AN301 Coach
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Angles · Group · The brief
Angles 301
Plan an angle jump
Planning an angle jump and watching a leader fly it.
What this unit covers
The planning half of learning to lead. The candidate plans and briefs the whole angle jump under the mentorship of a coach: the day's picture, the drawn flight path, the breakoff design, the load coordination, the briefing and the walk-through.
The candidate then flies belly in a slot beside the coach, observing the jump they planned with the coach leading, and the debrief runs the video against the plan. One course, one job: this card is the plan. Leading the jump is FFP-AN302.
The rest of it
Most of leading happens before boarding: experienced leaders put 50–80% of the job in the planning, navigation and briefing. This unit is that 50–80%, made assessable on its own. The observation slot is the teaching device.
Flying beside the leader, the candidate sees what the leader sees, the sight picture, the turn timing against the keyed references, the group spread out behind, without carrying the lead. They then debrief their own plan against what the sky did to it.
Two doctrine points frame the whole angles track and are restated here because this unit starts producing the people who carry them:
Angles are led from the belly only, never from the back. The leader must see the ground, the references and the group.
Back-flying in an angle group is a follower skill, flown in slot.
APF006 §5.12, "the lead flyer must always fly belly to earth"; the project's coaching doctrine.
Flyers learn angles with a trained leader, not by themselves. This curriculum does not encourage solo angle or movement jumps at any level.
Every unit below this one assumes a trained or approved leader on the jump.
Structured, led movement jumps are safer than unstructured beginner angle groups, "otherwise the alternative's not that great either" (Spaceland and Skydive Arizona approved-leader models). Applies to flyers with endorsement-standard angle competence in both belly and back orientations and a substantial follower history, including time spent deliberately improving awareness on jumps they were not leading. Environment: sky for the observation jumps. The planning and defence drills are ground work, and cost nothing on a weather day. Head-up movement, big-way angles and mixed-orientation angles sit above this unit (FFP-AN302's head-up-movement thread; FFP-AN401; FFP-AN402).
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.
3.1
Safety critical
Fly belly in the briefed observation slot beside the leader, holding level and slot, never between the leader and the group, and never inside the group's briefed lanes or fan. The observation slot is a working slot: it is screened, briefed and flown to the same standard as every other slot on the jump.
Can you fly belly in an observation slot beside the leader, never between the leader and the group and never inside the group’s lanes?
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 track a jump against its plan in the air: the turns against ground references, the drift, and how the leader handled each phase?
3.3
Safety critical
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).
Do you fly the observation slot’s breakoff exactly as briefed, clearing airspace in every direction before you deploy?
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
3.1
Fly belly in the briefed observation slot beside the leader, holding level and slot, never between the leader and the group, and never inside the group's briefed lanes or fan. The observation slot is a working slot: it is screened, briefed and flown to the same standard as every other slot on the jump.
Can you fly belly in an observation slot beside the leader, never between the leader and the group and never inside the group’s lanes?
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).
Do you fly the observation slot’s breakoff exactly as briefed, clearing airspace in every direction before you deploy?
Everything this unit says about breakoff and deployment
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;.
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).
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
The assessor observes the complete cycle: the day's picture and drawn plan, the coordination with manifest/pilot/other groups, the briefing and walk-through, the observation jump (candidate flying the observation slot beside the coach-leader), and the plan-versus-flown debrief.
Sky jumps from a recommended 10,000 ft minimum; a real group of at least 3 flyers of appropriate experience, led by the mentoring coach. Evidence:
The candidate's drawn and photographed flight plans.
The briefing observed live (or recorded).
The candidate's talk-through of the plan's reasoning, the flags counted, the pattern chosen and why.
Jump footage from the observation slot.
A GPS trace where available for the plan-versus-flown comparison. Required equipment: visual altimeter, functioning audible set to the briefed profile, movement-suitable gear; AAD recommended. Conditions within every participant's cleared limits. Assessor: an experienced movement-jump leader or freefly coach current in leading movement jumps, using the published FFP-AN301 checklist (Satisfactory / Not Yet Satisfactory per criterion; unit result Competent / Not Yet Competent).
Performance evidence
Ability evidenced across at least 4 complete plan → brief → observe → debrief cycles, each planned and briefed by the candidate under coach mentorship and flown with the coach leading. The evidence should include:
at least two different days with different winds-aloft pictures, and at least two different jump-run situations.
at least 2 consecutive cycles meeting all planning and briefing criteria without correction from the mentoring coach.
All within a recommended 6-month currency window. Ground evidence alongside the jumps: flight plans drawn and defended for varied scenarios, real wind reports, different jump-run types, multiple groups on the load, assessed on the reasoning, not the drawing ("it's more about being able to defend your jump run than drawing the perfect jump run"). This is a bad-weather-day drill that costs nothing. Tunnel time cannot substitute for any of this unit's evidence, planning, briefing and navigation are sky-and-ground skills.
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). The planner manufactures the jump's safety in the plan; the non-compensable criteria here protect groups the candidate will one day lead.
A well-made plan is also what lets a group relax and enjoy the sky ("when was the last time you skydived and actually took a minute to be like, I'm skydiving, I'm in the sky?"), and the coach designs the observation jump as a good skydive in its own right.
End each debrief on a win with one improvement focus for the next plan.
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 301 unit carries the reasoning, the sources and everything left off here. All briefing cards.