AN301 Coach
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Angles · Group · The brief
Angles 301
Plan an angle jump
Designing an angle jump on the ground, then watching a leader fly it.
What the course is about
You'll plan and brief a whole angle jump with a coach mentoring you, fly belly beside the coach who leads it, and debrief your plan against the video. Angles 202 on belly and back comes first, so you can hold a slot without thinking and watch the leader.
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.
1.2
Design a flight path that meets the two governing objectives: avoid every other group's line of flight, and bring the whole group back to the landing area. Draw it on a DZ map with turns keyed to ground references, and plan the opening area for the whole group, the path ends in a cone of separating jumpers, not a point. Plan wind drift before intentional movement, total displacement is wind drift plus intentional movement. Work out the drift for the day's uppers and freefall time first, and visualise it on the DZ board, before adding any planned movement footprint. Drift acts on every group whether it moves or not, and it differs by discipline: a belly group drifts more than an angle group, which drifts more than a faster freefly group. A lane drawn without the drift underneath it is drawn in the wrong place (USPA SIM 5-10.F; APF006 §3.2; the project's coaching doctrine movement-jump planning doctrine).
Can you plan a group’s flight path on a drop zone map, calculating drift due to freefall and due to winds aloft?
1.8
Confirm the local drop zone's policy for taking part in and leading movement jumps before planning one, approval requirements, group-size limits and any local lane rules differ between drop zones, and the plan starts from what the host drop zone permits.
Do you understand your local drop zone’s policy for taking part in, and leading, angle jumps?
1.5
Safety critical
Design the breakoff on the ground, never in the air. Set the breakoff altitude: the guides are 5,000 ft up to a 4-way and 5,500 ft for 5 or more, and most modern groups brief 5,500 ft regardless of size; for a head-up angle group raise the floor, minimum 6,000 ft, and 6,500 ft for a larger group, the recommended FFP standard for head-up angle work, because a head-up breakoff buys almost no separation and rotating to head-first costs altitude (see the head-up-angle breakoff item in Knowledge evidence). Plan the last turn no lower than ~7,000 ft so the group settles onto one heading before separating ("we definitely don't want to break off in a turn, that's where the collisions happen"). Plan a peel-off fan away from jump run with no flyer turning more than ~90° and nobody, ever, turning 180° back toward the jump run, an explicit breakoff assignment for anyone slotted above the leader, and separation complete at least 1,000 ft above the highest planned deployment. Breakoff is the trigger point for movement-jump collisions; it is designed, briefed and walked, not improvised (the project's coaching doctrine breakoff standards;, the Australian "to the basement" incidents; APF006 §5.10;.
Can you design the whole breakoff on the ground: the altitude, the last turn high enough for the group to settle, who peels where, and separation finished above the highest planned opening?
3.2
Track the jump against the plan in the air: the turns against the keyed ground references, the drift under the group, the group's state at each phase, and how the leader applies the in-air priority order (Aviate → Navigate → Communicate, flown as leading skill in FFP-AN302). Watch the leader's sight picture: where they look, when they turn, what they do when the group spreads.
Can you follow a jump against its plan in the air, the turns against the ground references, the drift, and how the leader handled each phase?
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
1.5
Design the breakoff on the ground, never in the air. Set the breakoff altitude: the guides are 5,000 ft up to a 4-way and 5,500 ft for 5 or more, and most modern groups brief 5,500 ft regardless of size; for a head-up angle group raise the floor, minimum 6,000 ft, and 6,500 ft for a larger group, the recommended FFP standard for head-up angle work, because a head-up breakoff buys almost no separation and rotating to head-first costs altitude (see the head-up-angle breakoff item in Knowledge evidence). Plan the last turn no lower than ~7,000 ft so the group settles onto one heading before separating ("we definitely don't want to break off in a turn, that's where the collisions happen"). Plan a peel-off fan away from jump run with no flyer turning more than ~90° and nobody, ever, turning 180° back toward the jump run, an explicit breakoff assignment for anyone slotted above the leader, and separation complete at least 1,000 ft above the highest planned deployment. Breakoff is the trigger point for movement-jump collisions; it is designed, briefed and walked, not improvised (the project's coaching doctrine breakoff standards;, the Australian "to the basement" incidents; APF006 §5.10;.
Can you design the whole breakoff on the ground: the altitude, the last turn high enough for the group to settle, who peels where, and separation finished above the highest planned opening?
Everything this course says about breakoff and deployment
1.6
Prepare a conditional plan B that is simpler than plan A and changes only what must change (same exit, same slots, same breakoff where possible), plus the left-behind and lost-flyer protocol. Plans go off-script often enough that the response is designed before boarding ("you have to change what you have to change, but don't change what you don't have to change";, pre-briefed conditional plans; APF006 §4.3).
2.2
Deliver the briefing early, the 20-minute call, rehearsed at the 10, because a rushed brief produces rushed jumpers. Structure it dry data first: jump run, the three wind layers in digestible form, the drawn plan, exit order; then approach doctrine (quadrant → level → close), heading discipline, the left-behind protocol, the breakoff walk-through, and after-opening instructions, all phrased as what TO do, never only what not to do. The FFP briefing minimum defines six planning outputs for the jump: direction (lane or sector), distance (in grid squares or nautical miles), the breakoff and separation plan, the opening area, the initial canopy direction, and plan B. A movement jump is not briefed until all six are stated (APF006 §5.14; the project's coaching doctrine movement-jump planning doctrine).
2.3
Walk the dive with the group, walking backwards where it simulates real body inputs, and spend more time on the getting-together and breakoff phases than on the rest of the walk combined.
2.5
Brief the high-and-behind case as a mandatory item: a jumper who ends up high and behind the group must never chase it. Brief the mindset plainly: the jump is done; accept it, and do not try to catch back up. Chasing compresses vertical separation and raises closing speed at breakoff. Instead slow the fall rate, stay high and behind, keep visual contact with the group, and deploy at the briefed altitude when the group breaks off (the project's coaching doctrine movement-jump contingency doctrine;, break off at the group's timing, not its altitude; APF006 §3.3).
3.3
Fly the briefed breakoff exactly as planned for the observation slot, peel at the briefed altitude and angle, clear airspace in all directions, and deploy at the planned altitude over the planned area (APF006 §5.10, §3.3; the project's coaching doctrine breakoff standards).
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
- The assessor watches the whole cycle: the day's picture and the drawn plan, the coordination with manifest, the pilot and the other groups, the brief and walk-through, the observation jump, and the plan-against-flown debrief.
Sky jumps from 10,000 ft or higher (recommended), with a real group of at least 3 flyers of suitable experience, led by the mentoring coach. The flyer being assessed flies the observation slot beside the coach.
The record: the flyer's drawn and photographed flight plans, the brief watched live or recorded, the flyer's talk-through of the plan's reasoning (the flags counted, the pattern chosen and why), video from the observation slot, and a GPS trace where one is available.
Equipment: a visual altimeter, a working audible set to the briefed profile, and gear suited to movement. An AAD is recommended.
Conditions within every participant's cleared limits.
The assessor is an experienced movement-jump leader or a freefly coach current in leading movement jumps. In Australia, that is an APF Freefly Coach or a leader approved by the drop zone safety officer (Operational Regulations 9.9.3).
Each criterion is marked Satisfactory or Not Yet Satisfactory.
Tunnel time does not count toward this course.
For an experienced planner or leader: a logbook with a long tracking and angles history (300 or more is a common benchmark, as a guide only), and a portfolio of drawn plans with talk-throughs or an existing leader approval under a published drop zone scheme.
Add a reference from a drop zone safety officer, safety and training adviser, chief instructor or equivalent who has seen the flyer plan and brief. Then one full cycle (plan, brief, observe or lead, debrief) against the whole checklist.
Safety-critical criteria are always assessed live, never credited from history. A pass in Angles 302 by this route covers this course.
As a guide, fly them over at least two days with different upper winds and two jump-run situations, within 6 months.
Tunnel time doesn't count toward this course.
If you already plan and lead movement jumps, one full cycle with your logbook, drawn plans and a reference can cover the course, and so can a pass in Angles 302.
Performance evidence
After each jump, debrief with the group speaking first, compare the plan with what you think the group flew and any GPS trace, and log what the leader did that your plan didn't cover.
You've finished Angles 301 after at least four full cycles of plan, brief, observe and debrief, with the last two in a row meeting everything on the coach's checklist below without correction.
Screen 5 · Debrief
Debrief
Safety first, then fun, then learning. In that order, every time.
Coaching priorities
- Safety first, then fun, then learning. The planner builds the jump's safety into the plan, and the bold criteria protect groups this flyer will one day lead.
A good plan also lets a group relax and enjoy the sky, so design the observation jump as a good skydive in its own right.
End each debrief on something that went well, with one thing to improve in the next plan.
Skills to watch alongside the flying: clear, positive briefing scaled to the group, and precise language with manifest, pilots and load masters ("0.5 before" what?).
Wind-report reading, unit conversion (knots, mph, m/s) and drift arithmetic, and map reading at two scales: detail within about 1–2 miles, far references for orientation.
Honest self-assessment: simplifying or standing a plan down as the flags stack.
The pattern catalogue by difficulty: straight 90 and 45-45 for a developing leader, then 45-90. The zigzag, back-trail and 270 are advanced-leader patterns, often led too early. The last turn by about 7,000–7,500 ft.
In the fan, flyers look before turning and turn flat from the hips. The belly and back group-size limits are separate, so a flyer cleared for bigger belly groups learns back-fly angles in groups of three or fewer first.
Teach novice freeflyers on their own about the corridor they drift across, without mocking them. It is the reason learners fly angles behind trained leaders.
Walking the dive backwards simulates the real body inputs. Spend most of the walk on the getting together and the breakoff.
The breakoff numbers behind the head-up angle floors (Carlton's GPS data): head-up cruises at about 140 mph vertical and 40 mph horizontal, head-down at about 135/90 mph slow to 120/105 mph fast. In a modelled 6-way, a slow head-up breakoff gave 268 ft (about 1.4 s) of separation and a fast one 392 ft (about 2.7 s), against 690–1,165 ft head-first.
Carlton also measured a 1,500–2,000 ft lag before horizontal speed builds after the transition, with no glide gain moving into a head-up breakoff. Hence head-first initiated by about 6,500–7,000 ft in groups of six or more, in a team layout on the line of flight. The in-place layout is the worst option. He calls a head-up breakoff in six or more unacceptable, and five pushing it.
The 6,000/6,500 ft head-up angle floor applies to head-up angle work only. The general ladder (5,000 ft up to a 4-way, 5,500 ft for 5 or more) applies elsewhere, including belly-led angle groups. It extends an earlier Australian practice (by 2015) of a head-up angle track-off at 5,500 ft or higher, turning and clearing the air head-up before going head-first.
Pulling to clear airspace is unsafe: a deployment puts fabric into the airspace, and clears nothing.
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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