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Foundations · Stability · The brief

Freefly 100

Establish freefly foundations

Back-fly and the recovery position, the base every freefly track is built on.

What the course is about

You'll learn the ground knowledge every freefly course builds on, and fly back-fly and the recovery position. Before it, you need a licence and solid belly skills. In Australia, freefly training needs at least a Certificate B.

What comes before it

Nothing comes before this course. It is where the freefly path starts.

Screen 2 · What to watch

What to watch

The same short list the flyer sees on their card, in the same words.

3.1
Exit and establish a stable neutral back-fly within 5 seconds of leaving the aircraft, eyes on the coach (flying belly-down as the visual reference).

Can you leave the aircraft and be settled on your back, stable and neutral, within about five seconds?

3.2
Maintain heading ±45° and level with the coach for 10 seconds in the neutral back-fly.

Can you hold a neutral back-fly on heading, finishing in the same quadrant, and stay on level with someone else for ten seconds?

3.5
Follow the coach through the fall-rate range, from belly through fast-knees to sit-fly speeds, staying on level on the back throughout. Back-fly is the recovery position for both head-up and head-down, so its usable speed range needs to be large; staying on level through the coach's whole range is how that range is proven.

Can you stay on level on your back while someone else moves through the whole speed range, from belly speed up to sit speed?

3.6 Safety critical
Adopt the vertical recovery position immediately on the briefed coach signal or on any loss of control, resuming work only when stable.

If you become unstable, do you recover to back-fly, in the recovery position, straight away and wait until you are stable before starting work again?

Screen 3 · What blocks a sign-off

What blocks a sign-off

A safety-critical item marked not yet stops the sign-off, however good the rest of the flying was. The rest of the jump cannot make up for it.

Safety-critical items on the short list

3.6
Adopt the vertical recovery position immediately on the briefed coach signal or on any loss of control, resuming work only when stable.

If you become unstable, do you recover to back-fly, in the recovery position, straight away and wait until you are stable before starting work again?

Everything this course says about breakoff and deployment

1.4
State the breakoff/end-of-work altitude (guides: ≥5,000 ft up to a 4-way; ≥5,500 ft for 5 or more, most modern jumpers plan 5,500 ft for any freefly group and will generally not accept 4,500 ft), the deployment altitude, and the hard deck.
2.1
Complete the freefly gear audit on own equipment against the published checklist: hand-deploy BOC or pull-out with a genuinely tight pouch, bridle fully covered, riser covers and pin flaps tight, closing loop in good condition, cutaway and reserve handles secure, leg-strap bungee fitted, harness and chest strap snug, suit secured clear of the handles, hard helmet, goggles, visual altimeter, AAD recommended.
4.1
Initiate breakoff at the briefed altitude (within −0/+300 ft), ceasing all working manoeuvres.
4.2
End the jump per the briefed protocol. With a coach or on any group jump: transition to a track 90° from jump run, washing off vertical speed before reaching deployment altitude. On a solo jump: end the work without tracking, turn 90°, pause, recover to back-fly, slow down, then transition to a belly orientation, dissipating speed over at least 1,000 ft before deployment. A soloist's movement risks are already the dominant hazard; movement at breakoff belongs in formation jumps, where it is practised and needed.
4.3
Deploy at the planned altitude after checking airspace above, below and behind.

Recording a sign-off says what you saw on one jump. Permission to jump, and anything the drop zone requires, stay with the drop zone.

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 10,000 ft or higher (recommended, the APF006 3.2 guide).
Tunnel work can stand in for the back-fly and recovery-position criteria where it meets the same standard. The flyer flies the assessment jumps in the sky, including breakoff, track and deployment.
Video of every assessment jump, with the flyer identifiable: coach-flown, outside or ground-to-air. An assessment is valid only with video.
Equipment: gear that passes this course's freefly gear check, a visual altimeter, a working audible (two for any assessment jump flown on your own), and an AAD (recommended).
Conditions within the flyer's cleared limits.
The assessor is a freefly coach current in foundational freefly coaching, using this checklist. Each criterion is marked Satisfactory or Not Yet Satisfactory.
Before the assessment jumps, the assessor checks the ground knowledge by oral or written questions against the case-study set.
The questions cover the gear check and why each item matters at freefly speeds, corking and the speed difference, the recovery position, the breakoff guides, exit order and separation, the protocols for jumps on your own, tunnel to sky, the six incidents, deployment at freefly speeds, and setting altitudes from the ground up.
The evidence guide: at least 6 sky jumps through the full plan, prepare, fly, finish and review cycle, at least 4 of them with the back-fly criteria (3.1–3.7), over at least two days or conditions, within a 6-month window. Two consecutive jumps meet all criteria without coach assistance or prompts, and the recovery position is shown on every assessment jump.
Tunnel time can replace up to 2 skill-development jumps, never the assessment jumps: 10 minutes or more of back-fly to the same standard (neutral, fall-rate range, heading control) plus the recovery-position drill.
The gear check is done without help on a rig with at least one planted fault, which the flyer finds.
For experienced entrants, a challenge assessment: one video-recorded jump against elements 1–4, the planted-fault gear check, and the oral check on jumps on your own and the case studies. Supporting evidence: a logbook showing breakoff and deployment discipline, tunnel records (International Bodyflight Association Level 2 back-fly or a school equivalent), and a video portfolio of back-fly and the recovery position.
An entrant who plans head-down jumps on their own also shows daffy ability: tunnel video of a stable head-down daffy with turns, or a coach-observed static daffy and slow static turn.
A national freefly crest or grade (in Australia the head-up or head-down crest, in the UK FF1 or FF2) can credit the air-skill criteria. The entrant still completes the gear check, the knowledge check on jumps on your own and the planning criteria. Never skip the two-audible check for jumps on your own: an experienced entrant is as exposed to a silent audible failure as anyone.
As a guide, it takes at least 6 sky jumps over two days or more.
Up to 2 practice jumps can be back-fly tunnel sessions of 10 minutes or more.
If you already freefly, your coach can assess you on one jump, the gear check and questions.

Performance evidence

Debrief each jump's video with your coach and log it. You've finished Freefly 100 when you fly two jumps in a row that meet everything on the coach's checklist below.

Screen 5 · Debrief

Debrief

Safety first, then fun, then learning. In that order, every time.

Coaching priorities

- Safety first, then fun, then learning. Hold the bold criteria to the standard above.
Plan sessions to be enjoyable: flyers choose this expensive hobby, and enjoying it keeps them in the sport. End each debrief on something that went well, with one thing to improve.
Teach ground and air together as one course: theory in the morning, then structured air work.
Ask flyers to log each coached jump with a reflection, naming the course and skills assessed (for example "FFP-F100 skills assessment").
Teach the protocols for jumps on your own as harm reduction. Coached progression is the recommended path, and the protocols are there for flyers who jump on their own anyway.
The continuous turn needs no heading control, because holding a heading is an unrealistic ask of someone learning a disorienting new position.
The daffy reasoning for head-down on your own: a shelf has both legs behind with nothing staged to stop a forward runaway into a back angle, and a straddle recovers from a bump through a brief uncontrolled moment that resolves into a daffy, which is the cork risk with nobody watching.
The daffy has limits. Its front leg is also the turn generator (APF006 7.5.3), the straddle gives finer high-speed control, and mastery is all three. All three positions are acceptable in the head-down courses. Head-down can be learned entirely in the sky, and the tunnel speeds it up.
Two audibles do nothing for a misread tone, and more devices mean more tones to confuse, so tone knowledge is part of the check. Progressive altitude cues through freefall are recommended, such as a colour-cue visual altimeter or a spoken-altitude device.
The tunnel-to-sky points: keep a regular yearly skydive count, step back down after long tunnel blocks, two audibles plus visual checks, learn traffic in a structured way before big vertical jumps, think gear, pins and jump run on exit, and a tight BOC with repeated pin checks.
The jump numbers are a guide to how long the course usually takes. Sign off when the flying meets the standard, adjusted for the person and local conditions (Mason Corby's approach).
Encourage one direction first, vertical or angles, with at least 8 consecutive jumps of the same type before switching. Practise what you can't do yet, give body mechanics and aerodynamics equal weight, and stay with one coach. Explain the reason behind every instruction.

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. One of each is easier to carry onto the next load than six points.

A jump marked not yet is a jump to fly again. Tell them that as part of the debrief.

Record this jump

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This card is a summary. The full Freefly 100 course page carries the reasoning, the sources and everything left off here. All briefing cards.