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HD201 Flyer
Coach card Full unit

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Head Down · Relative · The jump

Head-Down 201

Fly head-down in a 2-way

Head down with one other person, on the level, slot, dock discipline.

What this unit covers

Covers flying head-down relative to one other flyer: linked and unlinked exits, break to face-off, 360s in place, level following, approaches under the Level → Slot → Dock discipline, hand-to-hand docks, the crest signal sequence (coach-signalled front loop and HD↔HU half transitions), and breakoff in a 2-way.
Applies to flyers competent in HD 102 (solo head-down control and transitions). Environment: sky, with tunnel drills as preparation.
The rest of it
The recommended tunnel preparation: head-down neutral off the net, up/down control, turns and fore/aft drives. Supervision: with a coach, who starts as the in-air reference and moves to flying passively as the skills consolidate.
This unit sits mid-progression toward the head-down crest: the crest assessment content follows the APF Training Operations Manual dive flows.
The mandatory the APF Training Operations Manual Stage 4 (Head-Down Level 2) signal sequence, after the hand-to-hand dock, is: coach signals for a front loop, then coach signals for a half transition to head-up, then coach signals for a half transition back to head-down, then a second dock (the APF Training Operations Manual V01-2025 p.59).
The educational APF006 §8.6 reproduces the same flow but omits the front loop.
This unit therefore briefs and trains the full mandatory flow, including the coach-signalled front loop, and introduces the half transitions here so the crest sequence is already familiar. the APF Training Operations Manual does not use the words "holding fall rate": maintaining a freefly-speed fall rate through the transitions is the FFP's own coaching emphasis.

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.

3.5
Follow the partner through one level change up and one down, re-establishing level (head-height tolerance) within 3 seconds of each.

Can you follow another flyer through a level change up and one down, getting back on level within three seconds each time?

3.7
Hold level (head-height tolerance) for 3 seconds, then hold the slot for 3 seconds, before initiating the dock (Level → Slot → Dock).

Do you hold level for three seconds, then the slot for three seconds, before you start the dock?

3.8
Take a hand-to-hand dock by flying the body to the grip, arms take the grip only, no reaching, without destabilising the partner.

Can you dock by flying your body to the grip, letting your arm take the grip only, without reaching for it?

3.10 Safety critical
Back out to level immediately on any instability during approach or dock, re-approaching only when stable.

If you get unstable on an approach or on the grip, do you back out to level and only re-approach once stable?

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

3.10
Back out to level immediately on any instability during approach or dock, re-approaching only when stable.

If you get unstable on an approach or on the grip, do you back out to level and only re-approach once stable?

Everything this unit says about breakoff and deployment

1.3
State breakoff and deployment altitudes, and the lost-partner plan (guide: 5,000 ft for freefly groups up to 4-way, noting most modern jumpers set 5,500 ft for any freefly group and will generally not accept 4,500).
4.1
Initiate breakoff at the briefed altitude (within −0/+300 ft).
4.5
Decelerate before deployment: pitch the track back up, get big and wide, and listen for the wind noise decreasing, flare like a wingsuiter, star-fish.
4.6
Deploy at the planned altitude after clearing airspace, noting how hard the opening is and learning the timings. A fast, steep, efficient track gains great separation but can leave you outside the container and canopy speed envelopes, risking a hard opening: shredded end cells, broken lines, torn fabric.

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
Identify one fault and its correction for the next jump.
5.3
Write the jump up in the logbook with reflections naming the unit and skills assessed (e.g. "HD201 skills assessment") and the criteria results, 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 201 unit carries the reasoning, the sources and everything left off here. All briefing cards.