Dynamic 401 — Follow the leader into a carve

The checklist

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.

Criteria in bold are safety-critical: they protect the flyer and everyone else in the group. A Not Yet Satisfactory on any bold criterion means the course isn’t complete, 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 13,000 ft or higher (recommended). Carving uses altitude quickly at angle speeds of about 270–400+ km/h.
• A real group of 2–3 flyers, 4 at most, for the group criteria. Tunnel work is preparation only.
• Video of every assessment jump is required for a valid assessment, from a dedicated camera flyer or leader-flown, with the flyer identifiable.
• Equipment: a visual altimeter, a working audible (two recommended), an AAD, and freefly-suitable gear with a tight pilot chute pouch.
• Conditions within the group’s briefed limits, with winds aloft assessed in planning.
• The assessor is an experienced dynamic or movement organiser, or a freefly coach current in mixed-orientation coaching, using this checklist.
• Each criterion is marked Satisfactory or Not Yet Satisfactory.
• Completion is recorded as a Mastery milestone only. There is no sign-off, it confers no privilege, and it gives no permission to plan, lead or join any jump.
• Across your jumps, fly carves both ways and in both facings, behind at least two different leaders, partners or camps.
• As a guide, it takes about 8 jumps within 12 months. Tunnel carving in both facings comes first (Tunnel to sky), and every counted jump is a sky jump.
• If you already carve behind a leader, a freefly coach can assess you from your logbook, video and tunnel records, or on 2 jumps against the checklist. Without Dynamic 304, start with its assessment route.

Coaching priorities

Safety first, then fun, then learning. Hold the bold criteria to the standard above. Design the jump for the least experienced flyer in the group, and treat standing down when someone isn’t ready as the right call. Plan the session to be enjoyable: flyers choose this expensive hobby, and enjoying it keeps them in the sport. End each debrief on something that went well, with one thing to improve.

• FAI/ISC Competition Rules, Indoor Skydiving Dynamic 2-Way and 4-Way (2025 edition): the snake, vertical and mixer vocabulary (Annexes A1–A3), and the orientation, rotation and pathway taxonomy, including in-face and out-face carving (Annex B).
• USPA Skydiver’s Information Manual 5-10 (6-12 in the 2023-24 edition): movement groups per load, designing the jump for the least experienced flyer, and the back-fly breakoff rule. Section 6-2 of the 2023-24 edition: corking’s speed differential and freefly equipment.
• APF Freefly and Angles Guide (APF006, August 2023): “dynamic” as a trajectory label, the recovery position and in-slot recovery (§4.3), angle speeds (§5.3), and the burble contrast between vertical and movement flying.
• APF Operational Regulations (V01-2026), as jurisdictional context.
• Vertical Suits on carve mechanics and taking carving from the tunnel to the sky.
• Christy West (Spaceland) on movement-jump safety and the moving group’s responsibility for straight-down groups.
• Body Piloting Championships judging: line busts, trick busts and no blind moves.
• Downunder Dynamics, Fluid Dynamics and the Airwax ladder: follow-the-leader and camp coaching structures.
• AXIS Flight School videos on head-down in-face and out-face carving.
• Carlton’s GPS data on head-up breakoffs.
• Newcastle Sport Parachute Club, Hunter Valley angle and movement jump guidelines: movement groups per load, cloud, the approved leader flying belly to earth, and the navigation brief with the load master.
• The Freefly Project’s coaching guides: the dynamic track’s order, small-group sizes and the freefly breakoff guides.

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

• No federation regulates sky dynamic. No national body defines or examines it. The APF uses the word once, as a trajectory label (APF006 p.5). Assessors calibrate against The Freefly Project’s published standardisation notes.
• Australia (APF), freefly. OR 9.2 requires an FFC-HU or FFC-HD for head-up or head-down groups larger than 3. A functioning audible is mandatory on every freefly descent (OR 9.2.3).
• Australia (APF), tracking and angles. OR 9.9 requires a Certificate Class C, the DZSO’s written endorsement for groups larger than a 3-way, and an approved leader. A Star Crest is required for any RW jump larger than 10 (OR 9.1.3).
• Australia (APF), the mix. A dynamic jump sits across OR 9.2 and OR 9.9, and the DZSO decides how they apply. An APF Freefly Coach is the usual assessor.
• United States (USPA). These are advanced movement jumps under SIM 5-10 (formerly 6-12), with a leader who is at least C-licence qualified. Follow your federation’s rules and your DZ’s movement-jump policy.

Acronym key. APF, Australian Parachute Federation. OR, the APF Operational Regulations. DZSO, drop zone safety officer. FFC, freefly crest. RW, relative work (formation skydiving). DZ, drop zone. USPA, United States Parachute Association. SIM, the USPA Skydiver’s Information Manual.