Skip to content
HU101 Flyer
Coach card Full unit

Swipe sideways, or tap the dots. 4 screens.

Head Up · Stability · The jump

Head-Up 101

Fly a stable sit

A stable, neutral sit you can hold, turn in, and take up to a stand.

What this unit covers

- Covers establishing and holding a stable, neutral head-up sit as an individual skill. The unit's scope: sit exits.
The all-90° neutral geometry.
The rest of it
Heading holds in the neutral sit.
Fall-rate control across the head-up ladder (knee-fly → sit → stag → stand).
Turns initiated from the arms, the legs, or both together.
The recovery loop drills (front and back loop).
The altitude-check discipline.
And head-up breakoff discipline. Head-up is generally the first step in the vertical aspect of freeflying, with speeds of roughly 220–260 km/h (APF006 §6.1). Applies to flyers who have completed Freefly 100 (back-fly control and the vertical recovery position). Environment: sky, with tunnel drills as preparation and as an evidence route for individual position work (IBA Static Level 3 equivalents). Supervision: coached. In the tunnel the coach holds the flyer or flies as the reference; on sky jumps the coach is the in-air reference. Supervision fades to solo consolidation jumps flown under the Freefly 100 solo protocols (working heading 90° to jump run, two functioning audibles, the static-turn drift check). The protocols carry a strong recommendation against solo stand-up flying, a stand can generate large horizontal movement that a flyer with no reference cannot detect.

What comes before it

Screen 2 · What you are watched on

What you are watched on

The same short list a coach ticks, in the same words. Nothing is hidden from you.

3.3
Maintain heading ±45° (guide) for 10 seconds in the neutral sit.

Can you hold a neutral sit on heading, within about a quadrant, for ten seconds?

3.7
Perform a 360° turn in each direction, stopping within ±45° of the reference heading. A sit turn may be initiated from the arms, from the legs, or from both together; demonstrate at least two of the three, state which was used, and note that combining the two is generally the fastest way to turn.

Can you turn 360 degrees in each direction and stop within about a quadrant of where you started?

3.6 Safety critical
Demonstrate the stand rung with a visual reference, in the tunnel, or in the sky with a coach or another jumper, returning to the neutral sit without corking. The reference matters: a stand can generate large horizontal movement, and a solo flyer has no way to detect the drift it creates.

Can you take the sit up to a stand and settle back down without corking, and do you only fly it where you have a visual reference such as a coach, another jumper or the tunnel?

Screen 3 · Safety and altitudes

Safety and altitudes

Everything here is a recommendation with a reason behind it, not a rule. The drop zone you are jumping at, and your own limits on the day, decide what actually happens.

Safety-critical criteria on the short list

3.6
Demonstrate the stand rung with a visual reference, in the tunnel, or in the sky with a coach or another jumper, returning to the neutral sit without corking. The reference matters: a stand can generate large horizontal movement, and a solo flyer has no way to detect the drift it creates.

Can you take the sit up to a stand and settle back down without corking, and do you only fly it where you have a visual reference such as a coach, another jumper or the tunnel?

Everything this unit says about breakoff and deployment

1.4
State the altitude for ending head-up work (breakoff guide: 5,500 ft minimum for head-up jumps) and the planned deployment altitude.
2.2
Verify audible altimeter(s) set and functioning. Two functioning audibles should be regarded as mandatory best practice before any solo freefly: an audible is a hidden safety-critical device that can fail silently, and where a group's breakoff gives you altitude redundancy, a soloist has none.
4.1
Initiate breakoff at the briefed altitude (within −0/+300 ft), ending all head-up work.
4.2
End the jump per the briefed protocol. On a coached/group jump: transition to belly, slow to belly-fall speeds and track 90° from jump run while checking airspace above, below and behind. On a solo consolidation jump: end the work without tracking, turn 90°, pause, recover to back-fly, slow down, then transition to a belly orientation, dissipating speed over at least 1,000 ft before deployment (FFP-F100 solo protocol). A soloist's movement risks are already the dominant hazard; movement at breakoff belongs in formation jumps, where it is practised and needed.
4.3
Deploy at the planned altitude after clearing airspace.

Altitudes here are the guides this curriculum recommends and argues for. Where the drop zone briefs something different, the drop zone is what you fly.

Screen 4 · After the jump

After the jump

From this unit's own closing element, review.

5.1
Debrief the jump against the declared objective using video.
5.2
Identify on video any instance of the three documented fault patterns, backsliding, fallout to back or belly, uncontrolled rotation, and name its body-position cause.
5.3
Write the jump up in the logbook, naming the unit and skills assessed (e.g. "HU101 skills assessment"), with a reflection on the criteria results and one correction for the next jump.

One fault, one correction

Before the video, before anyone else speaks: name the single thing that went wrong, and the single thing you will do differently next jump. One of each. A list of six is a list you will not fly.

Write them into your notes at the bottom of this card, and they will be here next time you open it.

Record this jump

Most records are the flyer's own, and that is the point: your own read of your own flying is worth keeping. A record only counts as verified once a coach signs it.

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 101 unit carries the reasoning, the sources and everything left off here. All briefing cards.