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DY304 Flyer
Coach card Full course

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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 the course is about

You'll learn to fly a flock and roll, a pass-through with a turn in it: you fly your side of the arc, go through vertical mid-turn and take the belly lead through the pass. Dynamic 303 comes first, because the turn is added to a pass-through you already fly straight.
Head-down to crest standard (Head-Down 202 or your country's equivalent) stays the guide for everyone. In Australia, these jumps come under the tracking and angle rules, which need at least a Certificate C and an approved leader.

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 so the formation turns as a curve?

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 switch orientation 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 trapped low on the inside or outside of 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. The drop zone you are jumping at, and your own limits on the day, decide what happens.

Safety-critical items 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 trapped low on the inside or outside of the turn without sight of the group, do you transition to back, regain visual and follow from below?

Everything this course 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.

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.

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, 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 Dynamic 304 course page carries the reasoning, the sources and everything left off here. All briefing cards.