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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 the course is about

You'll learn to fly the back-fly slot on an angle behind a trained leader, hold it through changes of speed and pitch, and transition to belly for the breakoff. This follows Freefly 100 and Angles 101, for a controlled back-fly and a coached track. Angles 201, the belly slot, is the better first course.
In Australia, angle jumps at Certificate B are training jumps approved by the chief instructor.

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 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

3.4
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 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.
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. 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).
Groups of 2–3, including the assessor or leader, who flies belly to earth in the lead slot on every jump. No jump in this course is flown without a trained, approved leader in that slot.
Conditions within the flyer's cleared limits, with upper winds and any other movement groups on the load briefed.
Footage of every assessment jump from any workable source, with the flyer identifiable. The flyer talks the assessor through their decisions.
The back-fly slot is assessed on its own. A Satisfactory belly result under Angles 201 does not count here, and this result does not count for the belly.
Tunnel back carving can replace up to two practice jumps, never the assessment jumps.
The assessor is a freefly coach current in angles coaching.
Each criterion is marked Satisfactory or Not Yet Satisfactory.
As a guide, it takes about four coached jumps, over at least two days or sets of conditions within six months.
Back carving in the tunnel can replace up to two of the practice jumps, but the final two are sky jumps.
If you already fly the back-fly slot, your coach can assess you from your logbook and video of coached back-fly angle jumps, or on two jumps against the checklist.

Performance evidence

After each jump, talk your coach through your heading, level, slot and altitude decisions on the footage, and log one fault and its fix. You've finished Angles 203 when you fly two jumps in a row in the back-fly slot 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. The back-fly slot is the first time a flyer has the group above and behind them. The common fault is drifting up into the leader's line, so coach the offset before the closeness.
End each 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.

Record this jump

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