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Head Down · Mastery · The brief

Head-Down 401

Organise head-down big-ways

Organising a head-down big-way: slotting people and designing the breakoff.

What the course is about

You'll learn to organise a head-down big-way: size the group, slot each flyer, brief the jump and design the breakoff. This follows Head-Down 302, Head-Down 303 and Head-Down 304, because you fly the float, diver and base slots before you ask others to.
In Australia, every jumper on a head-down jump of more than 3 needs a Freefly Crest (Head-Down), and above 10 a Star Crest as well.

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.

1.2
Assign each flyer to base, float or diver by weight, build and demonstrated competence, resolving the heaviest-flyer trade-off consciously.

Can you put each flyer on base, float or diver by weight, build and what you have seen them fly, and make the call on the heaviest flyer deliberately?

2.1 Safety critical
Choose single-stage or two-stage against the group size, verifying at least 1,000 ft banked per wave.

Can you choose single-stage or two-stage breakoff for the group size, and check that each wave has at least 1,000 feet banked?

3.1
Brief the dive, the slots, the exit and the approach lanes so each flyer can state their own job back.

After your brief, can every flyer state their own slot, exit and approach lane back to you?

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

2.1
Choose single-stage or two-stage against the group size, verifying at least 1,000 ft banked per wave.

Can you choose single-stage or two-stage breakoff for the group size, and check that each wave has at least 1,000 feet banked?

Everything this course says about breakoff and deployment

2.2
Assign each flyer a breakoff wave, altitude, radial and deployment altitude giving about 30° of radial separation.
2.4
Coordinate exit separation with the loadmaster in both directions. A long stack needs more room from the group ahead; the group behind needs room for large drift and up-jump-run breakoffs.
3.2
Brief the breakoff, waves, altitudes, radials, shade/hold assignments, and confirm each flyer sets their audible to their own wave.
3.3
Run the mock-up and at least two full dirt-dives including the breakoff.
4.3
Initiate the breakoff on the base wave at the briefed altitude regardless of formation completeness.

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

- Real organised head-down big-way jumps, a 6-way minimum recommended, with some at 10-way or larger.
The design work is assessed on the ground, and the breakoff in the air.
Video of the jumps. Outside footage is the most useful for an organiser's debrief.
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. Elsewhere, the national or drop zone equivalent.
Who may take part in each jump is set by regulation (see "Regulations where you jump").
Each criterion is marked Satisfactory or Not Yet Satisfactory, and completion is recorded as a milestone.
As a guide, that means big-ways of 6-way and larger, some above a 10-way and some two-stage, over at least two events or days, first alongside an experienced organiser.
If you already organise head-down big-ways, your coach can assess one organised jump and a talk through your breakoff design, with your record, video and a word from a recognised organiser.
Who organises, leads or joins each jump stays with your drop zone.

Performance evidence

Debrief each jump on video without blame, give each failure a cause and a fix, and log the plan and next objective. You've finished Head-Down 401 when the jumps you organise meet everything on the coach's checklist below, run and broken off to plan on consecutive jumps.

Screen 5 · Debrief

Debrief

Safety first, then fun, then learning. In that order, every time.

Coaching priorities

Safety first, then fun, then learning. The organiser owns the load's safety. The breakoff design and the credential check can't be made up for by good work elsewhere, and the plan holds whether the formation builds or not.
Run debriefs without blame, and end each one 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 401 course page carries the reasoning, the sources and everything left off here. All briefing cards.