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HU202 Coach
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Head Up · Relative · The brief

Head-Up 202

Demonstrate crest-standard head-up flying

The head-up flying a crest sign-off consumes as evidence.

What this unit covers

The head-up assessment unit.
Covers demonstrating, on two prescribed 2-way assessment jumps, the complete head-up relative skill set to the standard the head-up crest sign-off consumes: exit, face-off, in-place rotations, recovery, forward drive, level matching, approach, hand-to-hand docks, signalled transitions, and breakoff/track/deployment discipline.
The rest of it
The two assessment dive flows are the APF Freefly Training Table Stages 1–2 (the APF Training Operations Manual), enriched to the union with the Freefly and Angles Guide Head Up 1 & 2 flows (APF006 §8.5). the APF Training Operations Manual is the authorised manual: it defines the minimum acceptable standard and always prevails.
The additional Freefly and Angles Guide manoeuvres are training and evidence enrichment layered on top, so a single evidence pack satisfies both documents.
The unit's output is a defined evidence pack: exactly what a Freefly Coach and a drop zone safety officer/chief instructor need to complete the crest sign-off chain without further evidence-gathering. Applies to flyers who have completed FFP-HU201 (coached head-up 2-ways). Environment: sky.
Assessment jumps are sky jumps from a recommended 10,000 ft minimum (APF006 §3.2); tunnel time may support rehearsal but never substitutes for the assessment jumps. Supervision: coach passive, moving to unassisted.
The coach flies the coach slot in each dive flow (base, signals, level changes) and gives no in-air correction on assessment jumps; every criterion specifies unsupported performance.

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.

3.7
Exit unlinked into head-up and fly to a face-off within 5 metres of the coach's base.

Can you leave the aircraft unlinked, in head up, and fly to a face-off within five metres of a stationary flyer?

3.9
Perform a front loop and a backloop on the coach's signals, returning to the sit on heading within 3 seconds each.

Can you do a front loop and a back loop on signal, returning to the sit on heading within three seconds each?

3.11
Fly the entire flow free of erratic or unpredictable movement (no orbiting, no backsliding through the coach's airspace).

Can you fly a whole dive flow without orbiting or backsliding through the other flyer’s airspace?

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

Through a full flow, is the vertical recovery position automatic on any loss of control, with no re-approach until you are stable?

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

3.12
Execute the vertical recovery position immediately on any loss of control, re-approaching only when stable.

Through a full flow, is the vertical recovery position automatic on any loss of control, with no re-approach until you are stable?

Everything this unit says about breakoff and deployment

1.3
State breakoff (5,500 ft guide, the recommended minimum for any head-up group) and deployment altitudes, and the lost-partner plan.
4.1
Initiate breakoff unprompted at the briefed altitude (within −0/+300 ft).
4.3
Deploy at the planned altitude after visually clearing airspace, with separation completed at least 1,000 ft above planned deployment.

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

- Environment: sky jumps from a recommended 10,000 ft minimum; the two flows flown as separate jumps; conditions within the candidate's cleared limits and suitable for a valid assessment (assessor judgement).
Video: required on both assessment jumps (coach-flown or helmet-mounted), candidate identifiable, the video is simultaneously the assessment evidence and the witness/verification record.
Without it there is nothing for the sign-off chain to verify.
Equipment: visual altimeter.
Functioning audible altimeter (a second recommended).
Freefly-suitable gear per the FFP-F100 gear standard.
Hard helmet.
AAD recommended.
Australia: a functioning audible altimeter is mandatory on every freefly descent, the APF Operational Regulations.
Assessor: a freefly coach current in head-up coaching, using the published FFP-HU202 checklist, criteria published to the candidate in advance.
Each criterion marked Satisfactory / Not Yet Satisfactory.
Unit judgement Competent / Not Yet Competent.
The coach flies the coach slot and gives no in-air assistance.
Australia: an APF Freefly Coach, the same person whose witnessing and verification the APF crest schedule requires, with the drop zone safety officer co-signing each stage and the chief instructor completing the endorsement.
Elsewhere: the national or drop-zone equivalent, e.g. a UK chief instructor/Advanced-Instructor-nominated FF1/FF2 evaluator of proven instructional ability per BS Ops Manual 6.6.2.
Safety-critical standard (FFP best practice; regulation remains your federation's): any Not Yet Satisfactory on a bold safety-critical criterion (1.3, the audible item in 2.1, 3.12, 4.1, 4.3) means the unit is Not Yet Competent, the pack this unit produces certifies safety behaviour before flying skill.
The candidate re-flies the affected flow in full after corrective coaching.
For other Not Yet Satisfactory items, the candidate may re-fly only the affected flow for re-assessment.
Multiple occasions: evidence across the two prescribed jumps plus rehearsal history satisfies the sufficiency rule; a single jump never evidences the unit.

Performance evidence

Ability evidenced by, as a guide:
Both assessment dive flows completed as sky jumps, two consecutive jumps meeting all criteria without coach assistance or prompts; the candidate re-flies a Not Yet Satisfactory flow after corrective coaching.
A suggested 2–6 rehearsal jumps of the flows beforehand (tunnel time may substitute for rehearsal only, never for the assessment jumps).
Rehearsal-plus-assessment evidence spanning at least two different days/conditions.
Both assessment jumps within a suggested 3 months of each other; all evidence within a recommended 6-month currency window. These numbers are a guide to how long it usually takes. Competency, not jump counts, is the standard, whenever it arrives. The evidence pack (the unit's defined output, designed so a Freefly Coach and drop zone safety officer/chief instructor can complete the crest sign-off from it directly, with nothing further to gather): 1. Video of both assessment jumps, candidate identifiable, the full flow and breakoff visible. 2. The completed FFP-HU202 checklist for each jump, every criterion marked Satisfactory / Not Yet Satisfactory, signed by the assessing coach. 3. Logbook entries for both jumps (date, DZ, aircraft/altitude, coach name and signature). 4. Knowledge-evidence record (oral or written responses per the section below, noted by the assessor). 5. Currency summary: recent head-up jumps and dates evidencing the currency window.

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). Hold safety criteria to the bold standard above and never trade them for a pass. Manage assessment pressure actively so the jumps stay enjoyable: a relaxed candidate flies the standard they trained.
A Not Yet Satisfactory flow is a re-fly, not a failure. End every debrief, including after a Not Yet Satisfactory result, on a win with one improvement focus.

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-Up 202 unit carries the reasoning, the sources and everything left off here. All briefing cards.