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HD302 Coach
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Head Down · Group · The brief

Head-Down 302

Fly the float slot on a head-down big-way

The float slot: dropping low and behind, then coming up from underneath.

What the course is about

You'll learn to fly a float slot on a head-down big-way, approaching and docking from below, out of the divers' airspace. Head-Down 301 comes first, because this course starts from head-down docks in a small group.
The organiser runs the jump (Head-Down 401), and this is your job inside it. In Australia, a head-down jump with more than 3 people needs a Freefly Crest (Head-Down), and more than 10 also needs a Star Crest.

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.

3.1
Exit in the assigned outside-float position and drop off on own staged count, low and behind the base, without contacting the aircraft or another jumper.

Can you exit from the outside float position and drop off on your own staged count, low and behind the base, without touching the aircraft or another jumper?

3.2
Rotate from a de-powered back-fly attitude to head-down, powering up once the sight picture to the base is set.

Do you rotate from a de-powered back-fly to head down and power up only once your sight picture to the base is set?

3.4 Safety critical
Keep the base in the blue throughout the approach, sky behind the base at all times, aborting below and re-setting if the base sinks toward the green.

Do you keep sky behind the base the whole way in, and abort below and re-set if the base starts to sink toward the ground?

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

3.4
Keep the base in the blue throughout the approach, sky behind the base at all times, aborting below and re-setting if the base sinks toward the green.

Do you keep sky behind the base the whole way in, and abort below and re-set if the base starts to sink toward the ground?

Everything this course says about breakoff and deployment

1.4
State own breakoff wave, altitude, radial and deployment altitude (the organiser owns the breakoff design, see FFP-HD401).
2.1
Complete a freefly-specific gear check (handles, hand-deploy pouch, riser covers, closing loop, helmet, audible set to own wave and functioning).
2.3
Dirt-dive own exit, drop-off, approach lane, dock and breakoff radial at least twice.
4.1
Initiate breakoff with own wave at the briefed altitude (within −0/+300 ft), regardless of formation completeness.
4.3
Deploy at own wave's briefed altitude after checking airspace (barrel roll only if smooth; if directly above another jumper, deploy rather than out-track).
5.3
Write the jump up naming the unit and slot (e.g. "HD302, float slot, wave-2 breakoff"), the results and the next objective.

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 only, on organised head-down big-ways of 6-way or larger (recommended), with some at 10-way or larger.
A real group is needed. No criterion in sections 3 (Perform) or 4 (Complete) can be met on a jump on your own or in the tunnel.
Exit altitude of 10,000 ft or higher (recommended), and higher for big-ways.
Outside video is the most useful float debrief. Where none is practical, the organiser's observation and other jumpers' footage can carry the debrief, with the flyer identifiable.
Equipment: a visual altimeter, a working audible set to the flyer's wave (two recommended), an AAD (highly recommended), and freefly-suitable gear.
The assessor is an experienced head-down big-way organiser, or a freefly coach current in the discipline, using this checklist. In Australia, an APF Freefly Coach, and elsewhere the national or drop zone equivalent.
Each criterion is marked Satisfactory or Not Yet Satisfactory, and the finished course is recorded as a milestone.
As a guide, it takes around 8 organised head-down big-ways in the float slot, 6-way or larger with some at 10-way or larger, across at least two events or days.
Tunnel time sharpens the dock, and the group jumps happen in the sky.
If you already float on big-ways, bring your logbook, video and a word from an organiser, and fly one challenge jump against the checklist.

Performance evidence

After each jump, call each approach on the video clean, corrected or aborted, and log the slot, any overfloating sign and its fix. You've finished Head-Down 302 when you fly consecutive jumps 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. Never trade an overfloat for a completed dock. Debrief an early back-out as a correct decision, even on a jump the whole load built.
Classify approaches without blame, and end each debrief on something that went well, with one focus for the next jump.

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

Your notes for this course

Saved on this device only, with no account. They will be here next time you open this card.

This card is a summary. The full Head-Down 302 course page carries the reasoning, the sources and everything left off here. All briefing cards.