without a trained, approved leader in that slot.
• Conditions within the flyer’s cleared limits, with upper winds and any other movement groups on the load briefed.
• Footage of every assessment jump from any workable source, with the flyer identifiable. The flyer talks the assessor through their decisions.
• The back-fly slot is assessed on its own. A Satisfactory belly result under Angles 201 does not count here, and this result does not count for the belly.
• Tunnel back carving can replace up to two practice jumps, never the assessment jumps.
• The assessor is a freefly coach current in angles coaching.
• Each criterion is marked Satisfactory or Not Yet Satisfactory.
• As a guide, it takes about four coached jumps, over at least two days or sets of conditions within six months.
• Back carving in the tunnel can replace up to two of the practice jumps, but the final two are sky jumps.
• If you already fly the back-fly slot, your coach can assess you from your logbook and video of coached back-fly angle jumps, or on two jumps against the checklist.

Coaching priorities

Safety first, then fun, then learning. Hold the bold criteria to the standard above. The back-fly slot is the first time a flyer has the group above and behind them. The common fault is drifting up into the leader’s line, so coach the offset before the closeness. 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), in-slot recovery (§4.3), belly before back (§5.2), breakoff and never turning in place (§5.10), and the Angles Level 1 training table with its sign-off per body orientation (§8.7).
• The Leading Workshop (Modern Skydiving Concepts, 2021): back-fly offsets and keeping your legs behind the leader’s head, quadrant then level then close, the left-behind plan, the breakoff fan, pulling and clearing airspace, and holding after opening.
• USPA Skydiver’s Information Manual 5-10: movement jump heading, and the back-flyer’s roll to belly at breakoff.
• British Skydiving Tracking Progression Manual: the leader flying belly to earth.
• Skydive Arizona and Skydive Spaceland approved-leader policies.
• Mikko Miilumäki on angle exits and staying open when unstable, and Corby on back-to-belly transitions at breakoff.
• Newcastle Sport Parachute Club, Hunter Valley angle and movement jump guidelines: movement groups per load, cloud, the leader’s approval and orientation, the load master briefing, and beginner group sizes for belly and back.
• The Freefly Project’s movement-jump breakoff guides and the leader-on-the-belly rule.
• APF Operational Regulations (V01-2026) and British Skydiving guidance, as jurisdictional context. IBA back carving as tunnel preparation.

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

• Australia (APF). This course is built on the RBT Angles Level 1 table (APF006 §8.7): at most a 3-way including the Freefly Coach or DZSO-approved leader, angles up to about 60°, signed off per body orientation.
• 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 (OR 9.9.1).
• At Certificate Class C, DZSO-approved angles 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 that drop zone (OR 9.9.3(a)).
• Participants show the DZSO a clear flight-path plan and an understanding of the current jump run before the jump (OR 9.9.2(d)(i)). Groups separate at least 1,000 ft above deployment (OR 9.1.4).
• The assessor, in Australia, is an approved Freefly Coach or a Cert C holder approved by the DZSO.
• Hunter Valley (Newcastle Sport Parachute Club) sets as local rules: at most two movement groups per load without DZSO approval, no movement jumps in or near cloud, a DZSO-approved leader on the belly, and beginner angles of three at most including the coach, for belly and back separately.
• UK. The TR grades govern. Back work needs TR2, and angles steeper than 45° need TR3. The group flies at the angle of its least experienced jumper.

Acronym key. APF, Australian Parachute Federation. RBT, the recommended basic training tables in the APF Freefly and Angles Guide. OR, the APF Operational Regulations. CI, chief instructor. DZSO, drop zone safety officer. TR, the British Skydiving tracking grades.