Head-Up 401 — Fly head-up big-ways

The checklist

Criteria 3.1–3.5 depend on the slot: base, diver, break-in or wacker. Cover at least two role families. Which families, and whether base experience is needed, is for the organiser and coach to decide, since the organiser usually picks the base slots.

1. Plan the jump

1.1

Confirm own slot, the dive order and the build sequence from the organiser's engineering brief.

1.2

State own approach lane, level reference and grip plan for the slot.

1.3

State the staged breakoff plan: own wave, its altitude and assigned radial, and the deployment altitude. Guides: waves elevated with group size, e.g., first wave ≥6,000 ft and open by 4,500 ft, with ≥1,000 ft from own breakoff to deployment (cf. the elevated floors used for coached freefly display groups, ASM 96 p.15). Head-up big-way separation planning needs to be more conservative than head-down: gaining lateral separation from a head-up breakoff is inefficient, so at 10-way and larger the breakoff plan is the organiser's risk decision, higher floors are worth considering.

1.4

State the funnel and abort plans: recovery orientation (back-fly), clearing direction off the formation's line, and the no-re-approach rule below the briefed floor.

1.5

Evaluate own currency and readiness against the slot's demands, standing down when they are not met ("know when to say no", Rook Nelson's Golden Rules, ASM 110 p.88).

2. Prepare

2.1

Rehearse the climbout, exit count and full build in the group dirt dive at the organiser's tempo.

2.2

Complete a freefly-specific gear check: pin and handle protection for the gripped exit and aircraft stack-up, genuinely tight BOC (premature pilot-chute deployment is a documented head-up hazard, ASM 96 p.33), two audibles set to the briefed altitudes, AAD on.

2.3

Move through the aircraft lineup and climbout without rig, pin or handle contact on the door or airframe. Dislodged handles and extracted pins on gripped freefly exits and stack-ups are the dominant incident class on the Australian record (ASM 109 p.68; ASM 110 p.87; ASM 111 p.74).

3. Perform

3.1

Launch the linked base from inside the aircraft, door kept clear for floaters, stabilising grips, heading and fall rate through the hill (base slots; ASM 96 pp.40–41).

3.2

Dive to the formation, stopping outside it on level with the base (divers).

3.3

Transition to head-up on level, arresting all closure before starting the approach (divers; the 2019 record method, "transitioning on level to head up before building", ASM 96 pp.40–41).

3.4

Break into the base without disturbing its heading, level or fall rate (designated break-ins).

3.5

Build the wacker line off the base, matching the line's level and radial spacing (wacker slots).

3.6

Take grips only after a pause in the slot with closure arrested, without loading the formation ("everyone making sure they paused before picking up the grips", ASM 96 pp.40–41).

3.7

Hold the slot quietly, level within a head height, grips soft, inputs minimal, while monitoring the build and the traffic in own sector until the key or breakoff.

3.8

Fly the briefed abort on any instability or orientation loss: establishing back-fly, clearing off the formation's line, and not re-approaching (corking decelerates a flyer from ~175+ mph to ~120 mph, a collision hazard for anyone above the formation).

4. Complete

4.1

Initiate breakoff with own wave at the briefed altitude (within −0/+300 ft), turning onto the assigned radial.

4.2

Track the assigned radial, holding separation from adjacent trackers until clear of all traffic.

4.3

Transition to belly, washing off vertical speed and checking airspace before deployment (deployment at freefly speeds drives the hard-opening/line-twist incident class, ASM 109 p.69).

4.4

Deploy at the planned altitude, never above the formation or another group (ASM 112 p.88).

4.5

Fly the briefed canopy traffic plan back to the holding area.

5. Review

5.1

Debrief own jump against the per-jumper report card covering the 11 briefed areas of the jump, climbouts, quietness, presentation and breakoff among them; full card under Assessment conditions, comparing self-assessment against the organiser's card (Malchiodi debrief instrument, 2019 Australian HU record, ASM 96 pp.40–41).

5.2

Analyse the formation video to locate own slot's contribution to the build, or the cause of any failure to build.

5.3

Identify one correction to carry into the next attempt's plan.

5.4

Log the jump with a written reflection naming the unit, the slot flown and the outcome (e.g., "FFP-HU401, diver slot, 12-way, build held to breakoff"), retaining the report card as evidence, the report-card cycle only compounds if it lands in the logbook.

Criteria in bold are safety-critical, and each traces to a documented incident class or collision hazard. The course is not complete while a bold criterion is Not Yet Satisfactory, however good the rest of the jump. Outside a course they are strongly recommended practice. Regulation stays with your federation and your drop zone.

Assessment conditions

• Head-up formation jumps of around 8-way or larger at an organised, coached event, with a real group. Tunnel work is preparation only.
• Sky jumps from 13,000 ft or higher (recommended), and higher with group size at the organiser’s discretion.
• Video from a dedicated camera flyer above the formation, plus footage in which the flyer can be identified. The report card and the build diagnosis depend on it.
• Equipment, treated as standard at organised big-way events: a visual altimeter, two working audibles, an AAD, and freefly-suitable gear with a tight BOC.
• Conditions within the event’s briefed limits.
• The assessor is an experienced head-up big-way organiser, or a freefly coach current in head-up big-way coaching. They use this checklist and the 11-area report card, and mark each criterion Satisfactory or Not Yet Satisfactory.
• The three-in-a-row standard is under “When you’ve got it”. Keep a completed report card for every assessed jump.
• As a guide, that takes about 12 coached head-up formation jumps at around 8-way or larger, in at least two kinds of slot, such as base plus diver or wacker, chosen by the organiser and your coach, over at least two organised camps or events within 12 months.
• Tunnel time counts toward none of these jumps: it has no climbout, hill, altitude or breakoff.
• If you’ve already flown head-up big-ways, your coach can assess you from your logbook, video, organiser references or report cards, or across one camp of at least 4 jumps. Logged, coach-checked head-up group jumps at Head-Up 301 standard can stand in for the prerequisites.
• This course authorises no jump: the organiser and your drop zone decide who flies in a big-way, and in which slot.
• Knowledge is checked in conversation. The flyer lays out an engineering plan for a 12-way head-up formation (base size and launch method, diver order, break-in designation, wacker lines, staged breakoff), and can explain why the base launches from inside, why divers transition on level before approaching, and why head-up separation planning is more conservative than head-down.
• The 11 report-card areas, in jump order: climbouts, exit timing, approach discipline, level control, slot fidelity, dock quality, quietness, presentation, breakoff (initiation, own wave, altitude, radial), breakoff execution (track, separation, transition, deployment), and canopy pattern.
• The original record card was never published. The magazine account names four areas: climbouts, quietness, presentation and breakoff. The other seven are reconstructed from the same account of the record coaching and from published big-way debrief material. The original card replaces this list if it is obtained.

Coaching priorities

• Safety first, then fun, then learning. Never trade breakoff, deployment or abort discipline for a completed formation.
• Brief and debrief a flown abort, or a stand-down under criterion 1.5, as a correct decision, even on a jump that took a whole load to build.
• Run the report-card debrief without blame: safety points first, then what worked, then one thing to improve on the next attempt.
• Start each flyer in a simple slot, and reduce supervision as they become trusted across base, diver or break-in, and wacker slots.

• Kim Hopwood on the first Australian head-up records (Australian Skydiver Magazine, issue 96, pp.40–41): the inside-launched base, on-level transitions, break-ins, wacker lines, pausing before grips, and the per-jumper report card.
• Matt Boag on tunnel to sky, two audibles and a tight pilot chute pouch (Australian Skydiver Magazine, issue 96, p.33). The same issue covers raised floors for display groups (p.15) and an indoor head-up formation (p.19).
• Australian Skydiver Magazine incident reports on exits, breakoff and deployment (issues 109, 110, 111 and 112), and Rook Nelson’s Golden Rules (issue 110).
• Jules McConnel’s drop zone safety briefing on the barrel-roll airspace check (Australian Skydiver Magazine, issue 56).
• Jake Carlton, “Head Up Angles and the Breakoff Problem” (Skydive Mag): GPS data on head-up breakoff separation.
• Skydive Arizona, and AXIS Flight School’s Foundations of Flight columns: the corking speed difference, and the head-up breakoff as a skill to be taught.
• Published big-way debrief material for the report-card areas: Brown’s Big-Way Basics, Cooper-Jensen’s Big-way Bites, and the debrief of the 2014 52-way head-up world record.
• The APF Operational Regulations and APF Training Operations Manual, as jurisdictional context.

Regulations change, so check the current edition where you jump.

• Australia (APF). Formations larger than 10 require a Star Crest and a Freefly Crest (OR 9.1.3, TOM 5.7.1), and this applies to head-up big-ways as to any other formation. Big-way events run under a CI or DZSO with an approved organiser.
• In Australia the assessor is an APF Freefly Coach with big-way organising experience.
• Elsewhere. Follow your federation’s big-way and freefly rules, and its equivalent for assessors.

Acronym key. APF, Australian Parachute Federation. OR, the APF Operational Regulations. TOM, the APF Training Operations Manual. CI, chief instructor. DZSO, drop zone safety officer.