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HU201 Coach
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Head Up · Relative · The brief

Head-Up 201

Fly head-up in a 2-way

Flying head up relative to one other person: level, slot, dock.

What the course is about

You'll learn to fly a sit with one other person: get on level, approach, stop in the slot, take a dock, turn and break off. This follows Head-Up 102, because you need to move a sit forward, back, up and down before you can fly it to someone else.
In Australia, these are training jumps, briefed by a freefly coach with the drop zone safety officer's approval.

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.

3.3
Match the partner's fall rate, holding level (head-height tolerance) for 3 seconds.

Can you match another flyer’s fall rate and hold level with them for three seconds?

3.4
Approach from ~5 m into the slot without overshoot, holding slot 3 seconds before docking.

Can you close the last five metres into a slot without overshooting, and hold the slot for three seconds before you dock?

3.5
Take a hand dock without destabilising the partner.

Can you take a hand dock without destabilising the other flyer?

3.8 Safety critical
Execute the recovery position immediately on any loss of control, re-approaching only when stable.

If you become unstable on an approach, do you recover to back-fly, in the recovery position, and only go back in once you are stable?

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

3.8
Execute the recovery position immediately on any loss of control, re-approaching only when stable.

If you become unstable on an approach, do you recover to back-fly, in the recovery position, and only go back in once you are stable?

Everything this course says about breakoff and deployment

1.3
State breakoff (guides: head-up work 5,500 ft minimum; for freefly groups generally 5,000 ft up to a 4-way, most modern jumpers plan 5,500 ft for any freefly group and will generally not accept 4,500 ft) and deployment altitudes, and the lost-partner plan.
4.1
Initiate breakoff at the briefed altitude (within −0/+300 ft).
4.3
Deploy at the planned altitude after clearing 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 jumps from 10,000 ft or higher (recommended).
Video of every assessment jump, with the flyer identifiable: coach-flown or helmet-mounted. Without video the assessment doesn't count.
Equipment: a visual altimeter, a working audible and freefly-suitable gear.
Conditions within the flyer's cleared limits.
The assessor is a freefly coach current in head-up coaching, using this checklist.
Each criterion is marked Satisfactory or Not Yet Satisfactory.
The coach flies as the in-air reference at first, then flies passive as the skills settle. Tunnel drills are preparation. The two final jumps are sky jumps.
As a guide, it takes at least six coached 2-ways over at least two days in different conditions, within six months.
Tunnel time can replace up to two of the practice jumps, but the final two are sky jumps.
If you already fly head-up 2-ways, your coach can assess you on two jumps, or from your logbook, video and tunnel records with a sky jump to confirm. For Head-Up 102, tunnel records of back-fly and sit plus one jump against its checklist can stand in.

Performance evidence

After each jump, debrief the video with your coach, name the cause of any fault and one fix, and log the jump. You've finished Head-Up 201 when you fly two 2-ways in a row that meet 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. Plan sessions to be enjoyable: flyers choose this expensive hobby, and enjoying it keeps them in the sport. Set one objective per jump, and end each debrief on something that went well, with one thing to improve.

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-Up 201 course page carries the reasoning, the sources and everything left off here. All briefing cards.