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HD303 Flyer
Coach card Full unit

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Head Down · Group · The jump

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 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.

3.2
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 · 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

3.4
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.

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 own diver slot against video, classifying each approach as clean, corrected or aborted.
5.2
Identify own dive-line faults (diving at the formation, overshoot, late power-up) and their correction.
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.

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