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DY401 Flyer
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Dynamic · Mastery · The jump

Dynamic 401

Follow the leader into a carve

Following a leader through a carve, copying everything.

What this unit covers

Covers following, the first dynamic fundamental, taught as a flock and roll into carving. Take the movement jump out the door and off jump run; initiate a left or right turn as for a flock and roll; and keep the formation turning into a carve, close, tight, and on level.
The carve follows a snake pattern and practises the core skill of following the leader: copying what they do. This jump is the basis for future improvisation behind a leader, much like tunnel dynamic flying, which generally starts with carving.
The rest of it
The pattern inside the carve is lead-and-follow, tunnel-style: the leader cuts a line and the follower flies directly behind. Lead-and-follow is the first of the four attack patterns; vertical mirroring and the front attack with pass-by live in FFP-DY402, and the front attack with eagle in FFP-DY403.
All four share one principle, the group attacks the centre: every flyer works to keep the group close and tight, converging on a shared point rather than chasing a tail. A carve is a drive plus a turn.
An in-face carve is flown facing into the centre of the arc, an out-face carve facing out of it, and the mechanics are the same in both facings, at any orientation and speed.
The unit builds on movement-into-vertical flying: the jump still demands a tight movement formation and tight vertical spacing, and now adds the carve. Fly it small: 2–3 flyers is the sweet spot and 4 the practical maximum.
Jumps beyond 6 flyers are the territory of dedicated competition teams that work up to a bigger-way dynamic jump incrementally over many practice jumps, and are outside this unit.
The group plans, briefs and debriefs its jumps in the FAI Dynamic vocabulary (snakes S1–S6, verticals V1–V8, mixers M1–M9, carving), the only officially defined language for this flying (FAI/ISC Dynamic Competition Rules 2025, Annexes A–B).
Applies to flyers competent in the flock and roll (DY 304). Environment: sky.
This style of flying realistically requires substantial dynamic tunnel work, carving both faces, lead-and-follow lines, before it transfers; tunnel time is preparation and calibration only. Supervision: flown behind an experienced dynamic leader, a coach at first, then experienced peers.
The candidate's primary role is follower: following is the fundamental this unit teaches. This is a Mastery-tier unit: there is no sign-off. Completion is a milestone recognising the following fundamental, it is not a permission, and it does not authorise any jump.

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.

3.3
Fly the carve through the briefed snake pattern directly behind the leader, copying the leader's orientation, line and tempo, tunnel-style lead-and-follow.

Can you fly a carve directly behind the leader, copying their orientation, line and tempo?

3.5
Hold own lane and level through the carve, within a head height of the leader's level, clear of other flyers' burbles, in-face or out-face as briefed.

Can you hold your lane and stay within a head height of the leader’s level, clear of other flyers’ burbles?

3.8 Safety critical
Keep the group's carve inside its own airspace, monitoring the jump run and the straight-down groups throughout, avoiding them is entirely the moving group's responsibility, never theirs.

Do you keep the carve inside its own airspace, watching jump run and the straight-down groups throughout?

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

3.8
Keep the group's carve inside its own airspace, monitoring the jump run and the straight-down groups throughout, avoiding them is entirely the moving group's responsibility, never theirs.

Do you keep the carve inside its own airspace, watching jump run and the straight-down groups throughout?

Everything this unit says about breakoff and deployment

1.5
State the breakoff plan, breakoff altitude, the back-flyer roll rule, and deployment altitudes, with separation complete at least 1,000 ft above the planned deployment height (a guide: 5,000 ft for freefly groups up to 4-way, noting most modern jumpers use 5,500 ft for any freefly group and will generally not accept 4,500 ft).
4.1
Initiate breakoff at the briefed altitude (within −0/+300 ft), rotating from head-up to a head-first orientation first if the jump ends head-up, then turning onto a clear radial while flattening pitch to a track; never back-track away while still head-up.
4.2
If on the back at breakoff, roll to belly only once on a clear trajectory with no one above.
4.3
Deploy at the planned altitude, inside the group's planned opening airspace, after checking own 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 the carve against the plan on video, in the shared vocabulary, marking line busts (where the follower's line, level or timing diverged from the leader's) and trick busts (transitions not replicated with the leader's orientation and path).
5.2
Identify one following fault, line, level or timing, with a correction for the next jump, setting the next jump's carve pattern accordingly.
5.3
Log the jump in the logbook naming the unit and skills flown (e.g. "DY401, out-face carve behind a leader"), with criteria results and a short reflection, the curriculum is what makes the log entry meaningful.

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

Saved on this device only. Nothing is sent anywhere, there is nowhere for it to go, and no account is involved. They will be here next time you open this card.

This card is a summary. The full Dynamic 401 unit carries the reasoning, the sources and everything left off here. All briefing cards.