Skip to content
HD101 Flyer
Coach card Full unit

Swipe sideways, or tap the dots. 4 screens.

Head Down · Stability · The jump

Head-Down 101

Find and hold vertical head-down

Finding vertical and holding it.

What this unit covers

Covers finding and holding a stable vertical head-down orientation as a solo skill: exits presenting head and shoulders to the relative wind, establishing vertical off the horizon reference, holding a neutral head-down position to the shuttlecock principle, back-fly→head-down transitions, monitoring drift against a ground reference, and cork-proof recovery at head-down speeds (270–400+ km/h, APF006 §7.1).
Applies to flyers competent in HU 102 (solo head-up movement). Three neutral head-down positions exist: straddle, daffy and shelf. Knowing all three and transitioning seamlessly between them is the advanced skill, and HD101 flyers are encouraged to learn the strengths and weaknesses of each.
The rest of it
Tunnel routes typically teach the daffy first for static progression, then the shelf. The straddle, legs wide and slightly bent, calves and outer thighs providing drag (APF006 §7.4), is common for flyers who learn head-down in the sky.
The soloist flies unaccompanied sky work in a daffy with a continuous slow static turn per the FFP-F100 solo protocol (the project's coaching doctrine). Environment: sky solo work.
Tunnel drills are the recommended preparation. Supervision: coaching starts with coach-held tunnel drills, moves to the coach flying as a tunnel or sky reference, and ends at coach-briefed unaccompanied solos.
Early sky attempts should be solo or with a suitably qualified coach as reference, never with another unqualified flyer as the reference.

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
Hold a neutral head-down position (straddle, daffy or shelf) for 10 seconds in the tunnel or with a coached reference, holding heading within ±45° and finishing in the same quadrant. More pressure stays on the legs than the arms: the shuttlecock principle.

Can you hold a neutral head-down position for ten seconds on heading, in the tunnel or with a coach as your reference?

3.4
Perform a controlled back-fly-to-head-down transition, re-establishing vertical within 5 seconds.

Can you transition from back-fly to head down and be vertical again within about five seconds?

3.7 Safety critical
Execute the vertical recovery position immediately on any loss of the head-down position, maintaining freefly fall rate without corking.

When you lose the head-down position, do you go to the vertical recovery position straight away, keeping freefly speed rather than corking?

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

3.7
Execute the vertical recovery position immediately on any loss of the head-down position, maintaining freefly fall rate without corking.

When you lose the head-down position, do you go to the vertical recovery position straight away, keeping freefly speed rather than corking?

Everything this unit says about breakoff and deployment

1.3
State the work-cease altitude and the deployment altitude. 5,500 ft is standard practice for the work-cease; ≥4,500 ft is the bare guide, and it is always at least 1,000 ft above planned deployment.
4.2
End solo 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, at belly fall rate, after checking 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 against the declared objective using video.
5.2
Diagnose one fault (drive direction, asymmetric leg pressure, arm dependence, jerky over-correction) and its correction for the next jump.
5.3
Log the jump in the logbook with a reflection naming the unit and skills assessed (e.g. "HD101 skills assessment"), the criteria results and the next-step recommendation, the curriculum gives log entries meaning.

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 Head-Down 101 unit carries the reasoning, the sources and everything left off here. All briefing cards.