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 this unit covers
The angles assessment unit, the point where slot-flying skill (FFP-AN201) is demonstrated at the consistency an endorsement decision consumes.
Covers the complete small-group angle skill set on 2–3-way jumps with a trained, approved leader: head-first exit and acceleration to the group, quadrant entry, getting on level, controlled approach to docking distance, slot and level holds through the leader's speed, pitch and heading changes, dock, over-the-top transition to the opposite slot, heading discipline, and in-slot recovery.
The rest of it
The full breakoff–track–airspace-check–deployment–canopy sequence completes the skill set. Three doctrinal commitments define the unit (the contemporary standard, per the Leading Workshop A–C notes and the project doctrine):
Every jump is flown with a leader trained and approved in leading angle jumps, and the leader flies belly-to-earth. A leader must see the ground to navigate, and the group's safety hangs on the leader's line: "the leader's responsibility, in short, is to bring everybody safely to the ground, preferably to the landing area" (Workshop).
Belly-lead is the FFP teaching rule and the recommended default: for developing leaders it is the rule, and it stays the default even for experts.
Narrow expert exceptions are documented in the sources and argued against in the knowledge-evidence section below.
This unit does not teach back-leading.
APF006 §5.12, educational: "the lead flyer must always fly belly to earth"; Workshop C's trainee-leader back-lead ban –.
Back-flying is taught and assessed here as a follower skill flown in slot, its own evidence stream, not a leading position at this level.
Closeness is the standard. "The tighter we are, the safer we are, once we start creating natural separation we have closing speeds, and that's when the accidents happen" (Workshop).
The endorsement-standard flyer holds docking distance on level.
In a moving group, distance is not a margin, it is where the closing speeds live. Results are orientation-specific: belly and back are separate evidence streams with separate results, and competence in one orientation never evidences the other (APF006 §8.7 signs the orientations off separately). The unit's output is an evidence pack built so the drop-zone authority making the group-size decision can decide directly from it. Leading is out of scope: briefing and leading movement jumps is FFP-AN301. Applies to flyers who have completed FFP-AN201 in the stream(s) being assessed. Environment: sky, 2–3-way angle jumps at ≤~60° (guide) from a recommended 10,000 ft minimum. Tunnel carving supports preparation; it never substitutes for the assessment jumps. Supervision: the assessing coach or approved leader flies the belly lead slot on every jump. On preparation jumps they coach; on assessment jumps they give no in-air assistance.
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.
3.6
Fly over the top of the leader to dock on the opposite side, keeping the whole body above the formation, never dropping a shoulder underneath (APF006 §5.12).
Can you fly over the top of the leader to dock on the far side, keeping your whole body above the formation?
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 by flying the outside arc with speed, rather than cutting the corner?
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 –).
Is in-slot recovery second nature: adding speed on the group’s direction and angle, never balling up, never tracking away?
Screen 3 · What blocks a sign-off
What blocks a sign-off
A safety-critical criterion marked not yet stops the sign-off, however good the rest of the flying was. There is no averaging across this line, and no trading a good jump against it.
Safety-critical criteria 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 –).
Is in-slot recovery second nature: adding speed on the group’s direction and angle, never balling up, never tracking away?
Everything this unit 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. It is not a rating, it is not a permission to jump, and it does not replace anything the drop zone requires.
Screen 4 · Conditions
Conditions
Where the evidence is allowed to come from, and how much of it there needs to be.
Assessment conditions
- Environment: sky, recommended 10,000 ft minimum.
Group of 2–3 including the assessing coach or approved leader, who flies the belly-to-earth lead slot.
Angles to ~60° (guide).
Conditions within the candidate's cleared limits, with upper winds and any other movement group on the load briefed before boarding.
Video: the default on every assessment jump (leader-, coach- or outside-flown), candidate identifiable.
The assessor's direct observation and completed checklist are the authoritative record.
Helmet footage plus a talk-through debrief is acceptable supporting evidence where outside video is impracticable.
Equipment: visual altimeter.
Functioning audible set to the briefed breakoff (a second audible recommended).
AAD recommended.
Movement-suitable gear per the FFP-F100 standard.
GPS optional but valuable.
Hand-deploy BOC or pull-out, bridle fully covered, tight riser covers, secure handles and clothing.
Equipment suitability is a regulatory prerequisite in Australia, the APF Operational Regulations.
Assessor: a freefly coach or approved movement leader current in angle coaching, flying the lead slot and giving no in-air assistance on assessment jumps, using the published FFP-AN202 checklist, criteria published to the candidate in advance.
Satisfactory / Not Yet Satisfactory per criterion.
Competent / Not Yet Competent per orientation stream.
Australia: an APF Freefly Coach or drop zone safety officer-approved leader, the APF Operational Regulations; elsewhere the national or drop-zone equivalent, e.g. a British Skydiving TR coach or a DZ movement-jump evaluator.
Non-compensable rule: any Not Yet Satisfactory on a bold criterion (1.5, the audible item in 2.1, 3.8, 3.9, 4.1, 4.3 on back-stream jumps, 4.6) means Not Yet Competent for that stream.
The affected jump is re-flown in full after corrective coaching.
Multiple occasions: the series-plus-preparation history satisfies the sufficiency rule; a single jump never evidences the unit.
Result granularity: orientation-specific, belly and back are separate streams flown on separate jumps; Competent in one stream does not credit the other.
Performance evidence
- Per orientation stream: the Freefly and Angles Guide Angles Level 1 guide is a minimum of 3 jumps showing competency and consistency in all skills (APF006 §8.7).
This unit reads consistency as at least 3 consecutive jumps meeting all criteria without coach assistance.
The coach debriefs a jump with a Not Yet Satisfactory criterion and the candidate re-flies it: a re-fly is part of learning, not a failure.
Most flyers arrive over roughly 6–10 coached angle jumps per orientation including preparation, a guide to how long it might take, not a quota.
Current FFP-AN201 competence shortens it.
Tunnel carving can support the preparation (never the assessment jumps).
Evidence ideally spans at least two days and two different upper-wind pictures per stream, so the planning criteria are evidenced in more than one condition.
All evidence within a recommended 6-month currency window.
Results are orientation-specific: each stream claimed produces its own series, checklist set and pack. The evidence pack (the unit's defined output): 1. Video of the assessment jumps with the candidate identifiable (leader-, coach- or outside-flown; helmet footage plus a recorded talk-through supports the pack where outside video is impracticable). 2. The completed FFP-AN202 checklist for each jump, signed by the assessing coach/leader, filed per orientation stream. 3. Logbook entries for each jump (date, DZ, exit altitude, group size, orientation flown, leader's name and signature). 4. The candidate's briefed flight-path plans (DZ-map sketch or written plan: jump run, lane, breakoff, opening point), the navigation evidence. 5. Knowledge-evidence record (responses noted by the assessor). 6. Currency summary and certificate/licence status. What the completed pack supports. In Australia, the pack is the evidence base for two decisions. First, the drop zone safety officer's written logbook endorsement for tracking/angles descents greater than a 3-way (the APF Operational Regulations): the endorsement operates once Certificate Class C is held, and it belongs to the issuing drop zone. Second, the Freefly and Angles Guide Angles Level 1 sign-off, under which the Freefly and Angles Guide guide is participation up to 5-way in the passed orientation (APF006 §8.7). Elsewhere, the pack is a portable competence record supporting the local drop-zone authority's own decision. It does not qualify anyone to lead a movement jump, that is FFP-AN301, and it never transfers automatically between drop zones.
Screen 5 · Debrief
Debrief
Safety first, then fun, then learning. In that order, every time.
Coaching priorities
Deliver in the project's priority order: Safety → Fun → Learning (curriculum Part A0). Safety criteria are non-compensable, the assessor never trades them for a pass, and breakoff, heading and recovery discipline outrank slot polish on every jump.
The coach manages assessment pressure so the series stays enjoyable: a relaxed candidate flies the standard they trained, a Not Yet Satisfactory jump is a debrief and a re-fly rather than a failure, and the coach ends every debrief on a win with one improvement focus.
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. Six points is six points forgotten by the next load.
A jump marked not yet is a jump to re-fly, not a failure, and saying so out loud is part of the debrief.
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This card is a summary. The full Angles 202 unit carries the reasoning, the sources and everything left off here. All briefing cards.