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DY403 Coach
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Dynamic · Mastery · The brief

Dynamic 403

Fly eagles

Eagles: passing another flyer over or under, on a call.

What this unit covers

Covers flying eagles: two dynamic flyers facing each other initiate movement toward each other and pass over or under each other in vertical, opposing orientations, the static eagle taken into movement.
The jump carries real dangers and complexities, two flyers converging head-on at vertical speeds, and is best flown as a 2-way. That is the format of this unit. The reference flow:
The rest of it
Exit head-down unlinked.
Turn to face each other.
Push toward each other. The leader judges who is higher and who is lower and signals the follower over or under.
The follower initiates a high-speed front or back layout accordingly. Then, with both flyers head-up, the leader signals "come to me".
As the flyers close, the leader again judges above or below and signals, and the follower initiates the front or back layout to pass over or under. Both flyers maintain eye contact throughout every approach and pass. In the attack-the-centre family this is the front attack with eagle: flyers converge head-on with no lateral offset; the higher flyer passes over through belly, the lower under through back, a VFS eagle, with constant mutual visual contact; the leader signals over or under, and the decision is committed early. The FAI Annex B taxonomy names the family, the vertical orbits, eagles and reverse eagles, and the half-eagle equivalences with named transitions, and the unit briefs and debriefs in that vocabulary (FAI/ISC Dynamic Competition Rules 2025, Annex B). The training aim is internalisation. The follower learns the pattern, when a transition passes over or under, through belly or back, with a front or back layout, until it becomes intuitive and can be flown without a signal: the follower reads the leader's relative height on approach and the leader's body movement, opposes that movement, and transitions vertically around the leader while maintaining eye contact, vertical displacement and relativity. The manoeuvre demands significant tunnel skill. Both flyers demonstrate the entry standard before the first eagle jump: static eagles through belly and back, and front and back layouts at high speed. An eagle jump is nearly vertical, it consumes a column of air only slightly larger than a purely vertical jump, and the leader states this to the load organiser when coordinating groups. Competition pathways, indoor Dynamic 2-way/4-way, 2-way Mixed Formation Skydiving (MFS) and Vertical Formation Skydiving (VFS), whose dive pools carry inter-orientation transitions, the closest competition vocabulary to the eagle, are context for continued development. Applies to flyers competent in mirroring (DY 402) who hold the entry standard above. Environment: sky. The entry standard is tunnel-built, and tunnel time remains preparation and calibration only: it exercises no jump run, navigation, altitude or breakoff. Supervision: flown as a 2-way with an experienced dynamic partner, a coach or an experienced eagle flyer takes the leader slot first. The progression runs from following a signalling leader, to reading the passes without a signal, to flying the leader role with an experienced partner opposite. This is a Mastery-tier unit: there is no sign-off. Completion is a milestone recognising eagle capability, it is not a permission, and it does not authorise any jump.

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.

3.2 Safety critical
Maintain eye contact with the other flyer through every approach, pass and rejoin.

Do you hold eye contact with the other flyer through every approach, pass and rejoin?

3.4 Safety critical
Commit the over/under call early on every approach; on a missed or late call, an ambiguous height read or conflicting movement, both flyers abort the pass and break to their pre-assigned offset sides, never force a crossing, and never resolve height ambiguity inside the closure.

Do you commit the over or under call early, and abort the pass on any ambiguity or late call?

3.11 Safety critical
Begin no pass below the last-pass floor, breakoff altitude plus 1,000 ft.

Do you start no pass below the last-pass floor, which is breakoff altitude plus 1,000 feet?

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

3.2
Maintain eye contact with the other flyer through every approach, pass and rejoin.

Do you hold eye contact with the other flyer through every approach, pass and rejoin?

3.4
Commit the over/under call early on every approach; on a missed or late call, an ambiguous height read or conflicting movement, both flyers abort the pass and break to their pre-assigned offset sides, never force a crossing, and never resolve height ambiguity inside the closure.

Do you commit the over or under call early, and abort the pass on any ambiguity or late call?

3.11
Begin no pass below the last-pass floor, breakoff altitude plus 1,000 ft.

Do you start no pass below the last-pass floor, which is breakoff altitude plus 1,000 feet?

Everything this unit says about breakoff and deployment

1.5
State the breakoff plan, breakoff altitude, the last-pass floor (no pass begun below breakoff plus 1,000 ft), the head-up rotate-head-first rule, the back-flyer roll rule and deployment altitudes, with separation complete at least 1,000 ft above the planned deployment height (guides: 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; the head-up passes make this a head-up movement jump and raise the floor to 6,000 ft minimum).
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.

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

Sky jumps from a recommended 13,000 ft minimum, an eagle jump is nearly vertical, consumes altitude quickly, and its head-up passes raise the breakoff floor.
A real 2-way is required for the criteria; tunnel evidence is preparatory only. Video of assessment jumps is required for a valid assessment: dedicated camera flyer or leader-flown, candidate identifiable.
Required equipment: visual altimeter, functioning audible (two recommended), AAD, freefly-suitable gear with a genuinely tight BOC. Conditions within the pair's briefed limits, winds aloft assessed in planning.
Assessor: an experienced dynamic/movement organiser or freefly coach current in mixed-orientation coaching, using the published FFP-DY403 checklist, each criterion marked Satisfactory / Not Yet Satisfactory. Completion is recorded as a Mastery milestone only: it is not a sign-off, confers no privilege, and is not a permission to plan, lead or join any jump.

Performance evidence

Ability evidenced across 2-way eagle sky jumps. The evidence should include:
Passes flown over and under, through belly and back, with front and back layouts.
The head-down phase and the head-up phase both flown to criteria.
The follower role flown to the internalisation aim, including at least one jump with every pass read without a signal.
The leader role flown with an experienced partner opposite.
two consecutive jumps flying every briefed pass and meeting all criteria without coach assistance or prompts. As a guide to how long this might take, competency is the standard, not the jump count, expect on the order of 10 jumps within a recommended 12-month currency window, more while the tunnel skills are still consolidating. Significant tunnel skill is realistically a precondition for the manoeuvre: static eagles through belly and back and high-speed front and back layouts are the entry standard, and the pass timing is calibrated in the tunnel before it is flown in the sky. Tunnel time substitutes for no sky assessment jump: it exercises no jump run, navigation, altitude or breakoff.

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). Safety criteria are non-compensable; at Mastery tier the pair still designs the plan to the less experienced flyer, and standing down when readiness is not met is itself competent behaviour.
Design the session to be enjoyable, participants choose this expensive hobby, and enjoyment sustains both the flyer and the sport, and end each debrief on a win with one improvement focus.

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.

Record this jump

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 403 unit carries the reasoning, the sources and everything left off here. All briefing cards.