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AN101 Flyer
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Angles · Stability · The jump

Angles 101

Track and navigate

Tracking with a group, and knowing where you are while you do it.

What the course is about

You'll learn to track behind a trained leader: hold a slot on level and on heading, know where you are over the ground, and break off in a fan. This follows Freefly 100: every movement jump uses its gear check, exit order, breakoff and audibles.
In Australia, tracking and angle jumps need at least a Certificate B and a tracking and navigation course approved by the chief instructor.

What comes before it

Screen 2 · What you are watched on

What you are watched on

The same short list a coach ticks, in the same words. Nothing is hidden from you.

3.2
Fly on level with the leader, a straight line through the heads, taking the level first, then closing distance.

Can you stay on level with a beginner group, and roughly keep up with it?

3.7
Identify the jump run direction and at least one briefed ground reference during the working track, and report own position picture in the debrief.

Can you notice jump run and a couple of ground references during an angle jump, and say afterwards where you actually were?

3.6
On back-track jumps, hold the slot below and slightly behind the belly-flying leader, using the leader as the directional reference.

On back-track jumps, can you hold your slot below and slightly behind the belly-flying leader, using them as your reference? Answer not yet if you have not flown a back track.

3.9 Safety critical
Recover from any instability by re-adding speed on the group's heading, never ball up, never track away; stay with the group until breakoff (a flyer who leaves the group becomes untracked traffic for the whole load).

If you get unstable, can you stay on level with the group and continue closing in an angle, rather than corking to belly and losing the group?

Screen 3 · Safety and altitudes

Safety and altitudes

Everything here is a recommendation with a reason behind it. The drop zone you are jumping at, and your own limits on the day, decide what happens.

Safety-critical items on the short list

3.9
Recover from any instability by re-adding speed on the group's heading, never ball up, never track away; stay with the group until breakoff (a flyer who leaves the group becomes untracked traffic for the whole load).

If you get unstable, can you stay on level with the group and continue closing in an angle, rather than corking to belly and losing the group?

Everything this course says about breakoff and deployment

1.4
State the breakoff and deployment altitudes (guide: 5,000 ft for groups up to a 4-way; 5,500 ft for 5 or more; most groups now brief 5,500 ft regardless of size), the fan needs time to settle, separate and decelerate before anyone deploys.
2.1
Complete a movement-specific gear check on self and partner: hand-deploy BOC or pull-out, bridle fully covered, tight riser covers, closing loop, handles, helmet, visual altimeter, audible set and functioning.
2.2
Brief and dirt-dive with the leader: exit and slot, levels and burble offsets, heading discipline, the left-behind plan, and the breakoff fan, walking the breakoff with eye contact on the people beside you.
4.2
Accelerate on the diverging line, then flatten progressively, converting speed into separation before deployment.
4.3
Check airspace in all directions before deploying, assume somebody is there; from a back track, roll belly-to-earth only when on a clear trajectory with no one above.
4.4
Deploy at the planned altitude within the planned opening area.

The altitudes here are the guides this site recommends, with the reasons on the full course page. Where the drop zone briefs something different, fly what the drop zone briefs.

Screen 4 · After the jump

After the jump

From the course's closing section, review.

5.1
Debrief with the leader against the declared objective, talking through own decision-making over the jump video: how aware were you of heading, turns and altitude, and why did you fly what you flew.
5.2
Draw the flown path on the DZ map and compare it with the plan (and with the GPS trace, where one was worn).
5.3
Identify one fault and its correction for the next jump.
5.4
Log the jump with criteria results.

One fault, one correction

Before the video, and before anyone else speaks, name the one fault from the jump and the one thing you will change on the next jump. Keep it to one of each, so you have one clear thing to fly.

Write them into your notes at the bottom of this card, and they will be here next time you open it.

Record this jump

You can record the jump yourself, because your own read of your flying is worth keeping. A record counts as verified once a coach signs it.

Your notes for this course

Saved on this device only, with no account. They will be here next time you open this card.

This card is a summary. The full Angles 101 course page carries the reasoning, the sources and everything left off here. All briefing cards.