Dynamic 304 — Fly a flock and roll

The checklist

1. Plan the jump

1.1

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

1.2

Verify every participant's standard status against the track's course-internal safety standards: head-down competence at crest standard for all participants, both orientations, and the bail-out standard (the FFP-DY202 transition check).

1.3

Plan the 90°-turn-plus-reversal geometry against jump run and the other groups on the load, turn direction, the pitch-over point and the departing 270° path chosen so the departing line stays clear of jump run, other groups' planned airspace and the opening points, and present the flight path to the load.

1.4

Assign starting orientations weakest-orientation-first, usually belly first, and name each flyer's side of the turn, inside or outside of the arc, with the speed each side carries.

1.5

Name the leadership mechanism and the arc plan: who leads which segment, where in the turn the handover happens, and that the receiving leader sets the new arc as they pick up the lead, or, under the re-transition mechanism, that the leader retains lead, abort and arc ownership throughout the pass.

1.6

State breakoff (guide: 5,000 ft for groups up to a 4-way, 5,500 ft for a 5-way or larger; set at least 1,000 ft above the highest planned deployment) and deployment altitudes, and the lost-leader protocol (transition to back, turn onto a back angle, follow the group from below).

2. Prepare

2.1

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

2.2

Dirt-dive the full flow, exit, gather, the line out, the 90° diving turn, the pass, the departing line and breakoff, with slot allocations, each flyer's side of the arc and the transition key, naming the mismatched-arc closing-speed hazard across the handover.

2.3

Brief the abort criteria and the leadership edge cases: belly flyers not in slot on the angle = pass aborted; a scattered group = the leader steepens, then pulls back out; who owns navigation and abort through the vertical segment (under the handover, the receiving leader from the start of the segment; under the re-transition mechanism, the leader throughout); the leader-loss protocol in both windows (before the pass: pass aborted, Leader 1 steepens and pulls out, no back-flying substitute; mid-pass: no belly lead within the briefed ~2–3 s = each flyer completes their own transition over the body, holds the reciprocal line, and the jump is over); the dropped-flyer rule for the reversing geometry (once the group has passed through, no rejoining across the reciprocal, hold an offset line, follow from below on the new direction only with the group re-acquired, otherwise separate and deploy higher after checking airspace); on a coached jump, the coach as Leader 1 flying the handover only when the coach judges the student ready to receive the belly lead; and arc ownership across the handover.

2.4

Confirm exit order and separation with the load and any other movement groups (guide: two movement groups per load).

3. Perform, the flock and roll

3.1

Gather into the assigned slot and starting orientation on exit, holding position while the leader turns the group off jump run and sets the line, without passing the leader.

3.2

Fly the assigned side of the arc through the diving 90° turn, carrying speed on the outside of the arc, tempering it on the inside, holding slot and level so the formation turns as a curve, not a corner.

3.3

Transition through vertical on the leader's key mid-turn, switching orientation over the body as the group comes through and re-establishing slot and level on the departing line promptly.

3.4

Clear own airspace visually before the orientation switch, no blind transitions.

3.5

When briefed as receiving leader, take the belly lead through the pass, setting the new arc as you pick it up, owning navigation and abort from the start of the vertical segment, and pulling the group onto the departing line within ±45° of the planned 270° bearing.

3.6

Regulate closing speed on every approach so as never to pass the leader; if overtaking, slow and hold position.

3.7

Abort the pass when belly flyers are not in slot on the angle; on a scattered group the leader steepens, then pulls back out to a straight angle that breaks off normally.

3.8

Recover in slot from any instability, never track away from the group.

3.9

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

3.10

Transition to back immediately when trapped low on the inside or outside of the turn without visual on the group, the FFP-DY202-trained recovery, regaining visual and following from below.

3.11

Apply the dropped-flyer rule after losing the group across the pass: do not rejoin across the reciprocal, hold an offset line, follow from below on the new direction only once the group is re-acquired visually, and otherwise separate and deploy higher after checking airspace.

4. Complete

4.1

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

4.2

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

4.3

Fan out on the briefed peel-off arc, flattening pitch to a track while checking airspace, never turning in place.

4.4

Deploy at the planned altitude after clearing airspace.

4.5

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

5. Review

5.1

Debrief against the declared objective using video.

5.2

Analyse own turn on video, arc discipline on the assigned side, slot and level through the pitch-over, the orientation-switch path onto the departing line, identifying one correction for the next jump.

5.3

Write the jump up in the logbook with reflections naming the unit and skills assessed (e.g. "DY304 flock and roll, outside of the arc, received the belly lead mid-turn"), criteria results and current standing against the track's safety standards, the curriculum gives log entries meaning.

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 12,000 ft or higher (recommended), because turning through-vertical work needs working time. Each assessment jump is flown as a real 2–4-way.
• Outside training, assessment jumps carry two approved leaders for the belly-led handover.
• On a coached assessment jump the coach is Leader 1. The coach flies the handover only when they judge the flyer ready to receive the belly lead, and on other passes goes back to belly, keeping the lead and the abort call throughout.
• Video of every assessment jump is required for a valid assessment: leader-flown, outside or helmet-mounted, with the flyer identifiable.
• Equipment: a visual altimeter, a working audible (a second recommended), an AAD (recommended) and freefly-suitable gear.
• Conditions within every participant’s cleared limits.
• The assessor is a freefly coach current in dynamic or movement coaching and approved to lead movement jumps at the host drop zone, using this checklist.
• Each criterion is marked Satisfactory or Not Yet Satisfactory, and the course result is Competent or Not Yet Competent.
• The result stays inside this curriculum: it opens the track’s turning through-vertical jumps, and confers no licence, crest, endorsement or jump permission.
• The recognition route (logbook, Dynamic 303 or equivalent, video portfolio, tunnel records) always ends in one challenge jump: a full flock and roll against Elements 3–4 with a coach-leader. The bail-out standard, the Dynamic 202 belly-to-back check, is always demonstrated live.
• As a guide, it takes about 8 coached jumps, at least 4 of them full flock and rolls with turns both ways, on both sides of the arc and at least one as receiving leader, over at least two days or conditions within six months.
• Tunnel carving on belly and back, and belly-to-back flips and layouts at speed, can replace up to two jumps. Navigation, the handover, breakoff and assessment jumps are sky only.
• If you already fly flock and rolls, your coach can assess your record and one full flock and roll with a coach leading, and you always show the Dynamic 202 belly-to-back transition live.

Coaching priorities

Safety first, then fun, then learning. Hold the bold criteria to the standard above, and have the standards conversation openly before anyone spends money on jumps.

Brief the disorientation honestly: the turn moves every reference at once, and expecting it is half the treatment. If readiness for the turn is in doubt, fly the jump as a straight pass-through and frame it as progress toward the roll. End each debrief on something that went well, with one thing to improve.

• APF Freefly and Angles Guide (APF006): in-slot recovery and deploying higher when separated (§4.3), the peel-off breakoff (§5.10), transitions over the body on the angle (§5.11–5.12) and fly zones (§5.13).
• APF Operational Regulations: separation, the freefly rules and the tracking-and-angles rules (OR 9.1.4, 9.2, 9.9).
• USPA Skydiver’s Information Manual 5-10: the movement-jump grading by transitions, the transition hazard and the expert leader, designing the jump around the least experienced flyer, and the back-fly breakoff rule.
• Newcastle Sport Parachute Club, Hunter Valley angle and movement jump guidelines: movement groups per load, the navigation brief with the load master, cloud and the belly-flying approved leader.
• Community coaching on movement-jump leadership: leader duties and the least-experienced-flyer rule (Christy West, Skydive Spaceland), back-fly policy (Skydive Arizona), and transitions on angle jumps and at breakoff (Mason Corby).
• The Freefly Project’s coaching guides: the flock-and-roll geometry, the trapped belly flyer and its recovery, the belly-led two-leader handover and its edge cases, arc ownership across the handover, the abort and lost-leader protocols, the dropped-flyer rule on a reversing jump, the entry standards and the freefly breakoff guides.

Regulations change, so each rule is given as context for where you jump. No national body defines prerequisites or safety standards for sky dynamic.

• Australia (APF). These descents sit under the tracking-and-angles rules (OR 9.9): a Certificate Class C, the DZSO’s written endorsement for groups larger than a 3-way, and an approved leader (OR 9.9.3). An APF Freefly Coach can lead under OR 9.9.3 with DZSO approval.
• A functioning audible altimeter is required on every freefly descent (OR 9.2.3). All groups separate at least 1,000 ft above planned deployment (OR 9.1.4).
• Mixed-orientation through-vertical jumps sit between the freefly crest requirements (OR 9.2) and the OR 9.9 endorsements, which leaves them to DZSO discretion. This course’s through-vertical standard is stricter than that floor.
• Hunter Valley (Newcastle Sport Parachute Club) sets no more than two movement groups per load without DZSO approval, no movement jumps in or near cloud, and a DZSO-approved belly leader for every movement group.
• United States (USPA). SIM 5-10 grades movement jumps by transition count (0, 1–3, 4+). A turning pass is still one transition per flyer, so it sits in the middle band. Its difficulty is in the steepness and the transition hazard that SIM 5-10.E warns about, the same section that asks for an expert leader.

Acronym key. APF, Australian Parachute Federation. OR, the APF Operational Regulations. DZSO, drop zone safety officer. USPA, United States Parachute Association. SIM, the USPA Skydiver’s Information Manual.