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AN302 Flyer
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Angles · Group · The jump

Angles 302

Lead an angle jump

Leading: you are the only person navigating.

What the course is about

You'll lead an angle jump through the exit, the navigation, the group and the breakoff, with your coach flying belly beside you and stepping back over the series. Angles 301 and Angles 202 on belly and back come first, because every lead starts from your own plan and brief.
In Australia, an angle leader needs a freefly coach rating or at least a Certificate C, and approval from the drop zone safety officer at that drop zone.

What comes before it

Screen 2 · What you are watched on

What you are watched on

The same short list a coach ticks, in the same words. Nothing is hidden from you.

2.2 Safety critical
Lead belly-to-earth for the entire jump, angle jumps are never led from the back. The leader is the only person navigating: they must hold continuous visual on the ground, the references, the group and the other groups, and none of that is reliably possible on your back (APF006 §5.12; the project's coaching doctrine; British Skydiving TPM §3.7 and Skydive Arizona treat any back-flying by a leader as requiring a dedicated belly mirror, an advanced arrangement outside this unit's scope).

Do you lead belly to earth for the whole jump, never from the back?

2.3
Run the check cycle continuously through the working time, how is my heading → how is the group → how am I → repeat, with direction always first: no playing to the camera, no coaching mid-jump at the cost of navigation. Order the whole jump by the in-air priority order Aviate → Navigate → Communicate. Aviate first: fly yourself, hold personal stability, heading and fall rate, and stabilise before re-engaging if task-saturated. Navigate second: protect the airspace and the footprint, watching drift, lane and range, and reduce or stop horizontal movement rather than press on when position is uncertain. Communicate third: signal the group to hold cohesion and the plan. When tasks conflict the higher priority always wins; navigation and stability come before helping any individual flyer (the project's coaching doctrine movement-jump priority-order doctrine; APF006 §5.14).

Do you run a continuous check cycle in the air: how is my heading, how is the group, how am I?

2.5 Safety critical
Stay predictable when someone struggles: hold the plan and the line. Never dive, flatten sharply or turn the group back to "pick up" a dropped flyer: changing the closing speed on someone already struggling is a documented collision cause. Never chase a flyer who leaves the plan: the group follows the leader, so a chasing leader drags everyone into the hazard. Adjust only gradually, one small iteration at a time (the "accommodation" collision, the chase ruling;, "the tighter we are, the safer we are").

When somebody is struggling, are you able to notice, and do you hold your line and speed instead of diving, flattening or turning the group, whilst still navigating?

2.6 Safety critical
Keep the group's path moving away from jump run at all times, never turn the group back toward the line of flight, and never rely on vertical separation from other groups: the airspace on and behind jump run belongs to everyone else on the load (APF006 §3.3;, the Sebastian jump-run crossing).

Are you able to maintain constant awareness of jump run and your group’s agreed flight plan, and navigate an angle that sticks to the plan and stays off jump run?

Screen 3 · Safety and altitudes

Safety and altitudes

Everything here is a recommendation with a reason behind it. The drop zone you are jumping at, and your own limits on the day, decide what happens.

Safety-critical items on the short list

2.2
Lead belly-to-earth for the entire jump, angle jumps are never led from the back. The leader is the only person navigating: they must hold continuous visual on the ground, the references, the group and the other groups, and none of that is reliably possible on your back (APF006 §5.12; the project's coaching doctrine; British Skydiving TPM §3.7 and Skydive Arizona treat any back-flying by a leader as requiring a dedicated belly mirror, an advanced arrangement outside this unit's scope).

Do you lead belly to earth for the whole jump, never from the back?

2.5
Stay predictable when someone struggles: hold the plan and the line. Never dive, flatten sharply or turn the group back to "pick up" a dropped flyer: changing the closing speed on someone already struggling is a documented collision cause. Never chase a flyer who leaves the plan: the group follows the leader, so a chasing leader drags everyone into the hazard. Adjust only gradually, one small iteration at a time (the "accommodation" collision, the chase ruling;, "the tighter we are, the safer we are").

When somebody is struggling, are you able to notice, and do you hold your line and speed instead of diving, flattening or turning the group, whilst still navigating?

2.6
Keep the group's path moving away from jump run at all times, never turn the group back toward the line of flight, and never rely on vertical separation from other groups: the airspace on and behind jump run belongs to everyone else on the load (APF006 §3.3;, the Sebastian jump-run crossing).

Are you able to maintain constant awareness of jump run and your group’s agreed flight plan, and navigate an angle that sticks to the plan and stays off jump run?

Everything this course says about breakoff and deployment

1.1
Produce the day's plan to the FFP-AN301 standard: the day's picture, the drawn flight path with wind drift planned first, the breakoff designed on the ground, plan B as a pre-briefed conditional, and the load coordination, declared to manifest, drawn on the DZ board, agreed with every other movement group (FFP-AN301 Elements 1–2).
1.2
Deliver the briefing and walk-through to the FFP-AN301 standard, including the six planning outputs (direction, distance, breakoff and separation plan, opening area, initial canopy direction, plan B) and the mandatory high-and-behind brief.
2.7
Start the last turn no lower than the briefed altitude (~7,000–7,500 ft guide), then fly straight and settle the group onto one heading before breakoff, the formation "breathes" in turns, and people separating with residual turning motion is where collisions happen.
3.1
Initiate breakoff at the briefed altitude (within −0/+300 ft) with the briefed signal, and continue straight, fast and efficient, never turning in place and never stopping or flaring to watch. The leader's unbroken line is the reference every other flyer fans off ("if they don't have a reference point, they're just floating in the sky"), and a stopped leader is a standing target for the one flyer they didn't see (APF006 §5.10).
3.2
Flatten progressively toward deployment, converting the jump's speed into horizontal separation, no snap-flat, no barrel rolls to "clear airspace" (look under arms/legs, or use a clean, trained back transition that holds heading, speed and pitch) (APF006 §3.3, barrel roll before opening only if smooth and reliable).
3.3
Deploy at the planned altitude over the planned area after visually clearing the airspace, always assuming somebody is there, and never "pull to clear airspace": deploying dumps fabric into the airspace, it does not clear it (APF006 §3.3).
3.6
(Head-up movement only.) Brief and fly the head-up-movement breakoff as a plan PLUS talked-through what-ifs, the plan alone is not enough, because head-up movement jumps routinely produce off-plan states (the project's coaching doctrine).
4.2
Review the lead itself on video with the coach who flew beside you, against every element of the job: the exit line and first turn, the communication to the group (signals given, signals missed), personal stability through the working time, the navigation (turns against the keyed references, planned versus flown), and the breakoff (timing, line, fan). Name one leading correction to train on the next lead.

The altitudes here are the guides this site recommends, with the reasons on the full course page. Where the drop zone briefs something different, fly what the drop zone briefs.

Screen 4 · After the jump

After the jump

From the course's closing section, review the lead.

4.1
Debrief the group: participants speak first; watch the whole video once through without stopping; safety points first, then positives, then improvements, teaching by showing the good example in the group rather than dwelling on the individual who missed.
4.2
Review the lead itself on video with the coach who flew beside you, against every element of the job: the exit line and first turn, the communication to the group (signals given, signals missed), personal stability through the working time, the navigation (turns against the keyed references, planned versus flown), and the breakoff (timing, line, fan). Name one leading correction to train on the next lead.
4.3
Compare planned versus flown: draw what you think you flew, and, if you have access to a GPS, compare all three pictures (the plan, your perception, the trace), remembering the trace includes drift.
4.4
Log the jump; report any near-miss, off-landing, airspace conflict or plan deviation to DZ safety staff; and bank what the day taught, flags you missed, conditions you now have experience with, into the next plan.

One fault, one correction

Before the video, and before anyone else speaks, name the one fault from the jump and the one thing you will change on the next jump. Keep it to one of each, so you have one clear thing to fly.

Write them into your notes at the bottom of this card, and they will be here next time you open it.

Record this jump

You can record the jump yourself, because your own read of your flying is worth keeping. A record counts as verified once a coach signs it.

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