Head-Up 201 — Fly head-up in a 2-way
version 2026-09-27
Prerequisites
What you’re learning
You’ll learn to fly a sit with one other person: get on level, approach, stop in the slot, take a dock, turn and break off. This follows Head-Up 102, because you need to move a sit forward, back, up and down before you can fly it to someone else.
In Australia, these are training jumps, briefed by a freefly coach with the drop zone safety officer’s approval.
The position
You fly the neutral sit from Head-Up 101, with two changes.
- Arms out to the sides and relaxed, ready to take a grip.
- Eyes on your partner, with the horizon behind them as your heading reference.
Exit, fly the hill into a stable sit within 5 seconds, and hold heading for 10 seconds before you start flying to your partner. Your coach is your partner, flying first as your reference and then neutral.
Breakoff:
- With others: transition to your back and check the air above and behind you, then back-track, roll to belly and track 90° to jump run before deploying in a neutral belly position. Under canopy, fly the separation plan you agreed.
Level
Slower ← Knee-fly · Sit · Stag → Faster
On level means your head is at the same height as your partner’s. Match their fall rate and hold level for 3 seconds before you approach. Use the head-up positions from Head-Up 101: knee-fly for a slower fall rate, stag for a faster one.
Get on level before you close the distance. From above, you fly into your partner’s burble, and the burble can drop you onto them.
Slot and dock
Work through the same steps every time: level, slot, dock.
- From about 5 m, approach with small inputs.
- Ease off before you arrive, so you stop in the slot without overshooting. Hold the slot for 3 seconds.
- Fly your body to the grip and take a hand dock. Your arm only reaches the last few centimetres.
Reaching with the arm creates lift and drive, and pulls you off level just as you arrive. Take the grip lightly: a grip you pull on turns your partner off heading and can make them unstable. AXIS covers taking grips, with a video.
Useful drills
- The jump: dirt-dive the exit and every point of the jump with your partner, in order, before you board
- Level: when your coach changes level, follow them and get back on level within 3 seconds
- Docks: from the dock, let go, turn 360° in place and stop on heading, then approach again for another dock
Common mistakes
| What happens | Usual causes | Check |
|---|---|---|
| Overshooting the slot | Driving too hard or too long, easing off too late | Smaller inputs, start easing off halfway in |
| Backsliding away from your partner | Knees toward your chest, leaning forward with arms behind, looking down | Back upright, knees apart, eyes on your partner |
| Low or high on your partner | Fall rate not matched, reaching for the grip, legs changing as you drive | Get back on level before you close again |
| Turning your partner off heading at the dock | Pulling on the grip, reaching with the arm | Fly your body to the grip, hold it lightly |
If you become unstable, recover to back-fly, in the recovery position, then get stable and on heading before you approach again. Approaching while unstable, you can fall onto your partner.
Staying safe
Before the jump:
- Gear check, audibles and exit order are in Freefly 100. Check each other’s gear too: your partner can see flaps and handles you can’t.
- Check you’re both current, and that the plan suits the day’s conditions.
- Brief your breakoff and deployment altitudes. As a guide, breakoff altitude for small groups is usually 5,500 ft. A head-up breakoff gives less separation than a track, so it needs the height.
- Agree a lost-partner plan. For example: hold your heading, look for your partner, approach again once you’re on level, and break off at the briefed altitude either way.
In the air:
- If you lose sight of your partner, fly the lost-partner plan, so you stay predictable to each other through breakoff.
When you’ve got it
After each jump, debrief the video with your coach, name the cause of any fault and one fix, and log the jump.
You’ve finished Head-Up 201 when you fly two 2-ways in a row that meet everything on the coach’s checklist below.
Next
Head-Up 202: Demonstrate crest-standard head-up flying.
For coaches: the checklist, assessment conditions and coaching priorities
The checklist
1. Plan the jump
- 1.1
- State the jump's single declared objective and success criteria.
- 1.2
- Confirm both flyers' currency and the plan against conditions.
- 1.3
- State breakoff (guides: head-up work 5,500 ft minimum; for freefly groups generally 5,000 ft up to a 4-way, most modern jumpers plan 5,500 ft for any freefly group and will generally not accept 4,500 ft) and deployment altitudes, and the lost-partner plan.
2. Prepare
- 2.1
- Complete a freefly-specific gear check on self and partner (handles, BOC, riser covers, closing loop, helmet, audible set and functioning).
- 2.2
- Brief and dirt-dive the exit and each planned point.
- 2.3
- Confirm exit order and separation with the load.
3. Perform
- 3.1
- Exit and establish a stable sit within 5 seconds of separation from the hill.
- 3.2
- Maintain heading ±45° for 10 seconds in the neutral sit.
- 3.3
- Match the partner's fall rate, holding level (head-height tolerance) for 3 seconds.
- 3.4
- Approach from ~5 m into the slot without overshoot, holding slot 3 seconds before docking.
- 3.5
- Take a hand dock without destabilising the partner.
- 3.6
- Perform a 360° turn in place, returning to heading ±45°.
- 3.7
- Follow the partner through one level change, re-establishing level within 3 seconds.
- 3.8
- Execute the recovery position immediately on any loss of control, re-approaching only when stable.
4. Complete
- 4.1
- Initiate breakoff at the briefed altitude (within −0/+300 ft).
- 4.2
- Transition to back-fly, check the airspace above and behind, back-track, then roll to belly and track 90° from jump run.
- 4.3
- Deploy at the planned altitude after clearing airspace.
- 4.4
- Fly the agreed canopy separation plan.
5. Review
- 5.1
- Debrief against the declared objective using video.
- 5.2
- Identify one fault and its correction for the next jump.
- 5.3
- Log the jump with criteria results.
Criteria in bold are safety-critical: they protect the flyer, their partner 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.
Assessment conditions
- Sky jumps from 10,000 ft or higher (recommended).
- Video of every assessment jump, with the flyer identifiable: coach-flown or helmet-mounted. Without video the assessment doesn’t count.
- Equipment: a visual altimeter, a working audible and freefly-suitable gear.
- Conditions within the flyer’s cleared limits.
- The assessor is a freefly coach current in head-up coaching, using this checklist.
- Each criterion is marked Satisfactory or Not Yet Satisfactory.
- The coach flies as the in-air reference at first, then flies passive as the skills settle. Tunnel drills are preparation. The two final jumps are sky jumps.
- As a guide, it takes at least six coached 2-ways over at least two days in different conditions, within six months.
- Tunnel time can replace up to two of the practice jumps, but the final two are sky jumps.
- If you already fly head-up 2-ways, your coach can assess you on two jumps, or from your logbook, video and tunnel records with a sky jump to confirm. For Head-Up 102, tunnel records of back-fly and sit plus one jump against its checklist can stand in.
Coaching priorities
Safety first, then fun, then learning. Hold the bold criteria to the standard above. Plan sessions to be enjoyable: flyers choose this expensive hobby, and enjoying it keeps them in the sport. Set one objective per jump, and end each debrief on something that went well, with one thing to improve.
Where this comes from
- APF Freefly and Angles Guide (APF006, August 2023): breakoff guides (§3), the head-up position and its common problems (§6), and the head-up freefly training table (§8.5).
- Lesley Gale, “Sit Flying” (Skydive Mag, 2014): the neutral-sit geometry.
- AXIS Flight School, Foundations of Flight columns in Parachutist: sit-fly fall-rate changes and taking head-up docks.
- Ally Milne, “Dive Dr, I Keep Corking” (Skydive Mag, 2021): the level, slot, dock sequence, and flying the body to the grip.
- Jake Carlton, “Head Up Angles and the Breakoff Problem” (Skydive Mag): GPS data on how little separation a head-up breakoff gives.
- APF Operational Regulations (V01-2026) and APF Training Operations Manual (V01-2025), as jurisdictional context. IBA Static Level 3 as the tunnel route.
Regulations where you jump
Regulations change, so each rule is given with its document edition, as context for where you jump.
- Australia (APF). These jumps are training descents, briefed by a Freefly Coach with DZSO approval (TOM 5.7.3, OR 9.2.2). Group size is 2, or 3 with specific approval.
- A functioning audible altimeter is mandatory on every freefly descent (OR 9.2.3).
- The assessor in Australia is an APF Freefly Coach. Elsewhere, use the national or drop zone equivalent.
- An FFC-HU covers this course and more.
Acronym key. APF, Australian Parachute Federation. OR, the APF Operational Regulations. TOM, the APF Training Operations Manual. DZSO, drop zone safety officer. FFC-HU, freefly crest (head-up). IBA, International Bodyflight Association.
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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.