Improving the breakoff

Breakoff starts at the briefed altitude. The work is what follows: stop working, turn to your heading, track, slow down, check the air above, below and behind you, and deploy into clear air. Every course on this site trains the breakoff on every jump, because the whole load has to get from the dive to the ground safely.

The guides

These altitudes are recommendations. Adjust them for skill, group size and conditions, and use them as the starting point for the brief. A higher breakoff costs a few seconds of working time and gives everyone more time to react at the bottom.

• Freefly groups up to a 4-way: at least 5,000 ft.
• Five or more: at least 5,500 ft.
• A common plan is 5,500 ft for any freefly group. The published guides still list 4,500 ft as a bare educational minimum. Plan above it.
• Finish separating at least 1,000 ft above your planned deployment altitude. In Australia, the APF Operational Regulations set this as a minimum. It is good practice everywhere.

End head-up work higher: 5,500 ft at minimum, and 6,000 ft for six or more. A head-up group of 10 or more is advanced flying. The jump leader makes the risk call and should consider going higher.

Head-up angle groups break off at 6,000 ft at minimum, and 6,500 ft for larger groups.

Why head-up needs more altitude

GPS data gathered by Jake Carlton shows a head-up breakoff opens far less separation than a head-down track. In a modelled 6-way, a head-up breakoff gave about 268 ft of separation and about 1.4 seconds to react. The same flyers breaking off head-first got about 690–1,165 ft.

Three things work against a head-up track:

• It has less horizontal power.
• It gains no glide on the way into the track.
• You lose altitude rotating from head-up to head-down before the track even builds.

The data also gives a guide for orientation. In a group of six or more, a head-up breakoff can’t open enough separation, so be head-first by about 6,500–7,000 ft.

Use the two guides together. The breakoff altitude marks the end of head-up work. With six or more, be head-first and tracking by 6,500–7,000 ft, even when the breakoff altitude is 6,000 ft.

Each part of the breakoff

On a movement jump, the leader plans the breakoff and explains it in the brief, with the reason for each heading. Then every flyer runs the same sequence.

1. Break off on time, without a prompt. Go at the briefed altitude or at the group’s first breakoff movement, whichever comes first. If you wait to be told, you are already late.
2. Turn to your heading. In a group that is your line in the fan. In a small group it is 90° to jump run. Keep out of other flyers’ lanes, where you could track straight into them.
3. Track hard, then slow down. A track that stays fast and steep gains little separation and carries you into other people’s air.
4. Check the air above, below and behind you before you deploy. Use a barrel roll only if yours is smooth and reliable. On a big-way, a clean change from back to belly keeps your eyes on the air the whole way through, which a barrel roll at deployment height can’t do.
5. Deploy into clear air, away from anyone below you. If you end up directly above someone at breakoff height and it is safe to deploy, deploy. Trying to out-track them costs altitude you need for the opening.

Slow down before you pitch

A track that is still fast and steep when you pitch is outside what the canopy is built to open at.

A freeflyer came off a fast track and pitched without slowing down. The opening shredded the wingtips on both sides, where the steering lines hold them down. He cut away, landed his reserve, and the main went to the repair bench.

As a guide, be below 150 knots airspeed (about 278 km/h) before you pitch. To slow down, pitch the track angle back up and get big. Wait for the wind noise to drop, then deploy.

Check your canopy’s placarded maximum deployment speed, and treat it like a hard deck.

Watch: Blue Skies Fun Days, EP117 (6 min), youtube.com/watch?v=g5hTI9MOrfg.

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Advisory, educational content. All altitudes are guides. Adjust for group size, skill and conditions, and always comply with your federation’s rules and your drop zone’s policies.