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AN203 Coach
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Angles · Relative · The brief

Angles 203

Fly angles in a back-fly slot

The back-fly follower slot: below and behind the leader, and the roll back to belly.

What this unit covers

Covers flying a back-fly follower slot in a 2–3-way angle (movement) jump behind a trained leader: slot geometry below and behind the leader's line, holding the slot through the leader's speed and pitch changes, the roll back to belly, and clearing airspace from the back.
Back-flying in an angle group is strictly a follower skill flown in slot. Angle groups are never led from the back, the leader flies belly-to-earth on every jump. Navigation and ground reference come from the belly, and a back-flying "leader" cannot reliably see where the group is going. Recommended order: the belly slot (FFP-AN201) first. It is a recommendation and not a gate: some flyers arrive from a discipline that made them comfortable on their back first, and the two streams are assessed independently.
The rest of it
A Satisfactory belly stream does not credit this one, and this one does not credit the belly stream. Everything about planning, gear, exit order, heading discipline, the left-behind protocol, in-slot recovery and breakoff is as stated in FFP-AN201 and unchanged.
The safety-critical criteria are restated here in full rather than referenced, so a flyer briefing this unit alone still reads the numbers. Environment: sky, with tunnel back carving as preparation.

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 Safety critical
Hold the back-fly slot below and slightly behind the leader's line with a lateral offset, never letting the legs pass the leader's head, keeping visual on the leader throughout.

Can you hold the back-fly slot below and slightly behind the leader’s line (their head on the horizon), with a lateral offset, during moderate turns and pitch changes?

3.6
Follow the leader through briefed speed and pitch changes, re-establishing level and slot from the back.

Can you follow the leader through speed and pitch changes and re-establish level and slot from your back?

3.10
Transition between the back-fly and belly slots on the briefed key, remaining on level and in slot through the change.

Can you transition from back to belly, and belly to back, whilst remaining on level and in slot?

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

3.4
Hold the back-fly slot below and slightly behind the leader's line with a lateral offset, never letting the legs pass the leader's head, keeping visual on the leader throughout.

Can you hold the back-fly slot below and slightly behind the leader’s line (their head on the horizon), with a lateral offset, during moderate turns and pitch changes?

Everything this unit 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.
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.
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.
4.1
Initiate breakoff at the briefed altitude (−0/+300 ft as a working guide).
4.4
Accelerate flat to build separation, then flatten and decelerate progressively before deployment.
4.5
Visually clear airspace in all directions before deploying at the planned altitude, never treating the deployment itself as clearing airspace: pulling dumps fabric into the airspace, it does not clear it.

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

Sky jumps from a recommended 10,000 ft minimum. Group size 2–3 including the assessor/leader, who flies belly-to-earth in the lead slot on every jump. Conditions within the candidate's cleared limits, with upper winds and any other movement groups on the load briefed.
Footage of assessment jumps from any workable source, candidate identifiable, supported by the candidate talking the assessor through their decisions. Assessor: a freefly coach current in angles coaching.

Performance evidence

Ability evidenced across around 4 coached 2–3-way angle jumps behind a trained/approved leader, flown in the back-fly slot, matching the back-fly half of the evidence FFP-AN201 previously carried across both streams. The evidence should also include:
at least two different days/conditions.
at least 2 consecutive jumps meeting all criteria without coach assistance.
All within a recommended 6-month currency window. Tunnel back carving may inform and substitute for up to two skill-development jumps, not the assessment jumps. No jump in this unit is flown without a trained/approved leader flying belly-to-earth in the lead slot.

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. Hold bold safety criteria to the standard above. Back-fly slot work is where a flyer first has the group above and behind them rather than in front, and the common failure is drifting up into the leader's line; coach the offset before the proximity.
End debriefs 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.

Record this jump

Your notes for this unit

Saved on this device only. Nothing is sent anywhere, there is nowhere for it to go, and no account is involved. They will be here next time you open this card.

This card is a summary. The full Angles 203 unit carries the reasoning, the sources and everything left off here. All briefing cards.