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HD302 Coach
Flyer card Full unit

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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 this unit covers

Covers one job on a head-down big-way:
The float slot. You exit outside the aircraft, drop off in clean air, approach the formation from low and behind, and dock from below without floating up into the divers' airspace. The big-way is built and run by an organiser (that craft is FFP-HD401).
The rest of it
This card is what a float flyer does inside it. Assumes FFP-HD202 ★ and FFP-HD301, the group foundation is not repeated here. Sky only.
The tunnel drills the dock, not the exit stack or big-way traffic.

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.

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

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

3.3
Fly the inverse-stadium approach from low and behind, arriving at a point below the base.

Can you fly the approach from low and behind, arriving at a point below the base rather than level with it?

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 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

3.4
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 unit 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. 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 only, on organised head-down big-way jumps of a recommended 6-way minimum, with some evidence at 10-way or larger. A real group is required: no Element 3 or 4 criterion can be evidenced solo or in the tunnel. Exit altitude a recommended 10,000 ft minimum, higher for big-ways.
Video: outside footage is the most valuable float debrief; where none is practical, organiser observation and other jumpers' footage can carry the debrief with the candidate identifiable. Equipment: visual altimeter, functioning audible (two recommended, wave-set), AAD highly recommended, freefly-suitable gear.
Assessor: an experienced head-down big-way organiser or freefly coach current in the discipline, using the published FFP-HD302 checklist. Each criterion Satisfactory / Not Yet Satisfactory; unit Competent / Not Yet Competent, recorded as a milestone.

Performance evidence

A guide to how long the float slot usually takes; competency against the criteria is the standard. Around 8 organised head-down big-way jumps flying the float slot, 6-way or larger, some at 10-way or larger, across at least two events or days, with consecutive jumps meeting all criteria without organiser prompts.
Tunnel time evidences dock mechanics but cannot substitute for the group jumps.

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 never trades an overfloat for a completed dock, and debriefs an early back-out as a correct decision, not a failure, even on a jump the whole load built.
The coach classifies approaches without blame and ends each debrief on a win 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. 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

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 302 unit carries the reasoning, the sources and everything left off here. All briefing cards.