DY304 Flyer
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Dynamic · Group · The jump
Dynamic 304
Fly a flock and roll
Flock and roll: the same switch, inside a diving turn.
What this unit covers
Covers flying a flock and roll, a pass-through combined with a 90° turn. The formation dives through 90° of turn, passes through vertical, and departs on a path 270° from the original bearing.
The turn adds complexity and a real disorientation risk over the straight pass-through: mid-turn and mid-pass, every reference, ground, group and horizon, is moving at once (the project's coaching doctrine, The Freefly Project 2026-08-05). The defining hazard, the trapped belly flyer. The turn creates the specific danger the 200 tier trained for: a belly flyer trapped on the inside or outside of the turn goes low, loses sight of the group, and floats up blind through the diving formation.
The rest of it
The trained recovery is the belly-to-back transition practised and demonstrated in FFP-DY202: transition to back to regain visual and follow the group from below. That recovery is a safety-critical criterion of this unit (the project's coaching doctrine, The Freefly Project 2026-08-05).
On this reversing jump the recovery carries one extra rule, the dropped-flyer rule: the departing line is the reciprocal of the group's line into the pass, and while the group is safe against its own earlier column (it is always below its earlier altitude there), a dropped flyer descending on that column can meet the returning group head-on.
Once the group has passed through, do not rejoin across the reciprocal, hold an offset line, follow from below on the new direction only with the group re-acquired visually, and otherwise separate and deploy higher after checking airspace (review-derived doctrine, adversarial review 2026-08-05, RT-9, applied under flag). Turn-radius (arc) ownership is central to this jump. Handover on a flock and roll happens mid-turn, so it transfers turn-radius (arc) ownership with the lead: the receiving leader sets the new arc as they pick up the lead, and the group flies the outside of that arc with speed.
Turns are curves, not corners, the leader carries the group around an arc the whole formation can fly, and a mismatched arc across the handover is a closing-speed hazard named in the dirt-dive (the project's coaching doctrine, RED-6d 2026-07-27). Leadership doctrine carried from FFP-DY303. The lead is always on belly.
Across the pass either the lead changes hands, the two-leader belly-led handover, the recommended model for non-training jumps, or the leader transitions back to belly (the stated alternative, e.g. on coached jumps, under which the leader retains lead and abort ownership throughout the pass), and under either mechanism the middle person on belly is always leading.
The four leadership edge cases briefed on every through-vertical jump apply in full: the receiving leader owns navigation and abort from the start of the vertical segment (under the re-transition mechanism, the leader throughout).
The leader-loss protocol covers both windows, a receiving leader lost before handover means the pass is aborted, Leader 1 steepens and pulls out, with no back-flying substitute, and if no belly lead has emerged within the briefed ~2–3 s mid-pass, each flyer completes their own transition over the body, holds the reciprocal line, and the jump is over, no rebuilding, break off per the plan.
Deploying higher if separated (review-derived doctrine, adversarial review 2026-08-05, RT-10, applied under flag).
On coached training jumps the coach is Leader 1, retaining the lead throughout under the re-transition mechanism and flying the handover only when the coach judges the student ready to receive the belly lead.
And arc ownership passes with the lead, the edge case this jump exists to exercise. FFP-DY303 carries the full doctrine text (the project's coaching doctrine, The Freefly Project 2026-07-27 and 2026-08-05; also in). Navigation. A flock and roll rotates the group's path twice, 90° of turn into the pass, then the reversal through vertical, so the departing line runs 270° from the original bearing. The leader plans that geometry against jump run and the other groups on the load before boarding: turn direction and pitch-over point are chosen so the departing 270° path stays clear of jump run, other groups' planned airspace and the opening points. Like the pass-through, the jump spends part of its working time purely vertical and covers well under half a straight angle's ground; the turn bends what remains, so the group works in a compact block of airspace (the project's coaching doctrine, The Freefly Project 2026-07-27 and 2026-08-05). Mastery track, no sign-off. Completion of this unit is a milestone, not a permission: it admits the flyer to the track's turning through-vertical jumps within this curriculum, and nothing more. The unit's entry standards are course-internal safety standards, prerequisites to participate in these jumps, not jump permissions, licences, crests or endorsements of any kind. Any drop zone may adopt them as local policy; this curriculum only recommends them. Fly the flock and roll small: 2-way to start, building to 3-way and 4-way, group sizes 2–4 are the guide. Anything over 6 belongs to dedicated teams working up incrementally; a pickup group is best kept well under that. Environment: sky, with tunnel drills (belly/back carving in both directions, belly↔back flips and layouts at speed) as preparation for the turning orientation switch. Navigation, the mid-turn handover and breakoff are sky-only skills. Supervision: the coach leads a 2–4-way and designs every jump around the least experienced flyer (USPA SIM 5-10.E). On a coached training jump the coach is Leader 1 under the training exception; non-training flock and rolls carry two approved leaders for the belly-led handover.
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.
3.2
Fly the assigned side of the arc through the diving 90° turn, carrying speed on the outside of the arc, tempering it on the inside, holding slot and level so the formation turns as a curve, not a corner.
Can you fly your side of the arc through a diving 90 degree turn, carrying speed on the outside and tempering it on the inside?
3.3
Transition through vertical on the leader's key mid-turn, switching orientation over the body as the group comes through and re-establishing slot and level on the departing line promptly.
Can you transition through vertical on the key mid-turn and re-establish slot and level on the departing line?
3.10
Safety critical
Transition to back immediately when trapped low on the inside or outside of the turn without visual on the group, the FFP-DY202-trained recovery, regaining visual and following from below.
If you end up low on the turn without sight of the group, do you transition to back, regain visual and follow from below?
Screen 3 · Safety and altitudes
Safety and altitudes
Everything here is a recommendation with a reason behind it, not a rule. The drop zone you are jumping at, and your own limits on the day, decide what actually happens.
Safety-critical criteria on the short list
3.10
Transition to back immediately when trapped low on the inside or outside of the turn without visual on the group, the FFP-DY202-trained recovery, regaining visual and following from below.
If you end up low on the turn without sight of the group, do you transition to back, regain visual and follow from below?
Everything this unit says about breakoff and deployment
1.6
State breakoff (guide: 5,000 ft for groups up to a 4-way, 5,500 ft for a 5-way or larger; set at least 1,000 ft above the highest planned deployment) and deployment altitudes, and the lost-leader protocol (transition to back, turn onto a back angle, follow the group from below).
2.2
Dirt-dive the full flow, exit, gather, the line out, the 90° diving turn, the pass, the departing line and breakoff, with slot allocations, each flyer's side of the arc and the transition key, naming the mismatched-arc closing-speed hazard across the handover.
2.3
Brief the abort criteria and the leadership edge cases: belly flyers not in slot on the angle = pass aborted; a scattered group = the leader steepens, then pulls back out; who owns navigation and abort through the vertical segment (under the handover, the receiving leader from the start of the segment; under the re-transition mechanism, the leader throughout); the leader-loss protocol in both windows (before the pass: pass aborted, Leader 1 steepens and pulls out, no back-flying substitute; mid-pass: no belly lead within the briefed ~2–3 s = each flyer completes their own transition over the body, holds the reciprocal line, and the jump is over); the dropped-flyer rule for the reversing geometry (once the group has passed through, no rejoining across the reciprocal, hold an offset line, follow from below on the new direction only with the group re-acquired, otherwise separate and deploy higher after checking airspace); on a coached jump, the coach as Leader 1 flying the handover only when the coach judges the student ready to receive the belly lead; and arc ownership across the handover.
3.11
Apply the dropped-flyer rule after losing the group across the pass: do not rejoin across the reciprocal, hold an offset line, follow from below on the new direction only once the group is re-acquired visually, and otherwise separate and deploy higher after checking airspace.
4.1
Initiate breakoff at the briefed altitude (within −0/+300 ft).
4.4
Deploy at the planned altitude after clearing airspace.
Altitudes here are the guides this curriculum recommends and argues for. Where the drop zone briefs something different, the drop zone is what you fly.
Screen 4 · After the jump
After the jump
From this unit's own closing element, review.
5.1
Debrief against the declared objective using video.
5.2
Analyse own turn on video, arc discipline on the assigned side, slot and level through the pitch-over, the orientation-switch path onto the departing line, identifying one correction for the next jump.
5.3
Write the jump up in the logbook with reflections naming the unit and skills assessed (e.g. "DY304 flock and roll, outside of the arc, received the belly lead mid-turn"), criteria results and current standing against the track's safety standards, the curriculum gives log entries meaning.
One fault, one correction
Before the video, before anyone else speaks: name the single thing that went wrong, and the single thing you will do differently next jump. One of each. A list of six is a list you will not 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
Most records are the flyer's own, and that is the point: your own read of your own flying is worth keeping. A record only counts as verified once a coach signs it.
Your notes for this unit
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Nothing written against this unit yet.
This card is a summary. The full Dynamic 304 unit carries the reasoning, the sources and everything left off here. All briefing cards.