Angles 402 — Fly head-up angles

Application

The flying half of the Angles 400 mastery tier: angle jumps flown head-up, and the conversion back to head-first that every one of them ends with. Every other unit in this track is flown head-first, that is what an angle normally is. This unit is the exception, and it exists because flying the line head-up changes the one thing that matters most at the end of the jump: how much separation the breakoff actually produces.

Flyers hold the head-up orientation on the line and convert to head-first before breakoff. Transitions run around the line of flight, never through vertical. The through-vertical case is Dynamic doctrine (FFP-DY201 onward), not angles: staying off vertical is the boundary that keeps the jump an angle (the project’s coaching doctrine).

The organiser’s half of the tier, multi-group movement days and big-way angles, is FFP-AN401. One course, one job: this card is head-up angle flying and the conversion that closes it.

Every jump in this unit is a led group: the active leader flies belly-to-earth, always, and flyers join only with a trained or approved leader (APF006 §5.12; the project’s coaching doctrine belly-led doctrine). Groups stay small: the leader sizes them to the least experienced flyer, and smaller than an equivalent head-first angle group, because a head-up flyer changing orientation is a fall-rate change waiting to happen.

Head-up angle groups run at 4 or fewer, with more experienced participants (the project’s coaching doctrine; Carlton).

Environment: sky for the movement content. The tunnel evidences head-up control and transition mechanics only; navigation, breakoff and group flow are sky-only.

Mastery tier: there is no sign-off. Completion is a milestone recognising head-up angle capability, not a permission to lead, organise or approve any jump.

Pre-requisite units

FFP-AN202 (endorsement-standard angle flying, both orientations), with head-up control at the FFP-HU102 standard. Leading a head-up angle group additionally requires FFP-AN302 (lead an angle jump), and the head-up-movement capability there. RPL route: see the RPL evidence set below.

Why head-up is the hard case

A head-up flyer at breakoff is the problem this whole unit is built around. Turning and tracking from head-up produces far less separation than head-first, Carlton’s measured figures are 268 ft (about 1.4 seconds) slow and 392 ft (about 2.7 seconds) fast, against 690–1,165 ft head-first.

There is no glide-ratio gain to be had by breaking off head-up, and converting to head-first is not instant: horizontal speed lags the conversion by a measured 1,500–2,000 ft. So the jump has to be head-first before the breakoff floor arrives, not at it.

Two things follow, and both are non-negotiable in this card: the floors go up, and the conversion starts high. The other skill that holds the group together is speed range, a wide, controlled band of speeds, so changing orientation never becomes a change of fall rate that scatters the group (the project’s coaching doctrine).

Elements and performance criteria

1. Plan the jump

1.1

State the line, where the jump is head-up and where it is head-first, each transition point and who keys it, and own slot through each phase.

1.2

Plan every transition around the line of flight, never through vertical. A jump that passes through vertical is planned under Dynamic doctrine (FFP-DY201 onward) with its own entry standards, not as an angle jump (the project's coaching doctrine).

1.3

Compose the group around its least experienced flyer, smaller than an equivalent head-first angle group; head-up angle groups run at 4 or fewer with more experienced participants (the project's coaching doctrine).

1.4

Set the breakoff to the raised head-up floors, minimum 6,000 ft, 6,500 ft for a larger group, with the head-first conversion initiated by ~6,500–7,000 ft (Carlton). These sit above the ordinary angle guides of 5,000 ft up to a 4-way and 5,500 ft for five or more, because a head-up breakoff does not produce the separation a head-first one does. Keep at least 1,000 ft between breakoff and planned deployment (mandatory in Australia, the APF Operational Regulations) (the project's coaching doctrine breakoff standards; FFP-AN301 knowledge evidence).

1.5

Declare the jump and its lane to the load per the FFP-AN301 planning standard, a head-up angle is a movement group like any other and owns a lane, a distance and an opening area.

2. Prepare

2.1

Brief each transition with a positive key that reads from every orientation on the line, a head-up flyer and a belly-flyer see different pictures, so the key must work for both.

2.2

Screen every participant by demonstration, not self-report: head-up control, fall-rate range, and footage, an unproven flyer is treated as lower-skilled until seen (the project's coaching doctrine screening doctrine).

2.3

Complete a freefly-standard gear check for every flyer, the jump carries freefly speeds throughout (the APF Operational Regulations audible in Australia; APF006 §3.1).

2.4

Brief the what-ifs: the left-behind protocol, the high-and-behind case, and the abort to a briefed straight-down plan B (FFP-AN301 standard).

3. Perform

3.1

Hold slot through orientation changes: change orientation without changing level or closing speed, bridging the fall-rate difference with speed range rather than letting the transition scatter the group (the project's coaching doctrine, the participant speed-range skill).

3.2

Fly each transition on the leader's key, staying on the line of flight, convert head-up to head-first using a team layout around a centre point, never the in-place layout Carlton names as the worst option (Carlton; the project's coaching doctrine).

3.3

Never transition through vertical. If a transition goes long or unstable, recover to the nearest stable orientation on the line and rebuild the slot, never over-rotate through vertical to save it (the project's coaching doctrine).

3.4

Hold the briefed heading discipline (within about ±45° of the planned leg) and the lane, to the same navigation standard as any other movement group (FFP-AN302).

3.5

Stay predictable when someone struggles, and never chase a flyer who leaves the plan, in-slot recovery, never track away from an angle group (APF006 §4.3).

3.6

Control pitch and level changes while moving head-up, holding the briefed slot through them (the participant speed-range skill of 3.1, applied through the line's pitch changes).

4. Complete, breakoff to landing

4.1

Be head-first and moving by the briefed window (~6,000–7,000 ft depending on the group and its size) so the track has spent its acceleration lag before the breakoff floor arrives (Carlton, the 1,500–2,000 ft lag; the project's coaching doctrine; the FFP head-up-angle breakoff guides, 6,000 ft minimum and 6,500 ft for larger groups).

4.2

Initiate breakoff at the briefed altitude in the briefed fan, each flyer tracking in a head-first orientation, peeling no more than ~90°, never turning back toward jump run (APF006 §5.10; the project's coaching doctrine breakoff standards).

4.3

Deploy at the planned altitude after visually clearing the airspace in all directions, always assuming somebody is there (APF006 §3.3).

4.4

Fly the briefed canopy plan, and confirm the whole group is down before standing down.

5. Review

5.1

Debrief against video to the protocol: participants first, the whole video once through, safety points first, end on a win.

5.2

Locate every fall-rate excursion at a transition and attribute it, key timing, speed range, or transition mechanics, and name one correction to train next.

5.3

Log the jump naming the unit, the head-up phases and transitions flown, and the next focus.

Bold criteria are safety-critical: non-compensable (any Not Yet Satisfactory on a bold criterion = unit Not Yet Competent).

Foundation skills

• Fall-rate control that survives a change of orientation, a wide speed band held head-up and head-first.
• Reading a transition key from any orientation.
• Slot flying at freefly speeds.
• Honest self-assessment of the head-up end of your flying, not just the strongest end.

Performance evidence (suggested sufficiency, a guide to how long it might take; adjust locally)

Ability evidenced across a suggested 10 head-up angle jumps in led groups:

• Head-up slots held on the line.
• Conversions to head-first held in slot and initiated in the briefed window.
• Consecutive jumps flown and broken off to plan at the raised floors.
• Across at least two different days and wind pictures.
• Within a recommended 12-month currency window. Tunnel time evidences head-up control and transition mechanics only.

Knowledge evidence

• The head-up angle numbers. State the raised floors (minimum 6,000 ft, 6,500 ft for a larger group) and the conversion rule (head-first by ~6,500–7,000 ft).
  • State the Carlton evidence behind them: no glide-ratio gain moving into a head-up breakoff.
  • A measured 1,500–2,000 ft lag before horizontal speed builds after converting.
  • And modelled 6-way separations of 268 ft (≈1.4 s) slow and 392 ft (≈2.7 s) fast head-up versus 690–1,165 ft head-first.
  • Carlton calls six-plus “unacceptable” and five “pushing it”, which is why these groups run at 4 or fewer (Carlton).
• The orientation boundary. Explain why a head-up angle never transitions through vertical: the through-vertical case is Dynamic doctrine with its own entry standards (everyone on a through-vertical jump is momentarily head-down), and staying off vertical is what keeps the jump an angle rather than a dynamic jump (the project’s coaching doctrine; FFP-DY201).
• Speed range as the load-bearing skill. Explain why every transition is a potential fall-rate change, and how a wide speed band lets a flyer change orientation without changing level or closing speed, and why the group is capped smaller than a head-first angle group of the same experience (the project’s coaching doctrine).
• Transition technique. Describe the team layout (converting to head-first around a centre point while staying on the line of flight) and why the in-place layout is the named anti-pattern (it loses the line and the acceleration lag bites hardest) (Carlton; the project’s coaching doctrine).
• Why the leader stays on belly. Explain why even a head-up angle group is led from the belly only, and how any design that seems to need a leader in another orientation is solved with a belly-to-belly leadership handover instead (APF006 §5.12; the project’s coaching doctrine; FFP-DY201 doctrine).
• The screening doctrine. Explain why self-reported answers cannot vet head-up angle skill, and the demonstration screens that can, head-up control, fall-rate range, proximity footage.

Assessment conditions

Sky, in led groups, with the assessing coach on the jump. Sky jumps from a recommended 12,000 ft minimum, head-up angles need working time above a raised floor.

Video is the primary debrief and evidence tool: footage from within the group or from the leader’s slot, paired with the candidate’s talk-through. Required equipment: visual altimeter, functioning audible set to the briefed profile, AAD recommended, freefly-suitable gear. Conditions within every participant’s cleared limits.

Assessor: a freefly coach current in movement jumps and head-up flying, using the published FFP-AN402 checklist (Satisfactory / Not Yet Satisfactory per criterion; unit result Competent / Not Yet Competent, recorded as a Mastery milestone).

Coaching priorities

Deliver in the project’s priority order: Safety → Fun → Learning (curriculum Part A0). Head-up angles are among the most enjoyable jumps in the sport, and that is why the floors and the conversion window are non-compensable: flyers will seek these jumps out anyway, and the card exists so they fly them inside a plan, with a leader, at floors that buy the separation back. The coach ends each debrief on a win with one focus for the next jump.

RPL evidence set

For experienced head-up angle flyers the flying is the evidence. Logbook and video of head-up angle jumps showing held slots on the line, conversions to head-first initiated in the briefed window, and breakoffs at the raised floors; a word from a recognised coach or leader; plus one challenge jump against this checklist with a qualifying assessor.

Sources