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AN201 Coach
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Angles · Relative · The brief

Angles 201

Fly angles in a belly slot

Holding a slot on someone else’s line.

What this unit covers

Covers flying a belly follower slot in a 2–3-way angle (movement) jump behind a trained leader: exits, quadrant entry, getting on level, closing to docking distance, briefed docks and transitions over the body, speed and pitch changes, heading discipline, the left-behind protocol, in-slot recovery, breakoff and post-opening discipline. Belly and back-fly are trained and assessed as two separate evidence streams, recommended order belly first.
This unit is the belly stream; the back-fly stream is FFP-AN203. A Satisfactory belly stream does not credit the back-fly stream, and vice versa.
The rest of it
The split follows the APF signing off per body orientation (APF006 §8.7). Angle groups are never led from the back, the leader flies belly-to-earth on every jump. Navigation and ground reference come from the belly, and a back-flying "leader" cannot reliably see where the group is going.
Every jump in this unit is flown behind a freefly coach or a trained/approved angle leader. The Freefly Project does not recommend learner-organised or unled angle jumps at any point in the progression.
Structured, led movement jumps are the safety mechanism that replaces the unstructured beginner angle jumps where the incidents happen. Angles are flown flat to moderate, and flat and fast by default; the leader always sets the angle to the least experienced flyer.
Flat, fast angles are the contemporary learning environment: safer breakoffs, no popcorning, and the micro-input laboratory where technique is built. Environment: sky, with tunnel belly/back carving as preparation.

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.

3.2
Fly to the assigned quadrant first, get on level, a straight line through the group's heads, and only then close the distance; never approach from below and behind through the burble.

Can you approach the formation on belly from high and in front of the group, staying out of the burble and the cork zone?

3.4
Hold the assigned slot at docking distance on level and on the group's heading within ±45°, for the majority of the working time.

Can you stay in your briefed slot for the majority of the jump whilst on level?

3.6
Take the briefed dock without changing the leader's speed or pitch, and transition over the top of the body to the opposite slot, never dropping a shoulder underneath.

Can you take a dock during an angle jump without disturbing the leader, then transition up and over the leader to pick up a slot on the other side?

3.9 Safety critical
Execute in-slot recovery immediately on any instability: keep speed on the group's direction and angle, never ball up, never track away; re-approach only when stable, and if separation persists, follow the group at a distance until breakoff.

If you get unstable, do you keep your speed on the group’s direction and recover in your slot, re-approaching only once 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

3.9
Execute in-slot recovery immediately on any instability: keep speed on the group's direction and angle, never ball up, never track away; re-approach only when stable, and if separation persists, follow the group at a distance until breakoff.

If you get unstable, do you keep your speed on the group’s direction and recover in your slot, re-approaching only once you are stable?

Everything this unit says about breakoff and deployment

1.4
State the breakoff and deployment altitudes and the lost-flyer plan: breakoff guide 5,000 ft for groups up to 4-way, 5,500 ft for 5 and larger (most modern jumpers plan 5,500 ft for movement jumps of any size), separating at least 1,000 ft above planned deployment. Movement-jump separation is designed on the ground, not improvised in the air.
2.1
Complete a movement-jump gear check on self and cross-check the group: hand-deploy BOC or pull-out, bridle fully covered, tight riser covers and closing loop, secure handles and clothing, helmet, audible set and functioning. Audibles fail silently, and an angle breakoff depends on hearing yours.
2.2
Walk the dive with the group, including the breakoff fan with eye contact between neighbouring flyers, the first time you see the flyer on your breakoff line should not be in freefall.
3.8
If left behind, keep flying the group's heading and closing correctly; stop closing by ~7,000–7,500 ft, hold the distance, and break off on the group's timing, not its altitude, because the classic pull-time collision is a trailing flyer still closing while the group slows to deploy.
4.1
Initiate breakoff at the briefed altitude (−0/+300 ft as a working guide).
4.3
Accelerate flat to build separation, then flatten and decelerate progressively before deployment, angle speeds sit outside the deployment envelope, and a gradual flatten converts vertical speed into horizontal separation; snapping flat kills both.
4.4
Visually clear airspace in all directions before deploying at the planned altitude, by looking under the arms and between the legs, or a clean transition to the back (a barrel roll only if smooth and reliable), never treating the deployment itself as clearing airspace: pulling dumps fabric into the airspace, it does not clear it.
4.5
After opening, hold position and heading until the other groups' canopies are seen open before flying toward the jump run, and keep heading discipline in the first seconds under canopy, post-breakoff wraps come from two flyers turning toward each other immediately after opening.

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

Sky jumps from a recommended 10,000 ft minimum. Group size 2–3 including the assessor/leader, who flies belly-to-earth in the lead slot on every jump. Conditions within the candidate's cleared limits, with upper winds and any other movement groups on the load briefed.
Footage of assessment jumps from any workable source, leader-flown, outside camera or helmet-mounted, candidate identifiable, supported by the candidate talking the assessor through their heading, level, slot and altitude decisions.
Required equipment: visual altimeter, functioning audible (second audible recommended), AAD recommended, movement-suitable gear (hand-deploy BOC or pull-out, bridle fully covered, tight riser covers, secure handles).
A GPS log is optional but valuable feedback where available. Assessed on belly-slot jumps; the back-fly stream is assessed separately under FFP-AN203. Assessor: a freefly coach or trained/approved angle leader current in angle coaching, using the published FFP-AN201 checklist (Satisfactory / Not Yet Satisfactory per criterion).

Performance evidence

Ability evidenced across around 4 coached 2–3-way angle jumps behind a trained/approved leader, flown in the belly slot. The APF Freefly and Angles Guide Angles Level 1 guide is a minimum of 3 jumps showing consistency, signed off per body orientation; the back-fly stream is evidenced separately in FFP-AN203.
Tunnel belly carving may inform and substitute for up to two skill-development jumps, not the assessment jumps. The evidence should also include:
at least two different days/conditions.
at least 2 consecutive jumps meeting all criteria without coach assistance.
All within a recommended 6-month currency window. No jump in this unit is flown without a trained/approved leader flying belly-to-earth in the lead slot.

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). Safety criteria are non-compensable, the coach never trades heading, left-behind or breakoff discipline for slot quality or jump throughput.
The coach designs the session to be enjoyable, flat and fast jumps are fun at every level ("when in doubt, flat and fast"), plan-B jumps are still great skydives, and participants choose this expensive hobby: enjoyment sustains both the student and the sport.
Enjoyment also does safety work here: many flyers learn angles informally with friends, coaching is chosen, and unled beginner groups are where the documented incidents happen. End each debrief 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 Angles 201 unit carries the reasoning, the sources and everything left off here. All briefing cards.