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AN201 Flyer
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Angles · Relative · The jump

Angles 201

Fly angles in a belly slot

Holding a slot on someone else’s line.

What the course is about

You'll learn to fly a belly slot on an angle behind a trained leader: get on level, hold your slot, take a dock, and break off cleanly. This follows Angles 101, because you fly its slot, heading and fan here on a steeper angle.
The back-fly slot is Angles 203; fly this belly slot first if you can, because on your back you can't see where the group is going. In Australia, angle jumps at Certificate B are training jumps approved by the chief instructor, signed off for each body orientation.

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 to the assigned quadrant first, get on level, a straight line through the group's heads, and only then close the distance; never approach from below and behind through the burble.

Can you approach the formation on belly from high and in front of the group, staying out of the burble and the cork zone?

3.4
Hold the assigned slot at docking distance on level and on the group's heading within ±45°, for the majority of the working time.

Can you stay in your briefed slot for the majority of the jump whilst on level?

3.6
Take the briefed dock without changing the leader's speed or pitch, and transition over the top of the body to the opposite slot, never dropping a shoulder underneath.

Can you take a dock during an angle jump without disturbing the leader, then transition up and over the leader to pick up a slot on the other side?

3.9 Safety critical
Execute in-slot recovery immediately on any instability: keep speed on the group's direction and angle, never ball up, never track away; re-approach only when stable, and if separation persists, follow the group at a distance until breakoff.

If you get unstable, do you keep your speed on the group’s direction and recover in your slot, re-approaching only once you are stable?

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
Execute in-slot recovery immediately on any instability: keep speed on the group's direction and angle, never ball up, never track away; re-approach only when stable, and if separation persists, follow the group at a distance until breakoff.

If you get unstable, do you keep your speed on the group’s direction and recover in your slot, re-approaching only once you are stable?

Everything this course says about breakoff and deployment

1.4
State the breakoff and deployment altitudes and the lost-flyer plan: breakoff guide 5,000 ft for groups up to 4-way, 5,500 ft for 5 and larger (most modern jumpers plan 5,500 ft for movement jumps of any size), separating at least 1,000 ft above planned deployment. Movement-jump separation is designed on the ground, not improvised in the air.
2.1
Complete a movement-jump gear check on self and cross-check the group: hand-deploy BOC or pull-out, bridle fully covered, tight riser covers and closing loop, secure handles and clothing, helmet, audible set and functioning. Audibles fail silently, and an angle breakoff depends on hearing yours.
2.2
Walk the dive with the group, including the breakoff fan with eye contact between neighbouring flyers, the first time you see the flyer on your breakoff line should not be in freefall.
3.8
If left behind, keep flying the group's heading and closing correctly; stop closing by ~7,000–7,500 ft, hold the distance, and break off on the group's timing, not its altitude, because the classic pull-time collision is a trailing flyer still closing while the group slows to deploy.
4.1
Initiate breakoff at the briefed altitude (−0/+300 ft as a working guide).
4.3
Accelerate flat to build separation, then flatten and decelerate progressively before deployment, angle speeds sit outside the deployment envelope, and a gradual flatten converts vertical speed into horizontal separation; snapping flat kills both.
4.4
Visually clear airspace in all directions before deploying at the planned altitude, by looking under the arms and between the legs, or a clean transition to the back (a barrel roll only if smooth and reliable), never treating the deployment itself as clearing airspace: pulling dumps fabric into the airspace, it does not clear it.
4.5
After opening, hold position and heading until the other groups' canopies are seen open before flying toward the jump run, and keep heading discipline in the first seconds under canopy, post-breakoff wraps come from two flyers turning toward each other immediately after opening.

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 against the declared objective using the available footage (leader-flown, outside or helmet-mounted), talking the coach through own heading, level, slot and altitude decisions.
5.2
If you have access to a GPS, compare the flown trace against the briefed plan.
5.3
Identify one fault and its correction for the next jump, and log the jump with criteria results against the belly stream.

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 201 course page carries the reasoning, the sources and everything left off here. All briefing cards.