AN202 Coach
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Angles · Relative · The brief
Angles 202
Demonstrate endorsement-standard angle flying
The angle flying an endorsement consumes as evidence.
What the course is about
You'll fly a series of angle jumps behind a leader, with no help in the air, to the standard a drop zone uses to clear you for bigger angle groups. Belly and back are flown and passed separately. Angles 201 comes first for belly and Angles 203 for back, because these jumps test what those courses teach.
What comes before it
Screen 2 · What to watch
What to watch
The same short list the flyer sees on their card, in the same words.
3.4
Hold the slot at docking distance, on level and in quadrant, legs never passing the leader's head (Workshop), through the leader's briefed speed and pitch changes.
Can you stay in slot and on level while the leader changes speed and pitch, with your legs never passing the leader’s head?
3.7
Hold slot and level through a briefed turn, flying the outside arc with speed rather than cutting inside, turns are curves, not corners (Workshop).
Can you hold slot and level through a turn in the outside slot, without getting left behind or cutting across the group?
3.9
Safety critical
Execute in-slot recovery as second nature on any instability: add speed in the group's direction on the jump's angle, never ball up, never track away. If separation persists, hold the group's heading and follow: stop the closure by ~7,000–7,500 ft, hold the distance, and break off on the group's timing, not its altitude, breaking off early, high and blind above a descending group is how followers meet deploying canopies (APF006 §4.3 "Do not track away!"; Workshop –).
If you get left behind, do you stop closing by about 7,000 feet and keep visual contact and distance from the group until breakoff, rather than pinning it at the group and risking a collision?
Screen 3 · What blocks a sign-off
What blocks a sign-off
A safety-critical item marked not yet stops the sign-off, however good the rest of the flying was. The rest of the jump cannot make up for it.
Safety-critical items on the short list
3.9
Execute in-slot recovery as second nature on any instability: add speed in the group's direction on the jump's angle, never ball up, never track away. If separation persists, hold the group's heading and follow: stop the closure by ~7,000–7,500 ft, hold the distance, and break off on the group's timing, not its altitude, breaking off early, high and blind above a descending group is how followers meet deploying canopies (APF006 §4.3 "Do not track away!"; Workshop –).
If you get left behind, do you stop closing by about 7,000 feet and keep visual contact and distance from the group until breakoff, rather than pinning it at the group and risking a collision?
Everything this course says about breakoff and deployment
1.5
State the briefed breakoff altitude (guide: 5,000 ft for groups up to 4-way, 5,500 ft for 5-way or larger, and note most modern groups brief 5,500 ft regardless of size), the deployment altitude, the breakoff fan plan, and the left-behind and lost-group plans, a group whose members do not share these numbers has no shared timing at the most dangerous phase of the jump.
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, hard helmet, visual altimeter, audible altimeter checked and set to the briefed breakoff. On an angle jump the audible is the group's shared clock.
2.2
Walk the dive with the group, spending the most time on the breakoff fan, who peels where, with eye contact between breakoff neighbours ("I spend more time on getting the group together and breaking off than I do on actual walking", Workshop).
4.1
Initiate breakoff at the briefed altitude (within −0/+300 ft), on the group's timing, the classic pull-time collision is a flyer still closing while the group slows to deploy (Workshop).
4.2
Fan off in the briefed order, leader continues straight, everyone else peels progressively to a maximum ~90°, looking before turning, turning flat from the hips, never turning in place, breakoff "is not so much of a race as it is a basketball game" (APF006 §5.10; Workshop –).
4.6
Deploy at the planned altitude after visually checking airspace in all directions, with relative work discontinued at least 1,000 ft above planned deployment (mandatory in Australia, the APF Operational Regulations); if directly above someone at pull height, deploy, never try to out-track them (APF006 §3.3).
Recording a sign-off says what you saw on one jump. Permission to jump, and anything the drop zone requires, stay with the drop zone.
Screen 4 · Conditions
Conditions
Where the evidence is allowed to come from, and how much of it there needs to be.
Assessment conditions
- Sky jumps from 10,000 ft or higher (recommended), in a group of 2–3 including the assessing coach or approved leader, who flies the belly lead slot. Angles up to about 60° (guide).
Conditions within the flyer's cleared limits, with the upper winds and any other movement group on the load briefed before boarding.
Video of every assessment jump by default, from the leader, a coach or outside, with the flyer identifiable. The assessor's direct observation and completed checklist are the record. Helmet footage with a talk-through debrief supports it where outside video is impracticable.
Equipment: a visual altimeter, a working audible set to the briefed breakoff (a second recommended), an AAD (recommended), and movement-suitable gear to the Freefly 100 standard: hand-deploy pilot chute or pull-out, bridle fully covered, tight riser covers, secure handles and clothing. A GPS is optional.
The assessor is a freefly coach or approved movement leader current in angle coaching. They fly the lead slot, give no in-air help on assessment jumps, and use the published checklist, which the flyer sees in advance.
In Australia the assessor is an APF Freefly Coach or a leader approved by the drop zone safety officer. Elsewhere, the national or drop zone equivalent, such as a British Skydiving TR coach or a drop zone movement-jump evaluator.
Each criterion is marked Satisfactory or Not Yet Satisfactory, and each orientation Competent or Not Yet Competent. Belly and back are flown on separate jumps, and a result in one never credits the other.
The series and the preparation jumps together make the record. One jump on its own never completes the course.
Ask the flyer about, and note the answers to: the breakoff guides and their reasons, the gear check, why the leader flies belly, closing speed and the flags, slot and burble geometry, the left-behind plan, the fan, exit order and lanes, and who signs what where they jump.
Useful briefing knowledge for larger groups: in groups of six or more, flyers go head-first by about 6,500–7,000 ft, because tracking out of head-up gives almost no extra separation. A fan gives each flyer about 30°, so intermediate groups run out of clean lines at about six.
With a GPS, the speed bands are useful information: a flat track descends at around 180 km/h and a good one covers about 100 mph across the ground, while steep angles run at 300+ km/h. Knowing them helps a dropped flyer change pitch to rejoin. The three-picture debrief compares the planned line, the line the flyer thinks they flew, and the trace. GPS is optional.
The record for each orientation: video of each assessment jump, the signed checklist for each jump, logbook entries (date, drop zone, exit altitude, group size, orientation, leader's name and signature), the flyer's flight-path plans (a map sketch or written: jump run, lane, breakoff, opening point), your notes on the knowledge questions, and a currency and certificate summary.
Preparation guide: 6–10 coached angle jumps per orientation, fewer with a recent Angles 201. Tunnel carving supports preparation and never replaces an assessment jump.
The route for experienced flyers replaces Angles 201 and the preparation only, per orientation, on one of: logged led 2–3-way angle jumps in the orientation with named leaders (a guide of 15 or more), plus video of docking-distance slot flying on level; British Skydiving TR1 and TR2 (TR3 where work beyond 45° is claimed) or a national equivalent; an existing drop zone angles endorsement plus recent movement jumps.
Tunnel records of sustained belly and back carving across a speed range, plus recent led sky angle jumps, also qualify for that route. Preparation jumps are led or coached. A history of unled angle jumps is a reason for a conversation about led jumps. The flyer always flies the three-jump series as challenge jumps with the assessing coach or leader.
If a jump falls short, you debrief it and fly it again.
As a guide, start within 6 months of your slot course and expect 6–10 coached angle jumps per orientation, preparation included, over at least two days. Tunnel carving helps the preparation, and the three jumps are always sky jumps.
If you already fly angles, your coach can replace the preparation with your logbook of led angle jumps, your British Skydiving tracking grades or an angles endorsement. Jumps without a leader or coach don't count, and you still fly the three jumps.
Your drop zone decides from your record: video, signed checklists, logbook entries and flight-path plans. In Australia, it supports the drop zone safety officer's endorsement for angle groups larger than a 3-way. The endorsement stays with that drop zone.
Performance evidence
After each jump, mark yourself against the checklist from the video before you see your coach's marks, and log it with the leader's signature. You've finished Angles 202 in an orientation when you fly three jumps in a row in it that meet everything on the coach's checklist below.
Screen 5 · Debrief
Debrief
Safety first, then fun, then learning. In that order, every time.
Coaching priorities
Safety first, then fun, then learning. Hold the bold criteria to the standard above, and put breakoff, heading and recovery ahead of slot polish on every jump. Keep the series enjoyable. A relaxed flyer flies the standard they trained.
Treat a Not Yet Satisfactory jump as a debrief and a re-fly, and end every debrief on something that went well, with one thing to improve.
One fault, one correction
Ask for their read before you give yours. Then leave them with one fault and one correction, in their words if you can get them. One of each is easier to carry onto the next load than six points.
A jump marked not yet is a jump to fly again. Tell them that as part of the debrief.
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This card is a summary. The full Angles 202 course page carries the reasoning, the sources and everything left off here. All briefing cards.