Exit order and separation

Every load settles two things before it boards: who exits when, and how long each group waits in the door before it goes. Freefly has standard answers to both. They follow from drift, and knowing the reason helps when a load wants to do it differently.

Why vertical freefly exits after belly

This order is for vertical groups: head-up and head-down jumps that fall fast and straight down. Movement jumps follow different rules, further down this page.

On a jump run flown into wind, the slower-falling groups exit first. A freefly group falls faster, so it spends less time in freefall drifting with the wind. If the fast group goes first, the slow group behind it drifts further down jump run during its longer freefall and closes the gap the exit order was meant to create.

With belly groups first and freefly groups after, the spacing holds all the way to opening.

Freefly also gives you less time. From 13,000 ft a freefly group has about 20 seconds less freefall than a belly group, so plan a shorter dive. A drill sequence written for a belly jump runs out of altitude.

Why separation is ground covered

The wait between groups puts distance over the ground between opening points, and that distance keeps the columns of falling jumpers apart. A fixed count of seconds gives a different distance on different days. With a strong headwind on jump run the aircraft covers ground slowly, and a lazy eight-count can put the next group almost on top of the last.

Watch the ground. Look straight down past the previous group, let the aircraft cover the briefed distance, then go.

The winds aloft set how long the wait is. On a windy day the aircraft takes more seconds to cover the same distance, so you spend longer in the door for the same gap at opening.

Two habits for vertical flyers

• Work 90° to jump run. A drive or backslide you haven’t noticed then carries you off to the side of the line of flight, into empty air, away from the columns of the groups before and after you.
• Tell the load about any movement. If your jump includes planned horizontal travel, brief the direction, the distance and where you plan to open.

Movement jumps

Angle and tracking groups travel across the sky, so they sit outside the belly-then-freefly order. Where they exit depends on the lanes they fly.

• Plan no more than two movement groups on a load, unless the drop zone safety officer approves more. A skills camp is the usual case. Two groups can fly opposite or diverging directions, and a third has no clean airspace left.
• The first movement group exits first on the load. It flies its lane away from everyone who exits after it.
• Where the second movement group goes depends on the drop zone. Some put it last. Some put it before the students, because a student may deploy higher than 5,500 ft, and a late movement group can end up in freefall above that open canopy. Others put it after the tandems. Learn the local convention before you brief.
• Send the two groups in different directions where the day allows, so their lanes never share sky.
• Give every movement group a leader approved by the drop zone safety officer. The leader flies belly to earth.
• The leader talks the navigation plan through with the load master before the jump: the flight path, its direction, and the exit point and order.
• Keep movement jumps well clear of cloud. The leader navigates by the ground and needs to see it for the whole jump. Have a plan B ready for days when cloud rules the movement jump out.
• Dynamic groups sit across both. A dynamic jump that passes through vertical spends part of its time moving and part falling straight down. Brief it under the rules that cover the widest area it could use. The load organiser may place it conservatively.

Some drop zones, Hunter Valley for example, set the two-group limit, the cloud rule and the approved leader as rules.

A recommended order for a mixed load

When a load carries every discipline, The Freefly Project recommends this order. Adapt it to the day. Your load organiser and drop zone have the final say.

1. First movement group.
2. Belly groups, largest to smallest.
3. Freefly groups, largest to smallest.
4. Second movement group.
5. Students and accelerated freefall.
6. Tandems.
7. High pulls.
8. Wingsuits.

The second movement group goes ahead of the students and accelerated-freefall jumps because of canopy traffic. A movement group flies faster, more mobile canopies. Putting it ahead of the students gets those canopies down and clear before the slower student canopies are in the air, so the fast canopies don’t cut through the student landing pattern.

Once the exit order is set, board in reverse exit order. The group that exits last boards first and sits nearest the front of the aircraft, so the load sits in the plane in the order it will leave. Nobody climbs over anybody at the door.

Wind drift comes first

Every group on the load drifts, so plan the wind before you draw any movement. A group’s total displacement is wind drift plus its planned movement, and the drift acts on every group, moving or not.

Drift depends on how long a group spends in freefall. A belly group falls slowest and drifts furthest. An angle group drifts less, and a fast freefly group least. Work out the drift, draw it on the drop zone board, then add the planned movement on top. A lane drawn without the drift under it ends up in the wrong place. Calculating drift for formation jumps has the numbers.

Agree exit order and separation on the ground. Nobody can sort them out in freefall at 250 km/h.

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Advisory, educational content. Exit order and separation are set by your drop zone and load organiser for the day’s conditions. When in doubt, ask before boarding.