Skip to content
HD303 Coach
Flyer card Full unit

Swipe sideways, or tap the dots. 5 screens.

Head Down · Group · The brief

Head-Down 303

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

The diving slot: getting down without arriving at the formation.

What this unit covers

Covers one job on a head-down big-way: the diver slot. You exit in stack order, dive to a point beside and below the formation, arrest, then approach and dock. A diver arrives from above, where floaters are told not to go, so the diving slot carries its own discipline, stop beside and below, never drive over the top.
The big-way is built and run by an organiser (FFP-HD401); this card is what a diver does inside it. Assumes FFP-HD301 and the float sight-picture rules in FFP-HD302 (the inverse-stadium approach is shared, not repeated). Sky only; the tunnel covers dock mechanics alone.

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
Establish the post-exit picture head-down, high and up jump run of the base, wind on the back, eyes on the base.

Can you set the post-exit picture head down, high and up jump run of the base, with the wind on your back and your eyes on the base?

3.3
Dive to a point to the side of and below the formation, not at it, arresting the dive before the approach.

Do you dive to a point beside and below the formation rather than at it, and stop the dive before you start the approach?

3.4 Safety critical
Aim a late dive at the front of the formation, never over the top, so any overshoot carries clear of the build rather than into it.

If you are late, do you aim at the front of the formation rather than over the top, so any overshoot carries you clear?

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
Aim a late dive at the front of the formation, never over the top, so any overshoot carries clear of the build rather than into it.

If you are late, do you aim at the front of the formation rather than over the top, so any overshoot carries you clear?

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 rotation, dive line, 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. "HD303, diver slot, wave-1 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 diver 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-HD303 checklist. Each criterion Satisfactory / Not Yet Satisfactory; unit Competent / Not Yet Competent, recorded as a milestone.

Performance evidence

A guide to how long the diver slot usually takes; competency against the criteria is the standard. Around 8 organised head-down big-way jumps flying a diver 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 or the dive.

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, a diver never drives over the top to save a dock, and the coach debriefs a broken-off dive or a safe low deployment as a correct decision.
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 303 unit carries the reasoning, the sources and everything left off here. All briefing cards.