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HD301 Coach
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Head Down · Group · The brief

Head-Down 301

Fly head-down in groups

Head down in a group: stings, presented grips and break-ins.

What this unit covers

Covers flying head-down as a working member of a group: 4-way linked exit slot craft (Inside Centre, Front Float, Outside Centre, Tail, plus the Camera Step stinger), post-exit base stabilisation, approaches, docking craft (sting, present, dock, break-in) and group breakoff.
Applies to flyers holding crest-standard head-down competence (HD 202) who are combining slot skills while managing their position relative to several other flyers. Group sizes 3–6 are the guide for this unit; big-way method (divers/floaters, staged drop-offs, two-stage breakoff) is the mastery tier.
The rest of it
This unit keeps the small-group treatment of the 4-way exit slots. The full base doctrine at big-way depth, Outside Centre's rotate-the-base job and all three rotation cases, the Front Float anchor logic, the Tail flop, launch and stack-up, lives in FFP-HD304.
Community norms suggest matching group size to experience, e.g., one published ladder holds flyers to a 5-way maximum until roughly 500 freefly jumps (head-down community-sources research, Skydive Arizona/Harwood). Environment: sky, with tunnel drills as preparation for docking mechanics.
Exits and breakoff are sky-only skills. Supervision: with a coach in the group, flying passively; peer group jumps follow once the standard is met. Slot descriptions assume a port-side (left-hand) door, reverse left/right for a starboard door.
The Camera Step slot assumes an aircraft fitted with a step (most skydiving aircraft are).

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.

3.5
Hold level with the formation (head-height tolerance) for 3 seconds, then hold the slot for 3 seconds, before initiating any dock (Level → Slot → Dock).

In a formation, do you hold level for three seconds and the slot for three seconds before you initiate any dock?

3.7
Sting with a thumb-down overgrip on the same arm of a linked flyer, using light grip pressure.

Can you sting onto a linked flyer’s arm with light grip pressure, without loading the formation?

3.10
Complete a break-in: sting one arm, dock the other, adjust the sting to an undergrip, pull the dock apart and join the round, finishing with the stabilising twist.

Can you complete a break-in: sting one arm, dock the other, adjust the grip, pull the dock apart and join the round?

3.11 Safety critical
Back out to level at the first sign of instability in the slot or on the grip, re-approaching only when stable.

At the first sign of instability in the slot or on a grip, do you back out to level and re-approach only when stable?

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

3.11
Back out to level at the first sign of instability in the slot or on the grip, re-approaching only when stable.

At the first sign of instability in the slot or on a grip, do you back out to level and re-approach only when stable?

Everything this unit says about breakoff and deployment

1.4
State breakoff and deployment altitudes (guide: 5,000 ft up to a 4-way; 5,500 ft for 5-way and larger), the fan-out breakoff plan, and the lost-group/instability plan.
4.1
Initiate breakoff at the briefed altitude (within −0/+300 ft).
4.3
Deploy at the planned altitude after clearing 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 12,000 ft minimum, a guide; group work needs working time. Assessment jumps are flown in a real group of at least 4, including the linked exit. Video is required (outside camera flyer recommended for exit assessment; helmet-mounted acceptable where the candidate is identifiable).
Required equipment: visual altimeter, functioning audible, AAD recommended, freefly-suitable gear. Conditions within all participants' cleared limits. Assessor: a freefly coach current in head-down group coaching, using the published FFP-HD301 checklist (Satisfactory / Not Yet Satisfactory per criterion).

Performance evidence

Ability is evidenced across at least 10 coached group head-down jumps (3-way to 6-way guide). The evidence should include:
at least 4 four-way linked exits flown across at least two different exit slots.
At least one jump flown as the Camera Step (or equivalent first-stinger) slot where the aircraft allows.
At least one successful break-in to a round.
At least two different days/conditions.
two consecutive jumps meeting all criteria without coach assistance or prompts.
All within a recommended 6-month currency window. Tunnel time may substitute for docking-craft development reps (sting/present/dock/break-in mechanics), but not for exits, breakoff or the assessment jumps. Once the standard break-in is comfortable, the coach encourages the student to attempt the ninja break-in on a coached jump, films it, and debriefs what the feet, hands and stability did, an exploration rep, not an assessment requirement. Treat the jump counts as a guide to how long the unit might take, not a quota: assessment is against the criteria (competency over numbers), and flyers will get there in fewer or more jumps depending on background.

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 must-meet.
The coach designs the session to be enjoyable, participants choose this expensive hobby, and enjoyment sustains both the student and the sport, and ends each debrief on a win with one improvement focus for the next jump (element 5). Delivery note, advanced skills (ninja break-in and beyond): teach the theory, encourage the student to have a go on a jump, film it (coach camera), then run a structured debrief built on noticing, what did the feet do? the hands? what happened to stability?
This teach → try → film → debrief → notice pattern is the recommended FFP delivery style for advanced work throughout the curriculum.

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

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This card is a summary. The full Head-Down 301 unit carries the reasoning, the sources and everything left off here. All briefing cards.