DY404 Coach
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Dynamic · Mastery · The brief
Dynamic 404
Combine following, mirroring and eagles
Following, mirroring and eagles combined into one jump.
What this unit covers
Covers the combination: following, mirroring and an eagle flown in one jump.
This is the Dynamic track's integration unit, each fundamental was trained on its own in FFP-DY401 (following), FFP-DY402 (mirroring) and FFP-DY403 (eagles), and this unit chains them, and it is the home of the curriculum's capstone, the challenge jump below.
The rest of it
The unit's dive flow, suggested as a 3-way: exit unlinked into a head-down carve, or move for a period to clear the jump run, then flock-and-roll into the carve. Follow the leader through a mixed snake, a follow-the-leader snake flown across orientations, as the following component.
At the head-up component the leader initiates head-up movement on belly with the followers on back, the group in an angle/accordion arrangement.
The arrangement carries the sustained back-fly's mitigation: the belly leader doubles as the mirror the published movement-jump policies ask for, holding visual on the back flyers and the line ahead.
Then the leader initiates an offset eagle, a front layout flown back into an angle heading back the way the group came, the reciprocal line flown laterally offset from the outbound lane with each flyer's offset side pre-assigned in the brief, and the followers hold the outbound lane until their own layout key, then go from the head-up back angle through a layout into a back angle on their assigned side.
Chasing the leader back along the previous direction and never crossing the leader's reciprocal lane. The mirroring fundamental runs through the second half of the jump: the followers mirror the leader's transitions across orientations, facing the leader through the head-up component and matching the layout into the reversed angle.
The group plans, briefs and debriefs in the FAI Dynamic vocabulary (snakes S1–S6, verticals V1–V8, mixers M1–M9, carving, eagles, FAI/ISC Dynamic Competition Rules 2025, Annexes A–B) plus the track's own terms: the mixed snake and the offset eagle above.
The push-through (the leader's transition to head-up through the belly, pushing through the formation, with the followers copying) and the over-the-feet transition (the back flyer's transition to belly). It grades and briefs jump difficulty by transition count, 0 / 1–3 / 4+ (USPA SIM 5-10 skill matrix, 2026 numbering; §6-12 in the 2023-24 SIM), and a full combination sits in the 4+ grade. Combination jumps stay 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, not weekend jumpers, and are outside this unit. Competition pathways, indoor Dynamic 2-way/4-way, 2-way Mixed Formation Skydiving (MFS), Vertical Formation Skydiving (VFS) and the APF Angle Flying dive pool, are context for continued development. Applies to flyers competent across the dynamic fundamentals: following (DY 401), mirroring (DY 402) and eagles (DY 403). Environment: sky. The combination realistically requires the tunnel-built skills of the three fundamental units already in place; tunnel time is preparation and calibration only. Supervision: flown with experienced dynamic partners. The progression runs from flying a briefed component in another flyer's plan, to briefing and flying the full combination, to co-designing the jump, with the challenge jump at the far end of that road. This is a Mastery-tier unit: there is no sign-off. Completion is a milestone recognising the combined dynamic fundamentals, 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
Fly the following component: follow the leader through the mixed snake, copying the leader's moves across orientations while holding the lane, level (within a head height) and spacing at the briefed tempo.
Can you follow a leader through a mixed snake across orientations while holding your lane and level?
3.4
Fly the offset eagle in role, the leader initiating the front layout back into an angle laterally offset from the outbound lane and heading back the way the group came, each follower going from the head-up back angle through a layout into a back angle on their pre-assigned side and chasing the leader back along the previous direction.
Can you fly an offset eagle in role, laying out back into an angle offset from the outbound lane?
3.5
Safety critical
Fly the offset-eagle lane discipline: each follower holds the outbound lane until their own layout key, reverses onto their pre-assigned offset side, and never crosses the leader's reciprocal lane.
Do you hold the outbound lane until your own key, reverse onto your assigned offset side, and never cross the leader’s line?
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
3.5
Fly the offset-eagle lane discipline: each follower holds the outbound lane until their own layout key, reverses onto their pre-assigned offset side, and never crosses the leader's reciprocal lane.
Do you hold the outbound lane until your own key, reverse onto your assigned offset side, and never cross the leader’s line?
Everything this unit says about breakoff and deployment
1.5
State the breakoff plan, breakoff altitude, 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-movement component raises the floor to 6,000 ft minimum, 6,500 ft for larger groups).
3.10
Once the group has reversed, never rejoin across the reciprocal: a dropped flyer holds an offset line, follows from below on the new direction only once the group is re-acquired, and otherwise separates and deploys higher after checking airspace.
4.1
Initiate breakoff at the briefed altitude (within −0/+300 ft), rotating from head-up to a head-first orientation first if breaking from a head-up segment, 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, the combination consumes altitude quickly at angle speeds of roughly 270–400+ km/h.
A real small group, 2–3 flyers, 4 at most, is required for the group 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 group'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-DY404 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 combination sky jumps in small groups, 2–3 flyers is the sweet spot, 4 the practical maximum. The evidence should include:
Every component flown: the following component (the mixed snake), the head-up component, and the offset eagle.
Jumps briefed at the 4+ transition grade.
At least two different partners, camps or organisers.
two consecutive jumps flying every briefed segment 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 12 jumps within a recommended 12-month currency window, more while the fundamentals are still consolidating. The evidence set above stands on its own; the challenge jump is the milestone beyond it, flown when the group, the air and the plan are right, and logged filmed as the record it is. Substantial dynamic tunnel time (head-down carves both faces, carve switches, layouts, eagles, vertical stalls) plus practised leading and following is realistically a precondition for the combination, and is strongly recommended as vocabulary and calibration development. It 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 group still designs the plan to the least experienced participant, 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.
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This card is a summary. The full Dynamic 404 unit carries the reasoning, the sources and everything left off here. All briefing cards.