Dynamic 301 — Fly dynamic lines

Application

Covers flying dynamic lines: follow-the-leader movement jumps that chain carve segments, in-line belly↔back transitions and through-vertical passes behind a belly-flying leader who manages the line’s angle, tempo and speed.

Applies to flyers holding the dynamic entry gate (DY 201) who are combining orientation and movement skills while managing their position in a moving group, the articulation stage of the skill ladder. The primary role is follower (line integrity, level discipline, transition replication); candidates also fly the belly-lead line for single briefed segments under coach supervision (scaffold stage: coach passive → peers → leading a segment).

Environment: sky, with tunnel dynamic drills as preparation for transition mechanics, navigation, group flow and breakoff are sky-only skills. Dynamic flying is conducted small: start at 2-way, build to 3-way, then 4-way, group sizes 2–4 are the guide for this unit.

Anything over 6 is highly advanced, is not safe for a pickup group and is best avoided; that scale belongs to dedicated competition-style teams working up incrementally, not a weekend load. Mastery-track note: the Dynamic track carries no sign-off, completion of this unit is a milestone, not a permission, and its prerequisites are course-internal safety gates.

• Published movement-jump policies restrict back-flying leaders (brief moments by highly experienced flyers only, or a belly-flying mirror for any back-flying leader).
• The FFP model resolves this by keeping the lead on belly at all times, the belly flyer at the front of the line is always the leader, and a line that passes through vertical carries two approved leaders who hand the lead across at the pass, so the belly leader is the mirror.

Check and follow local movement-jump policy before briefing dynamic lines.

Pre-requisite units

FFP-DY201 (the dynamic safety gate, carrying, for through-vertical lines, head-down-crest-level competence for all participants, competence in both belly and back, and the demonstrated belly→back bail-out transition), FFP-AN201. RPL route: see the RPL evidence set; the DY 201 pre-dynamic evaluation jump is recommended for every entrant regardless of route.

Elements and performance criteria

1. Plan the jump

1.1

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

1.2

Plan the line as a briefed sequence of segments and transitions, fixing where each transition happens by landmark reference.

1.3

Match group size, steepness and transition count to the least-experienced flyer (transition count as the difficulty dial: 0 / 1–3 / 4+ guide).

1.4

Confirm every participant's dynamic gate (DY 201), currency and orientation competence against the planned line.

1.5

Design the flight path clear of jump run and other groups' airspace, with planned opening points and a backup plan for weather or jump-run changes.

1.6

State the breakoff and deployment altitudes, the single-breakoff fan-out plan, and the lost-leader protocol.

2. Prepare

2.1

Complete a freefly-specific gear check on self and a cross-check of one other flyer (handles, BOC, riser covers, closing loop, helmet, audible set and functioning; a second audible recommended).

2.2

Brief and walk the full line in the dirt dive, segments, transitions at their landmarks, tempo, and each flyer's slot.

2.3

Confirm exit order, separation and the planned flight path with the load, manifest and any other movement groups.

2.4

Confirm the abort criteria for any through-vertical pass and the bail-out protocol with every participant.

3. Perform

3.1

Exit and join the line in the briefed slot and starting orientation without passing the leader.

3.2

Hold the briefed slot and level through straight segments, matching the leader's speed and pitch (entering the leader's zone, no line busts).

3.3

Replicate each of the leader's transitions with the same orientation and path, at the briefed landmark (no trick busts).

3.4

Clear own airspace visually before every transition, no blind transitions.

3.5

Control closing speed along the line, slowing, never turning 180° from the group heading, if overtaking the leader or the group.

3.6

Carve in the briefed direction and arc through carve segments, holding own lane clear of other flyers' burbles.

3.7

Recover in slot on any instability, never track away, rejoining the line only when stable and on level.

3.8

Execute the lost-leader protocol immediately on losing sight of the leader: transition belly to back, turn onto a back angle, and follow the group from below.

3.9

Lead one briefed line segment from the belly-lead position under coach supervision, managing angle, tempo and speed so the group stays cohesive and on the planned flight path, the lead never leaves belly: at a through-vertical pass, hand the lead across to the new belly flyer, who owns navigation and abort from the start of the vertical segment and pulls the group onto the new line, taking turn-radius (arc) ownership with the lead; if the receiving leader is lost before the handover, the pass is aborted with no back-flying substitute (the DY 201 leadership edge cases apply, see FFP-DY201).

3.10

Shallow or slow the line when followers lose cohesion, re-forming the group before resuming the planned sequence.

3.11

Abort any planned through-vertical pass when the group is not in slot on the angle, pulling the line back out instead.

4. Complete

4.1

Initiate breakoff at the briefed altitude (within −0/+300 ft).

4.2

Fan out on the briefed arc line and track, completing any back-to-belly transition only on a clear trajectory with no one above, checking airspace.

4.3

Deploy at the planned altitude after clearing airspace.

4.4

Fly the agreed canopy separation plan, holding off the jump-run line until airspace is confirmed clear.

5. Review

5.1

Debrief against the declared objective using video, marking line busts (zone/level misses) and trick busts (transition misses).

5.2

Identify one line-integrity fault and one transition fault, with corrections for the next jump.

5.3

Log the jump with criteria results and a reflection naming the unit and skills assessed (e.g. "FFP-DY301 dynamic line, led one belly segment, one trick bust on the pass"), entries like this make the logbook a meaningful training record.

Bold criteria are safety-critical. Within FFP courses they are treated as non-compensable (any Not Yet Satisfactory = unit Not Yet Competent), strongly recommended best-practice standards with the risk reasoning stated, not regulations.

Foundation skills

• Group briefing and landmark-based navigation communication.
• Altitude, separation and arc numeracy (fan-arc spacing).
• Planning and organising (line design, transition placement, load coordination).
• Teamwork and mutual monitoring on a moving line.
• Self-management under stress (bail-out, abort and no-blind-transition discipline).

Performance evidence (suggested sufficiency — adjust locally)

Ability evidenced across a guide of 10 coached dynamic-line jumps (2-way building to 4-way), a guide to how long it might take, not a quota; competence against the criteria is the standard.

Include at least 4 jumps with in-line belly↔back transitions, at least 2 jumps including a through-vertical pass (all participants gated), jumps started from both belly and back orientations, and at least 2 jumps leading a briefed belly-lead segment under coach supervision.

Tunnel dynamic time (belly/back carving → layouts → bottom loops → carve switches) may substitute for up to 3 of the transition-mechanics development jumps, not for navigation, breakoff or the assessment jumps, whole-task integration jumps precede assessment.

Evidence across at least two different days/conditions, including two consecutive jumps meeting all criteria without coach assistance or prompts, within a recommended 6-month currency window.

Knowledge evidence

• Describe the follow-the-leader structure and the leader’s duties, brief the flight path, the planned transitions and where each happens by landmark reference, the tracking-versus-static time split and opening locations.
  • Screen participants and hold authority to exclude unprepared jumpers.
  • Obtain operations approval.
  • And tell other groups on the load the planned flight path.
• Explain leader tempo and speed management, the leader manages flight angle and speed to maintain group cohesion and a safe direction away from jump run, and why poor speed management creates dangerous closing rates.
• Explain the two-leader belly-led handover model for through-vertical lines: the lead stays on belly at all times, so a line that passes through vertical carries two approved leaders who hand the lead across at the pass, the new belly flyer pulls the group onto the new line (the back flyers have ample power to climb to it) rather than a back flyer trying to push a belly flyer who sits in a dynamically unstable.
• Twitchy flight position, and why this is safer and tighter: no time is lost in transition before picking up a new sight picture, and the belly leader doubles as the mirror that published movement-jump policies ask for whenever a group is on its back.
  • The emerging belly flyer sees the new picture as the pass happens and starts navigating naturally.
• State the through-vertical handover edge cases carried from FFP-DY201: the receiving belly flyer owns navigation and abort from the start of the vertical segment (no leaderless gap at max speed).
  • A receiving leader lost before the handover means the pass is aborted with no back-flying substitute leader.
  • And turn-radius (arc) ownership passes with the lead across a flock-and-roll handover.
• Explain line integrity in zone and trick terms, a line bust (failing to enter the leader’s zone/level) and a trick bust (failing to replicate a transition with the same orientation and path), and why a blind transition, rotating without first clearing the airspace you are about to occupy, is the classic collision set-up in group dynamic flying.
• Explain the safe-zone and burble geometry of an angle line (belly flyers above and ahead, back flyers below and slightly behind) and how it differs from vertical flying, where a corked flyer rises up the burble rather than falling behind.
• Explain the in-slot recovery rule, on any instability hold the group’s heading and speed and never track away, rejoining only when stable and on level, and deploying higher if separated, after checking above.
  • Off-heading flight paths are the dangerous collisions, and the group’s line is the known-clear airspace.
• Describe the freefly-specific gear check and why each item matters, including why a functioning audible is essential on every dynamic jump, and a second recommended, given the loss of altitude awareness associated with movement jumps.
• Explain the key through-vertical risk, a belly flyer going low and losing the group, including the flock-and-roll trap on the inside or outside of a turn, the abort criteria, and the logic of the lost-leader protocol (transition to back, follow from below).
• Explain how dynamic jumps blur movement and vertical, a single pass-through covers less than half the ground of a straight angle because part of the jump is purely vertical, and each extra pass shrinks the footprint further towards a vertical jump’s, and why advanced belly angle flying at high speed is the highest-value underpinning skill: the classic pass-through cork is the flyer who starts on back (the comfortable spot).
• Transitions to belly at speed and corks.
• State the freefly breakoff guide, 5,000 ft for groups up to a 4-way, 5,500 ft for five or more, noting that most modern jumpers plan 5,500 ft for any freefly group and will generally not accept 4,500 ft.
• Apply the fan-out arc arithmetic to a small line, every flyer keeping at least 1,000 ft between breakoff and deployment.
  • And explain why a single breakoff is all a 2–4-way dynamic line needs, staged breakoffs belong to the dedicated-team big-way formats this unit deliberately avoids, and dynamic groups above 6 are best avoided altogether because mixed orientations, chained transitions and mixed closing speeds compound faster than a pickup group can brief for.
  • Two to four flyers fanning across the arc away from the group’s line of flight have generous angular separation.
• Explain why it is entirely the moving group’s responsibility to avoid the straight-down groups, the two-movement-groups-per-load guide, and the exit-order logic.
  • Map the tunnel dynamic ladder to the sky (part-whole): carving → carve segments and lane control (carve = drive + turn; the mechanics do not change with orientation or speed).
  • Layouts → in-line transitions flown over the body with back-and-head rotation, no hip-bend.
  • Bottom loops → through-vertical passes.
  • Carve switches → direction and facing changes on the line.
  • The one plausible exception: a very experienced dynamic group flying a mostly-vertical jump, whose airspace footprint approaches a vertical group’s.
  • Movement groups exit in the freefly slot and fly a line clear of, typically perpendicular to, jump run.
• Analyse own video to diagnose one line-integrity fault and one transition fault (e.g., hip-bend-induced transition, chin dropping and losing visual reference, pushing with the arms instead of rotating with back and head).

Assessment conditions

• Sky jumps from a recommended 12,000 ft minimum (guide, line work needs working time).
• Assessment jumps flown on a real dynamic line within the 2–4-way guide (a qualified leader plus at least one other flyer; any through-vertical pass carries two approved leaders for the belly-lead handover), with at least one assessment jump including in-line transitions and, where every participant’s gates allow, a through-vertical pass.
• Mandatory video (outside camera or leader-flown; candidate identifiable).
• Required equipment, visual altimeter, functioning audible (second audible recommended), AAD recommended, freefly-suitable gear.
• Flight path declared to the load and manifest.
• Conditions within all participants’ cleared limits.
• Assessor: a freefly coach current in dynamic/movement coaching, using the published FFP-DY301 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 session is designed to be enjoyable, dynamic lines are the flying people queue up for, and one declared objective per jump with tempo matched to the group keeps them that way.
• Debriefs end on a win with one improvement focus.

RPL evidence set

• Logbook evidencing equivalent mixed-orientation movement jumps (dynamic lines or follow-the-leader angle jumps with transitions).
• Tunnel records at IBA Dynamic Level 4 equivalent (head-down carving, bottom loops, carve switches, per third-party summaries; verify against IBA source material) plus sky validation of navigation, group flow and breakoff.
• Video portfolio demonstrating the Perform criteria including through-vertical discipline.
• Or a challenge assessment of two dynamic-line jumps against the full criteria with a qualifying assessor.

The DY 201 safety gate (orientation evaluation, belly→back bail-out demonstration, pre-dynamic evaluation jump) is recommended for every entrant regardless of route.

Sources