Dynamic 404 — Combine following, mirroring and eagles

Application

Covers the combination: following, mirroring and an eagle flown in one jump. This is the Dynamic track’s integration unit, each fundamental was trained on its own in FFP-DY401 (following), FFP-DY402 (mirroring) and FFP-DY403 (eagles), and this unit chains them, and it is the home of the curriculum’s capstone, the challenge jump below.

The unit’s dive flow, suggested as a 3-way: exit unlinked into a head-down carve, or move for a period to clear the jump run, then flock-and-roll into the carve. Follow the leader through a mixed snake, a follow-the-leader snake flown across orientations, as the following component. At the head-up component the leader initiates head-up movement on belly with the followers on back, the group in an angle/accordion arrangement.

The arrangement carries the sustained back-fly’s mitigation: the belly leader doubles as the mirror the published movement-jump policies ask for, holding visual on the back flyers and the line ahead.

• Then the leader initiates an offset eagle, a front layout flown back into an angle heading back the way the group came, the reciprocal line flown laterally offset from the outbound lane with each flyer’s offset side pre-assigned in the brief, and the followers hold the outbound lane until their own layout key, then go from the head-up back angle through a layout into a back angle on their assigned side.
• Chasing the leader back along the previous direction and never crossing the leader’s reciprocal lane.

The mirroring fundamental runs through the second half of the jump: the followers mirror the leader’s transitions across orientations, facing the leader through the head-up component and matching the layout into the reversed angle.

• The group plans, briefs and debriefs in the FAI Dynamic vocabulary (snakes S1–S6, verticals V1–V8, mixers M1–M9, carving, eagles, FAI/ISC Dynamic Competition Rules 2025, Annexes A–B) plus the track’s own terms: the mixed snake and the offset eagle above.
• The push-through (the leader’s transition to head-up through the belly, pushing through the formation, with the followers copying) and the over-the-feet transition (the back flyer’s transition to belly).

It grades and briefs jump difficulty by transition count, 0 / 1–3 / 4+ (USPA SIM 5-10 skill matrix, 2026 numbering; §6-12 in the 2023-24 SIM), and a full combination sits in the 4+ grade.

Combination jumps stay small: 2–3 flyers is the sweet spot and 4 the practical maximum. Jumps beyond 6 flyers are the territory of dedicated competition teams that work up to a bigger-way dynamic jump incrementally over many practice jumps, not weekend jumpers, and are outside this unit.

Competition pathways, indoor Dynamic 2-way/4-way, 2-way Mixed Formation Skydiving (MFS), Vertical Formation Skydiving (VFS) and the APF Angle Flying dive pool, are context for continued development.

Applies to flyers competent across the dynamic fundamentals: following (DY 401), mirroring (DY 402) and eagles (DY 403).

Environment: sky. The combination realistically requires the tunnel-built skills of the three fundamental units already in place; tunnel time is preparation and calibration only.

Supervision: flown with experienced dynamic partners. The progression runs from flying a briefed component in another flyer’s plan, to briefing and flying the full combination, to co-designing the jump, with the challenge jump at the far end of that road.

This is a Mastery-tier unit: there is no sign-off. Completion is a milestone recognising the combined dynamic fundamentals, it is not a permission, and it does not authorise any jump.

The challenge jump

A single jump to work towards, the capstone of the whole curriculum. It chains every discipline the project teaches into one flight, so a flyer who can plan, brief, fly and break off this jump cleanly with a strong small group has demonstrated the full competency set in one descent.

It is a milestone to aim at, not a permission or a sign-off: flying it grants nothing, authorises nothing, and unlocks nothing. Fly it only inside an organised, experienced small group, 2–4-way; a 2-way is a complete challenge and a 4-way the practical ceiling, planned and briefed to the least experienced participant, with the standard altitude guides and the breakoff flown per the head-down-first doctrine below.

Like every jump in this unit, it is designed under Safety → Fun → Learning: the point is the achievement and the flying, and standing the jump down when the group, the air or the plan is not right is itself the competent outcome.

The line, segment by segment, each drawing on the units named:

1. Exit in a 2-4-way belly round. A stable, on-heading belly-formation exit and round. Draws on the belly-formation and exit foundations in FFP-F100 (exit order, gear, stability) and the belly relative-flying carried through FFP-AN101 (Track and navigate) and FFP-AN201 (Fly angles in a slot).
2. Build a belly open accordion. Transition the round into an open accordion, holding level and grips. Belly relative precision, FFP-AN201 slot discipline; group coordination from FFP-DY301/FFP-DY302 (vertical into movement, movement into vertical); the mixed-orientation entry standards from FFP-DY201/FFP-DY202.
3. Front layout to a head-down carve. A front layout out of belly into a head-down out-face/in-face carve. Layout and carve craft, FFP-DY401 (following, the carve) and FFP-DY403 (eagles, the high-speed layout); head-down flying at crest standard from FFP-HD201/FFP-HD202 (Fly head-down in a 2-way / Demonstrate crest-standard head-down flying).
4. Head-down static round. Build and hold a static head-down formation on level and heading. Head-down group flying, FFP-HD301 (Fly head-down in groups).
5. Head-down static open accordion. Transition the static head-down round into an open accordion, holding proximity and level. Head-down group precision, FFP-HD301; transition control from FFP-HD202 and FFP-DY401.
6. Peel off into a head-down movement jump. Break the static formation into a moving (angle/dynamic) head-down segment, attacking a shared line. Head-down movement and leading, FFP-HD301, the vertical-into-movement craft of FFP-DY301, and movement-leading doctrine from FFP-AN301 (Lead movement jumps).
7. Transition to a head-up movement jump. Take the moving group through the vertical into head-up movement, with a belly-led two-leader handover as the sight picture changes. Through-vertical transitions and the belly-leader handover, FFP-DY303 (the pass-through); head-up movement leader craft (knee-fly, gather-then-navigate) from FFP-AN301.
8. Head-up pass-through into a head-up carve. A head-up pass-through resolving into a head-up carve, group close and tight. Head-up group flying and carving, FFP-HU301 (Fly head-up in groups), the pass-through of FFP-DY303 and the carving of FFP-DY401.

• Break off, the hardest breakoff on the jump. Break off per the head-down-first doctrine and the standard altitude guides: from the head-up segment.
• rotate from head-up to a head-first (head-down or belly) orientation first, then track the pre-assigned fan-out radial away from the group, never back-track away while still head-up (a head-up breakoff buys almost no separation, Carlton, skydivemag 2026; and a formation back-tracking from face-in slots converges rather than separates, the project’s coaching doctrine, The Freefly Project 2026-07-28).

Roll to belly only on a clear trajectory with no one above, wash off vertical speed, clear airspace in every direction, and deploy at the planned altitude with separation complete at least 1,000 ft above deployment.

Altitude guides: freefly groups up to 4-way 5,000 ft (most modern jumpers use 5,500 ft for any freefly group and will generally not accept 4,500 ft); the closing head-up carve is head-up movement, taking the FFP head-up-movement floor of 6,000 ft minimum (6,500 ft for larger groups), so brief this jump’s breakoff to initiate at about 7,000 ft, leaving the flyer already head-first and tracking through Carlton’s ~6,500–7,000 ft window.

Breakoff design and the head-down-first doctrine, this unit’s Element 4, FFP-HU301 and FFP-AN301.

This is the jump that demonstrates it all: static head-up and head-down, carving, layouts, head-down movement, head-up movement, the belly-led through-vertical handover, and the most difficult breakoff. Log it as a milestone, filmed, debriefed segment-by-segment in the shared vocabulary, a record of the achievement.

Pre-requisite units

FFP-DY401 (following), FFP-DY402 (mirroring), FFP-DY403 (eagles).

• The track’s course-internal safety standards flow through that chain and hold on every jump in this unit: head-down competence at crest standard for every participant (each through-vertical transition is momentarily head-down), both orientations at near-vertical pitch, the bail-out standard (the belly-to-back transition check trained and assessed in FFP-DY201/FFP-DY202).
• And weakest-orientation-first (starting orientations assigned on each flyer’s weaker side).

RPL route for the pre-requisites: logbook plus video of following, mirroring and eagle sky jumps at those units’ standards verified by a freefly coach, plus tunnel records evidencing dynamic carving both faces, layouts and static eagles.

Elements and performance criteria

1. Plan the jump

1.1

Design the combination line segment-by-segment in the shared FAI Dynamic vocabulary and the track's own terms, the mixed snake named move by move, the head-up component's angle/accordion arrangement, and the offset eagle, so every participant briefs from one language.

1.2

Grade the planned jump by transition count (0 / 1–3 / 4+) and group size, matching the grade to the least experienced participant.

1.3

Verify every participant's standard status against the track's course-internal safety standards: head-down competence at crest standard for all participants, both orientations, the bail-out standard (the FFP-DY202 transition check) and weakest-orientation-first.

1.4

Plan the flight path off the jump run with a landmark reference for every component, coordinated with every other group on the load (a guide: no more than two movement groups per load, a possible exception being a very experienced, mostly-vertical dynamic group, which consumes little more air than a vertical jump), noting that the offset eagle sends the group back beside the line it has already flown.

1.5

State the breakoff plan, breakoff altitude, the head-up rotate-head-first rule, the back-flyer roll rule and deployment altitudes, with separation complete at least 1,000 ft above the planned deployment height (guides: 5,000 ft for freefly groups up to 4-way, noting most modern jumpers use 5,500 ft for any freefly group and will generally not accept 4,500 ft; the head-up-movement component raises the floor to 6,000 ft minimum, 6,500 ft for larger groups).

2. Prepare

2.1

Brief and dirt-dive the line at tempo in the shared vocabulary, confirming each flyer's slot lane, each flyer's offset-eagle side, the key for each component change, and the landmark at which every transition happens.

2.2

Complete a freefly-specific gear check: handle and pin protection, genuinely tight BOC, riser covers, closing loop, helmet, AAD on, audible(s) set to the briefed altitudes.

2.3

Confirm exit order and separation with the full load, notifying manifest of the group's flight path and planned opening area.

3. Perform

3.1

Exit unlinked into the head-down carve, or move to clear the jump run and flock-and-roll into the carve, establishing the group close, tight and on level.

3.2

Fly the following component: follow the leader through the mixed snake, copying the leader's moves across orientations while holding the lane, level (within a head height) and spacing at the briefed tempo.

3.3

Fly the head-up component in role, the leader initiating head-up movement on belly, the followers holding the back slots, with the group in its angle/accordion arrangement, close and on level.

3.4

Fly the offset eagle in role, the leader initiating the front layout back into an angle laterally offset from the outbound lane and heading back the way the group came, each follower going from the head-up back angle through a layout into a back angle on their pre-assigned side and chasing the leader back along the previous direction.

3.5

Fly the offset-eagle lane discipline: each follower holds the outbound lane until their own layout key, reverses onto their pre-assigned offset side, and never crosses the leader's reciprocal lane.

3.6

Clear the target airspace visually before every transition, layout and component change, no blind moves.

3.7

Manage speed and pitch to arrest closure on the group, slowing on any overtake, never turning 180° to the group's heading.

3.8

Keep the group's line inside its own airspace, monitoring the jump run and the straight-down groups throughout, avoiding them is entirely the moving group's responsibility, never theirs.

3.9

Execute the briefed recovery on any instability: orient with the group, regain speed, return to the angle of attack, move aside and re-approach, never track away; a flyer separated before the reversal transitions to back and follows from below.

3.10

Once the group has reversed, never rejoin across the reciprocal: a dropped flyer holds an offset line, follows from below on the new direction only once the group is re-acquired, and otherwise separates and deploys higher after checking airspace.

4. Complete

4.1

Initiate breakoff at the briefed altitude (within −0/+300 ft), rotating from head-up to a head-first orientation first if breaking from a head-up segment, then turning onto a clear radial while flattening pitch to a track; never back-track away while still head-up.

4.2

If on the back at breakoff, roll to belly only once on a clear trajectory with no one above.

4.3

Deploy at the planned altitude, inside the group's planned opening airspace, after checking own airspace.

4.4

Fly the briefed canopy plan, holding off the jump-run line until other groups' airspace is confirmed clear.

5. Review

5.1

Debrief the line component-by-component against the plan on video, in the shared vocabulary.

5.2

Analyse own execution against competition-derived quality criteria: closeness of passes, synchronisation, uniformity of body position, no loss of balance.

5.3

Evaluate the flown difficulty against the briefed grade, setting the next jump's components and transition count accordingly.

5.4

Log the jump in the logbook naming the unit and components flown (e.g. "DY404, mixed snake, head-up component, offset eagle"), with criteria results and a short reflection, the curriculum is what makes the log entry meaningful.

Bold criteria are safety-critical. Within FFP courses they are treated as non-compensable best-practice standards: any Not Yet Satisfactory makes the unit Not Yet Competent. Outside a course they remain strongly recommended best practice. Regulation remains your federation’s and your drop zone’s.

Foundation skills

• Shared-vocabulary communication (briefing and debriefing in FAI Dynamic terms and the track’s own vocabulary, across coaches, tunnels and countries).
• Altitude, closing-speed and transition-count numeracy.
• Planning and organising (component sequencing, flight-path design, load coordination, difficulty grading).
• Self-management while task-loaded (the flying runs on automatic skill while attention is on traffic, navigation and the group, and standing down when readiness is not met).

Performance evidence (suggested sufficiency, adjust locally)

Ability evidenced across combination sky jumps in small groups, 2–3 flyers is the sweet spot, 4 the practical maximum. The evidence should include:

• Every component flown: the following component (the mixed snake), the head-up component, and the offset eagle.
• Jumps briefed at the 4+ transition grade.
• At least two different partners, camps or organisers.
• two consecutive jumps flying every briefed segment and meeting all criteria without coach assistance or prompts.

As a guide to how long this might take, competency is the standard, not the jump count, expect on the order of 12 jumps within a recommended 12-month currency window, more while the fundamentals are still consolidating.

The evidence set above stands on its own; the challenge jump is the milestone beyond it, flown when the group, the air and the plan are right, and logged filmed as the record it is.

Substantial dynamic tunnel time (head-down carves both faces, carve switches, layouts, eagles, vertical stalls) plus practised leading and following is realistically a precondition for the combination, and is strongly recommended as vocabulary and calibration development. It substitutes for no sky assessment jump: it exercises no jump run, navigation, altitude or breakoff.

Knowledge evidence

• Design a combination plan in the FAI vocabulary and justify its grade by transition count and group size, a full combination sits in the 4+ grade.
• Define the track’s vocabulary and use it in a briefing: the push-through, the over-the-feet transition (the back flyer’s transition to belly), the offset eagle and the mixed snake (a follow-the-leader snake flown across orientations).
  • The leader’s transition to head-up through the belly, pushing through the formation, with the followers copying.
  • A front layout flown back into an angle reversing the group’s direction, the reciprocal line flown laterally offset from the outbound lane with each flyer’s side pre-assigned.
• Explain where each fundamental lives in the combination: following in the mixed snake, mirroring in the followers matching the leader’s transitions across orientations, and the eagle in the offset eagle that reverses the group’s direction.
• Explain the offset eagle’s navigation value: it sends the group back beside the line it has already cleared, the reciprocal laterally offset from the outbound lane, shrinking the jump’s footprint the way repeated pass-throughs shrink a dynamic jump toward a vertical column.
• Explain why the belly flyer leads any line-based segment and how a two-leader handover works across a through-vertical pass: the new belly flyer “pulls” the group toward them and starts navigating as the new sight picture emerges, rather than a back flyer pushing a twitchy belly flyer in front, the lead is always on belly.
• State the breakoff design for a small combination group.
  • The breakoff altitude guides: freefly groups up to 4-way, 5,000 ft.
  • 5-way and larger, 5,500 ft, noting most modern jumpers use 5,500 ft for any freefly group and will generally not accept 4,500 ft.
  • Head-up movement, this unit’s head-up component and the challenge jump’s closing carve, takes the FFP head-up-movement floor: 6,000 ft minimum, 6,500 ft for larger groups, because head-up breakoff is demonstrably less efficient, less power, less track efficiency, and altitude lost rotating to head-down.
  • The static head-up ladder (5,500 ft minimum, 6,000 ft for 6 or more) applies only where a jump ends in static head-up.
  • State the head-down-first doctrine (rotate head-first before tracking, through Carlton’s ~6,500–7,000 ft window), the back-flyer roll rule (roll to belly only on a clear trajectory with no one above), the deployment altitudes, and the at-least-1,000-ft separation-above-deployment guide.
• Explain why combination groups stay small: 2–3 is best, 4 the practical maximum, and beyond 6 is the territory of dedicated competition teams working up incrementally over many practice jumps, not weekend jumpers.
• Explain corking’s speed differential (roughly 175→120 mph) and why the traffic rules exist: no blind moves.
  • Closure managed by slowing, never by turning 180° to the group’s heading.
  • And in-slot recovery, never track away.
  • A flyer dropped before the reversal back-flies and follows from below, and once the group has reversed never rejoins across the reciprocal: hold an offset line, follow from below on the new direction only once the group is re-acquired, and otherwise separate and deploy higher after checking airspace.
• Describe the freefly-specific gear check and why each item matters at dynamic speeds.
• Explain the burble contrast between vertical and movement flying, vertical flyers cork up along a burble while tracking/angle no-fly zones trail the formation.
  • Locate the danger zones for a combination doing both, and state why avoiding the straight-down groups rests entirely with the moving group.
• Explain why the sustained back-fly of the head-up component demands explicit mitigations, community doctrine reserves back-flying on movement jumps for brief, highly experienced moments, and some DZs require a belly “mirror” for a back-flying leader, and state the mitigations the plan carries.
• Walk through the challenge jump segment by segment, naming the competency each segment demonstrates and the breakoff doctrine it ends on.
• Describe the competition pathways available as development context: indoor Dynamic 2-way/4-way (speed and free rounds, battle brackets), MFS, VFS and the APF Angle Flying levels (Beginner randoms → Open blocks including “Through the Vert”).
• Evaluate where a planned combination descent sits within local rules (freefly crests vs movement-jump endorsements) and who resolves the ambiguity.

Assessment conditions

Sky jumps from a recommended 13,000 ft minimum, the combination consumes altitude quickly at angle speeds of roughly 270–400+ km/h. A real small group, 2–3 flyers, 4 at most, is required for the group criteria; tunnel evidence is preparatory only.

Video of assessment jumps is required for a valid assessment: dedicated camera flyer or leader-flown, candidate identifiable. Required equipment: visual altimeter, functioning audible (two recommended), AAD, freefly-suitable gear with a genuinely tight BOC. Conditions within the group’s briefed limits, winds aloft assessed in planning.

Assessor: an experienced dynamic/movement organiser or freefly coach current in mixed-orientation coaching, using the published FFP-DY404 checklist, each criterion marked Satisfactory / Not Yet Satisfactory. Completion is recorded as a Mastery milestone only: it is not a sign-off, confers no privilege, and is not a permission to plan, lead or join any jump.

Coaching priorities

Deliver in the project’s priority order: Safety → Fun → Learning (curriculum Part A0). Safety criteria are non-compensable; at Mastery tier the group still designs the plan to the least experienced participant, and standing down when readiness is not met is itself competent behaviour.

Design the session to be enjoyable, participants choose this expensive hobby, and enjoyment sustains both the flyer and the sport, and end each debrief on a win with one improvement focus.

RPL evidence set

• Logbook plus video of combination sky jumps at the 4+ transition grade, the mixed snake, a head-up component and an offset eagle identifiable on video, verified by a freefly coach.
• Tunnel records at IBA Dynamic Level 4 or Pro (or equivalent school records: head-down carves both faces, carve switches, bottom loops, layouts, per third-party summaries; verify against IBA source material).
• Competition evidence, indoor Dynamic 2-way/4-way, MFS, VFS or APF Angle Flying Intermediate/Open results, as supporting (not substituting) evidence for the sky criteria.
• Or a challenge assessment across a suggested 4 jumps against the full criteria with a qualifying assessor.

Sources