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Head Down · Group · The brief

Head-Down 305

Fly intermediate vertical formation skydiving (VFS)

Intermediate vertical formation skydiving: your first blocks, holding and inter moves.

What the course is about

You'll learn to fly your slot in a vertical formation skydiving (VFS) team, the head-down and head-up version of belly formation skydiving: randoms, entry-level blocks, and fall rate matched with a partner at arm's length.
Head-Down 301 comes first, because you need to dock head-down comfortably before you add a draw and a clock. In Australia, head-down formation jumps of 4-way or more need the Freefly Crest (Head-Down).

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
Hold heading and fall rate as the stationary reference when own slot is the holder on a block.

When your slot is the holder on a block, can you hold heading and fall rate as the stationary reference your partner flies from?

3.3
Fly the inter move relative to the partner, arresting closure before taking the next grip.

Can you fly the inter move relative to your partner and stop the closure before you take the next grip?

3.7 Safety critical
Recover to a stable solo position on any cork or lost formation, separating laterally rather than holding a failing grip.

On a cork or a lost formation, do you let the grip go and separate sideways to a stable solo position?

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

3.7
Recover to a stable solo position on any cork or lost formation, separating laterally rather than holding a failing grip.

On a cork or a lost formation, do you let the grip go and separate sideways to a stable solo position?

Everything this course says about breakoff and deployment

1.3
State breakoff and deployment altitudes and the lost-formation plan; VFS breakoff runs higher than belly because the head-down fall rate spends altitude faster.
2.1
Complete a freefly-specific gear check (handles, hand-deploy pouch, riser covers, closing loop, helmet, audible set and functioning).
4.1
Initiate breakoff at the briefed altitude (within −0/+300 ft).
4.3
Deploy at the planned altitude after checking airspace.

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 and tunnel. The criteria that build points with others are assessed in real formations.
Tunnel work is preparation only for exits, altitude and breakoff, which are assessed on sky jumps.
Sky jumps from 12,000 ft or higher (recommended), and higher, toward the 13,000 ft competition altitude, for longer draws.
Video of every assessment jump. It is the main debrief and assessment tool.
Equipment: a visual altimeter, a working audible, freefly-suitable gear, and an AAD (recommended).
The assessor is a freefly coach or a VFS competitor current in the discipline, using this checklist. In Australia, an APF Freefly Coach. Elsewhere, the national or drop zone equivalent.
Each criterion is marked Satisfactory or Not Yet Satisfactory. The course result is Competent or Not Yet Competent, recorded as a milestone.
Existing VFS flyers: logbook and video of 2-way or 4-way VFS training or Inter-class competition, VFS tunnel records plus sky jumps for exits and breakoff, or a challenge assessment across a set of draws against the full checklist with a qualifying assessor.
The jump count depends on the team: move on when each step of the build is clean, on sky jumps from 12,000 ft or higher.
Tunnel time counts for formations, grips and inters, and the exit, altitude and breakoff are assessed in the sky.
If you already fly VFS, your coach can assess you on a set of draws, or from your logbook and video.

Performance evidence

Debrief the video with your coach, find the cause of each dropped point, and log your slot, the points built and one correction to train next. More in The debrief. You've finished Head-Down 305 when your flying meets 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 a cork recovery or a clean breakoff for a point.
Run debriefs off video, without blame.
Celebrate the points that built, and end on one focus for the next round.

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 305 course page carries the reasoning, the sources and everything left off here. All briefing cards.