FFP-HD404 400 · Mastery Draft: under review

Head-Down 404 — Fly open vertical formation skydiving (VFS)

version 2026-09-27

Prerequisites

Draft: under review. This course is published for review and has not been formally approved. It is advice for flyers and coaches. Your federation's and your drop zone's rules come first.

Briefing cards for this course, for reading on your phone:

Flyer card Coach card

What you’re learning

You’ll learn to fly your slot in open-class vertical formation skydiving (VFS): the full competition dive pool, with the hardest blocks and inter moves, built to the clock. Head-Down 305 comes first, because open class builds on its draw, grips and fall-rate matching. Diving and flying base on big-ways help as well.

In Australia, head-down formation jumps of more than 3 people need the Freefly Crest (Head-Down).

The open pool

In 4-way open, all four flyers need strong head-down. The pool has 22 blocks, including the hardest inter moves: carves, half-eagles and half-cradles, flown relative to a partner who holds still while you invert.
In 2-way open, both flyers fly head-down across all 17 randoms and 5 blocks.

Open teams score 4–5 points a round, advanced teams 3–4 from a reduced pool, and most of the difference is reliability.

Working time is 35 seconds from a 13,000 ft exit. Memorise the pool, so you can call and build each point and still keep track of your altitude, and dirt-dive each draw at the team’s tempo.

AXIS covers in-facing carving, with a video, and VFS Block 4, with a video.

Breakoff:

With others: break off at the briefed altitude, even with a point half built. Turn to your assigned track and transition off head-down before you flatten out. Check the air above, below and behind you, deploy at your planned altitude, and fly the canopy separation plan you briefed.

Holding, moving and fall rate

Approaches, grips and the holder and mover roles are in Head-Down 305. In open class:

As the holder, stay still while your partner inverts off you. Any drift you add shows up in their inter.
As the mover, fly the inter relative to your partner, and stop the closure before the next grip. A grip taken with closure still on loads the formation and can knock it off level.
Match fall rate with small inputs, letting each one take effect before the next, because the air coming off each body affects the others.

Useful drills

Build-up: 2-way randoms → blocks on their own → mixed draws → full rounds, with a video debrief each

Expect a lot of tunnel time before you compete, because a formation repeated in the tunnel costs a fraction of a sky jump. More in Tunnel to sky.

Common mistakes

What happens	Usual causes	Check
The grip breaks, or the formation wobbles	Closing speed, reaching for the grip, pulling on it	Stop closure, fly your body to the grip, hold it lightly
The bottom of the block is off heading	The holder moving during the inter, or the mover flying off the sky	Holder stays still, mover flies off the holder
You pop up or sink next to your partner	Big corrections in the burble between you	Small inputs, then wait for them to take effect
The inter runs long and the clock runs out	Not knowing the inter, a slow start after the top grip	Dirt-dive each inter at the team’s tempo

If you cork or the formation is lost, let go, separate sideways, recover to back-fly clear of the formation, and rejoin only when you’re stable and on level. More on corking.

Staying safe

Before the jump:

Brief breakoff and deployment altitudes and the plan if the formation is lost. As a guide, breakoff altitude for VFS is usually 5,000 ft for a group up to 4-way and 5,500 ft for 5 or more.
Gear check, audibles, exit order and separation are in Freefly 100.

In the air:

Check your altitude between points, because calling the next point pulls your attention away from it.

When you’ve got it

Debrief the videographer’s footage with the team: it shows the grip, inter timing, heading and fall rate you cannot see from inside the formation. Log your slot, the points built and the next focus. More in The debrief.

You’ve finished Head-Down 404 when your flying meets everything on the coach’s checklist below.

Head-Down 404 is the top of the VFS line. Head-Down 405: Fly sequentials and hybrid formations builds on the same Head-Down 305 base.

For coaches: the checklist, assessment conditions and coaching priorities

The checklist

1. Plan the jump

1.1: State own slot and the draw (randoms and blocks), with the inter move for each block.
1.2: Confirm the exit formation and which point scores from exit.
1.3: State breakoff and deployment altitudes and the lost-formation plan; VFS breakoff runs higher than belly because the head-down fall rate spends altitude faster.

2. Prepare

2.1: Complete a freefly-specific gear check (handles, hand-deploy pouch, riser covers, closing loop, helmet, audible set and functioning).
2.2: Dirt-dive the exit, each point and each inter move at the team's tempo.
2.3: Confirm exit order and separation with the load.

3. Perform

3.1: Exit into the briefed formation, scoring the exit point where the draw allows.
3.2: Hold heading and fall rate as the stationary reference when own slot is the holder on a block.
3.3: Fly the inter move relative to the partner, arresting closure before taking the next grip.
3.4: Take grips (hand or foot) cleanly, at low relative speed, without loading or destabilising the formation.
3.5: Match fall rate precisely at close range, riding the burble interaction between bodies without overcorrecting.
3.6: Build randoms by approaching from outside the formation, never from directly above a head-down slot (into the feet-side burble).
3.7: Recover to a stable solo position on any cork or lost formation, separating laterally rather than holding a failing grip.

4. Complete

4.1: Initiate breakoff at the briefed altitude (within −0/+300 ft).
4.2: Turn to the assigned track, transitioning off head-down before flattening, checking airspace.
4.3: Deploy at the planned altitude after checking airspace.
4.4: Fly the briefed canopy separation plan.

5. Review

5.1: Debrief the draw against the videographer's footage, locating dropped points and their cause (grip quality, inter timing, heading error, fall-rate mismatch).
5.2: Identify one correction to train next.
5.3: Log the jump naming the unit and slot, the points built and the next focus.

Criteria in bold are safety-critical: they protect the flyer and everyone else in the formation. A cork at head-down fall rates or a low breakoff in a formation endangers more than the flyer. A coach should not sign off the course while a bold criterion is Not Yet Satisfactory, however many points the team built. Outside a course they are strongly recommended practice. Regulation stays with your federation and your drop zone.

Assessment conditions

Sky and tunnel. The criteria that build points with others are assessed in real VFS formations.
Tunnel work prepares for exits, altitude and breakoff but does not count for them. Those are sky jumps.
Sky jumps from 13,000 ft or higher (recommended), the VFS competition altitude.
The videographer’s footage is the main debrief and assessment tool.
Equipment: a visual altimeter, a working audible, freefly-suitable gear, and an AAD (recommended).
The assessor is a freefly coach or a VFS competitor current in open-class VFS coaching, using this checklist. In Australia, an APF Freefly Coach. Elsewhere, the national or drop zone equivalent.
Each criterion is marked Satisfactory or Not Yet Satisfactory. The course result is Competent or Not Yet Competent, recorded as a milestone.
Existing open-class flyers: logbook and video of open-class VFS training or competition (state or national VFS participation is ideal), 4-way VFS tunnel records plus sky jumps for exits and breakoff, or a challenge assessment across a set of draws against the full checklist with a qualifying assessor.
Knowledge to check in the debrief: the competition structure (team sizes, 35-second working time, how randoms and blocks score, Open against Advanced), the randoms, blocks and inters in the current APF dive pool for the flyer’s slot, the no-fly zone, why VFS breaks off higher than belly, fall-rate matching in the burble between two vertical bodies, and the cork response in a formation.
There’s no set jump count: work through the build in order, and move on when each step is clean.
Tunnel time counts for formations and inter moves, and the exit, altitude awareness and breakoff are assessed in the sky, from 13,000 ft or higher.
If you already fly open-class VFS, your coach can assess you on a set of draws, or from your logbook and video of open-class training or competition.

Coaching priorities

Safety first, then fun, then learning. Hold the bold criteria to the standard above: never trade a cork recovery or a clean breakoff for a point.
Run debriefs off the videographer’s footage, without blame.
Celebrate the points that built, and end on one focus for the next round.

Where this comes from

APF VFS dive pools (4-way Open, 2023, and 2-way Open, 2019) and the APF competition categories for formation skydiving: competition structure, 35-second rounds, and the differences between Open and Advanced.
The 2025 FAI change to the Pinwheel in the dive pool.
USPA Foundations of Flight, docking on a head-down formation, and APF guidance: the no-fly zone above a head-down flyer’s feet and the approach from the side at hip level.
IBA resources on 2-way VFS: both flyers head-down in Open.
The Freefly Project’s research on Open VFS: the tunnel and sky progression, tunnel repetition and the video debrief with the videographer as a team member.
APF Freefly and Angles Guide (APF006): freefly exit-altitude and airspace-check guides.
APF Operational Regulations (V01-2026), as jurisdictional context.

Regulations where you jump

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

Australia (APF). VFS is contested under APF competition rules.
Head-down formation jumps of more than 3 parachutists require the Freefly Crest, Head Down (FFC HD) (OR 9.2.2).
Formations of more than 10 also require the Star Crest (OR 9.1.3).
A functioning audible altimeter is mandatory on every freefly descent (OR 9.2.3).
Coached jumps are coached by an APF Freefly Coach in Australia, or the national or drop zone equivalent elsewhere.

Acronym key. APF, Australian Parachute Federation. OR, the APF Operational Regulations. FFC, freefly crest.

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The coaching priority order

Safety → Fun → Learning

Every course, briefing card and debrief on this site is built in this order. When two of them pull against each other on the day, keep safety ahead of fun, and fun ahead of getting through the course.

01 Safety

Safety comes first on every jump. Nothing further down this list is worth a safety risk.
02 Fun

Skydiving costs a lot. A jump you enjoy brings you back for the next coached one, and coached jumps are where the safety habits are practised.
03 Learning

The skills each course teaches. They stick best after a jump that was safe and fun, because you keep practising what you enjoy.