Dynamic 401 — Follow the leader into a carve

Application

Covers following, the first dynamic fundamental, taught as a flock and roll into carving. Take the movement jump out the door and off jump run; initiate a left or right turn as for a flock and roll; and keep the formation turning into a carve, close, tight, and on level. The carve follows a snake pattern and practises the core skill of following the leader: copying what they do.

This jump is the basis for future improvisation behind a leader, much like tunnel dynamic flying, which generally starts with carving.

The pattern inside the carve is lead-and-follow, tunnel-style: the leader cuts a line and the follower flies directly behind. Lead-and-follow is the first of the four attack patterns; vertical mirroring and the front attack with pass-by live in FFP-DY402, and the front attack with eagle in FFP-DY403.

All four share one principle, the group attacks the centre: every flyer works to keep the group close and tight, converging on a shared point rather than chasing a tail. A carve is a drive plus a turn. An in-face carve is flown facing into the centre of the arc, an out-face carve facing out of it, and the mechanics are the same in both facings, at any orientation and speed.

The unit builds on movement-into-vertical flying: the jump still demands a tight movement formation and tight vertical spacing, and now adds the carve.

Fly it small: 2–3 flyers is the sweet spot and 4 the practical maximum. Jumps beyond 6 flyers are the territory of dedicated competition teams that work up to a bigger-way dynamic jump incrementally over many practice jumps, and are outside this unit.

The group plans, briefs and debriefs its jumps in the FAI Dynamic vocabulary (snakes S1–S6, verticals V1–V8, mixers M1–M9, carving), the only officially defined language for this flying (FAI/ISC Dynamic Competition Rules 2025, Annexes A–B).

Applies to flyers competent in the flock and roll (DY 304).

Environment: sky. This style of flying realistically requires substantial dynamic tunnel work, carving both faces, lead-and-follow lines, before it transfers; tunnel time is preparation and calibration only.

Supervision: flown behind an experienced dynamic leader, a coach at first, then experienced peers. The candidate’s primary role is follower: following is the fundamental this unit teaches.

This is a Mastery-tier unit: there is no sign-off. Completion is a milestone recognising the following fundamental, it is not a permission, and it does not authorise any jump.

Pre-requisite units

FFP-DY304 (the flock and roll). RPL route for the pre-requisite: logbook plus video of flock-and-roll jumps at DY 304 standard, the 90° turn with a through-vertical pass, flown in slot with levels discipline and a disciplined breakoff, verified by a freefly coach, plus tunnel records evidencing dynamic carving.

Elements and performance criteria

1. Plan the jump

1.1

Design the jump in the shared FAI Dynamic vocabulary, the flock-and-roll entry, the carve direction (left or right), each flyer's facing (in-face or out-face), and the snake pattern the carve follows, so every participant briefs from one language.

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 FFP-DY202 transition check.

1.3

Match group size, carve tempo and pattern complexity to the least experienced participant (2–3 flyers is the guide, 4 the practical maximum).

1.4

Plan the flight path off the jump run with a landmark reference for the turn initiation, coordinated with every other group on the load (a guide: no more than two movement groups per load, a possible exception being a very experienced, mostly-carving dynamic group, which consumes little more air than a vertical jump).

1.5

State the breakoff plan, breakoff altitude, the back-flyer roll rule, and deployment altitudes, with separation complete at least 1,000 ft above the planned deployment height (a guide: 5,000 ft for freefly groups up to 4-way, noting most modern jumpers use 5,500 ft for any freefly group and will generally not accept 4,500 ft).

2. Prepare

2.1

Brief and dirt-dive the jump at tempo in the shared vocabulary, confirming each flyer's lane, the turn direction, and the landmark at which the turn begins.

2.2

Complete a freefly-specific gear check: handle and pin protection, genuinely tight BOC, riser covers, closing loop, helmet, AAD on, audible(s) set to the briefed altitudes.

2.3

Confirm exit order and separation with the full load, notifying manifest of the group's flight path and planned opening area.

3. Perform

3.1

Exit and establish the movement jump off jump run in the briefed slot and starting orientation.

3.2

Follow the leader's turn initiation at the briefed landmark, a left or right turn as for a flock and roll, staying close, tight and on level as the formation turns into the carve.

3.3

Fly the carve through the briefed snake pattern directly behind the leader, copying the leader's orientation, line and tempo, tunnel-style lead-and-follow.

3.4

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

3.5

Hold own lane and level through the carve, within a head height of the leader's level, clear of other flyers' burbles, in-face or out-face as briefed.

3.6

Clear the target airspace visually before every turn and transition, no blind moves.

3.7

Manage speed and pitch to arrest closure on the group, slowing on any overtake, never turning 180° to the group's heading.

3.8

Keep the group's carve inside its own airspace, monitoring the jump run and the straight-down groups throughout, avoiding them is entirely the moving group's responsibility, never theirs.

3.9

Execute the briefed recovery on any instability: orient with the group, regain speed and rejoin the carve, never track away; if separated from the group, transition to back and follow from below.

4. Complete

4.1

Initiate breakoff at the briefed altitude (within −0/+300 ft), rotating from head-up to a head-first orientation first if the jump ends head-up, then turning onto a clear radial while flattening pitch to a track; never back-track away while still head-up.

4.2

If on the back at breakoff, roll to belly only once on a clear trajectory with no one above.

4.3

Deploy at the planned altitude, inside the group's planned opening airspace, after checking own airspace.

4.4

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

5. Review

5.1

Debrief the carve against the plan on video, in the shared vocabulary, marking line busts (where the follower's line, level or timing diverged from the leader's) and trick busts (transitions not replicated with the leader's orientation and path).

5.2

Identify one following fault, line, level or timing, with a correction for the next jump, setting the next jump's carve pattern accordingly.

5.3

Log the jump in the logbook naming the unit and skills flown (e.g. "DY401, out-face carve behind a leader"), with criteria results and a short reflection, the curriculum is what makes the log entry meaningful.

Bold criteria are safety-critical. Within FFP courses they are treated as non-compensable best-practice standards: any Not Yet Satisfactory makes the unit Not Yet Competent. Outside a course they remain strongly recommended best practice. Regulation remains your federation’s and your drop zone’s.

Foundation skills

• Shared-vocabulary communication (briefing and debriefing carve patterns in FAI Dynamic terms across coaches, tunnels and countries).
• Altitude, closing-speed and arc numeracy (lane and level discipline on a turning formation).
• Planning and organising (flight-path design, load coordination).
• Teamwork on a carving formation (leader–follower reference and mutual monitoring).
• Self-management while task-loaded (the flying runs on automatic skill while attention is on traffic, navigation and the group, and standing down when readiness is not met).

Performance evidence (suggested sufficiency, adjust locally)

Ability evidenced across carving jumps in small groups, 2–3 flyers is the sweet spot, 4 the practical maximum. The evidence should include:

• Carves entered from both turn directions (left and right).
• Both facings flown (in-face and out-face).
• At least two different leaders, partners or camps.
• two consecutive jumps flying the full briefed pattern and meeting all criteria without coach assistance or prompts.

As a guide to how long this might take, competency is the standard, not the jump count, expect on the order of 8 jumps within a recommended 12-month currency window, more if the tunnel carving is still consolidating.

Substantial dynamic tunnel time (carving both faces, carve switches, lead-and-follow lines) is realistically a precondition for this style of flying, and is strongly recommended as vocabulary and calibration development. It substitutes for no sky assessment jump: it exercises no jump run, navigation, altitude or breakoff.

Knowledge evidence

• Explain following as the first dynamic fundamental: the follower copies what the leader does, and carving is where improvisation behind a leader begins, tunnel dynamic flying generally starts with carving.
• Describe the jump’s flow: the movement jump out the door and off jump run, the flock-and-roll turn initiation at a briefed landmark, and how the leader keeps the formation turning into the carve, close, tight and on level, through the briefed snake pattern.
• Name the two carve facings and state the shared mechanics: a carve is a drive plus a turn.
  • An in-face carve is flown facing into the centre of the arc, an out-face carve facing out of it, with the same mechanics in both facings and at any orientation or speed.
• Map the tunnel dynamic ladder to the sky, skill by skill: carving maps to carve segments and lane control.
  • Layouts map to in-line transitions flown over the body with back-and-head rotation, no hip-bend.
  • Bottom loops map to through-vertical passes.
  • And carve switches map to direction and facing changes on the line.
• Explain line integrity in zone and trick terms: a line bust is failing to enter the leader’s zone or level; a trick bust is failing to replicate a transition with the same orientation and path.
• Explain lane discipline and burble geometry on a carving formation: where each flyer’s burble trails on the arc, why the follower flies the leader’s line rather than cutting the arc, and where a corked flyer rises.
• Explain the leadership model across the jump: the movement-jump entry and the flock-and-roll pass are belly-led, with the two-leader handover, its edge cases and the abort criteria anchored in FFP-DY303/FFP-DY304 and applying unchanged.
  • Inside the carve the leader cuts the line and the follower flies directly behind.
• State the breakoff design for a small dynamic group.
  • The guides: freefly groups up to 4-way, 5,000 ft.
  • 5-way and larger, 5,500 ft, noting most modern jumpers use 5,500 ft for any freefly group and will generally not accept 4,500 ft.
  • A jump ending head-up ends in a head-up carve, head-up movement, so the floor rises to 6,000 ft minimum (6,500 ft for larger groups; the FFP head-up-movement standard, per FFP-AN301), with the flyer rotating to a head-first orientation before tracking, because head-up breakoff is demonstrably less efficient, less power, less track efficiency, and altitude lost rotating (Carlton).
  • State the back-flyer roll rule (roll to belly only on a clear trajectory with no one above), the deployment altitudes, and the at-least-1,000-ft separation-above-deployment guide.
• Explain why dynamic groups stay small: 2–3 is best, 4 the practical maximum, and beyond 6 is the territory of dedicated competition teams working up incrementally over many practice jumps.
• Explain corking’s speed differential (roughly 175→120 mph) and why the traffic rules exist: no blind moves.
  • Closure managed by slowing, never by turning 180° to the group’s heading.
  • And in-slot recovery, never track away, and if lost, back-fly and follow from below.
• Describe the freefly-specific gear check and why each item matters at dynamic speeds.
• Explain the burble contrast between vertical and movement flying, vertical flyers cork up along a burble while tracking/angle no-fly zones trail the formation, and locate the danger zones for a jump that does both, stating why avoiding the straight-down groups rests entirely with the moving group.
• Classify the jump’s moves using the FAI Annex B taxonomy and brief the carve as a snake in the shared vocabulary.
• Evaluate where a planned dynamic descent sits within local rules (freefly crests vs movement-jump endorsements) and who resolves the ambiguity.

Assessment conditions

Sky jumps from a recommended 13,000 ft minimum, carving consumes altitude quickly at angle speeds of roughly 270–400+ km/h. A real small group, 2–3 flyers, 4 at most, is required for the group criteria; tunnel evidence is preparatory only.

Video of assessment jumps is required for a valid assessment: dedicated camera flyer or leader-flown, candidate identifiable. Required equipment: visual altimeter, functioning audible (two recommended), AAD, freefly-suitable gear with a genuinely tight BOC. Conditions within the group’s briefed limits, winds aloft assessed in planning.

Assessor: an experienced dynamic/movement organiser or freefly coach current in mixed-orientation coaching, using the published FFP-DY401 checklist, each criterion marked Satisfactory / Not Yet Satisfactory. Completion is recorded as a Mastery milestone only: it is not a sign-off, confers no privilege, and is not a permission to plan, lead or join any jump.

Coaching priorities

Deliver in the project’s priority order: Safety → Fun → Learning (curriculum Part A0). Safety criteria are non-compensable; at Mastery tier the group still designs the jump to the least experienced participant, and standing down when readiness is not met is itself competent behaviour.

Design the session to be enjoyable, participants choose this expensive hobby, and enjoyment sustains both the flyer and the sport, and end each debrief on a win with one improvement focus.

Watch: Head-down in-face carving (AXIS Flight School), youtube.com/watch?v=A9OppP0N6_c

Watch: Head-down out-face carving (AXIS Flight School), youtube.com/watch?v=AbVBnLOw1OY

RPL evidence set

• Logbook plus video of carving movement jumps behind a leader, flock-and-roll entries held into sustained carves, verified by a freefly coach.
• Tunnel records evidencing dynamic carving both faces and lead-and-follow lines (per third-party summaries; verify against IBA source material where IBA levels are cited).
• Competition evidence, indoor Dynamic 2-way/4-way results, as supporting (not substituting) evidence for the sky criteria.
• Or a challenge assessment across a suggested 2 jumps against the full criteria with a qualifying assessor.

Sources