Head-Down 401 — Organise head-down big-ways

Application

Covers the organiser’s craft on a head-down big-way:

• Sizing the group, slotting people to jobs, briefing the jump, and designing the breakoff. The participants fly their slots (base FFP-HD304, floats FFP-HD302, divers FFP-HD303).
• The organiser builds the plan they fly and owns the breakoff architecture. Formation shape engineering (base shape, build order, wacker lines) is FFP-HD403.
• Multiple-aircraft loads are FFP-HD402. Assumes the organiser has flown base, float and diver slots and holds the relevant credentials. Sky only for the jumps.
• The design work is done on the ground.

Pre-requisite units

FFP-HD302, FFP-HD303 and FFP-HD304 (float, diver and base slots, the organiser must have flown what they are asking others to fly). RPL route: a record of organising head-down big-ways plus one organised jump assessed against this card’s criteria.

The breakoff architecture

On a big-way the staged breakoff altitudes carry the separation load, not the raw fan angle. Designing that is the organiser’s central safety job.

The fan-out gives roughly 30° of radial separation per jumper, so a 12-way breakoff across the full 360° is comparable in angular terms to a 6-way angle breakoff across 180°. This is a group-size heuristic, not a promise of equal metres.

Angle flyers carry horizontal velocity into breakoff, so adjacent radials diverge at once; head-down flyers start from near-zero and must build the track that opens the gap, so the same 30° buys far fewer metres in the first seconds. What actually guarantees separation is the staged altitudes and the per-wave slow-down margin.

Single-stage (guide): 5,500 ft for a freefly group of 5-way or larger, 5,000 ft up to a 4-way. Most modern jumpers use 5,500 ft for any freefly group and will not accept 4,500 ft.

Standard two-stage split, the default above a 12-way, and the sensible default above a 10-way for newer groups:

Copy this table by default. The base break of 5,500 ft matches the 5-way-plus single-stage guide. A floor-compliant variant for highly experienced groups at the organiser’s discretion runs each wave at the bare 1,000 ft minimum with no margin (stingers 6,000/5,000 ft, base 5,000/4,000 ft), a divergence for the small expert case only, where the stingers do not need the base’s full pause sequence.

When in doubt, use the 1,500 ft split and go higher, not lower. Verify every wave banks at least 1,000 ft between breakoff and deployment.

The fan versus jump run. A full 360° fan necessarily assigns some radials up or down jump run, which collides with the stay-off-the-line rule. Brief the shading convention: a flyer whose radial falls within about 30° of jump run shades their track away from the line; the neighbour on the safe side holds their radial; the two accept a compressed gap between them.

A tighter gap between two co-operating jumpers beats a hot track straight up jump run into another group’s column. The fan is intentionally bunched cross-jump-run and thinned along the line; who shades and who holds is agreed in the dirt-dive.

The fan-out arc buys separation only if each flyer arrives inside their canopy’s deployment envelope: a track still fast and steep at the pitch is a hard-opening risk, so brief the decelerate-before-deploy step alongside the radials, see the deployment-envelope case in FFP-HD201.

Slotting people to jobs

Match the flyer to the slot. The heaviest flyers go on the floats of a fast base (mass helps them speed-match) and Front Float anchors the base out the door (mass stops over-rotation), the same heaviest flyer cannot do both on a small jump, so decide per jump which role their mass serves best and staff the other with the next-best flyer. Lighter, nimbler flyers dive (stopping range) and exit the confined stack.

Set the entry criteria for the group (currency, credentials, demonstrated slot competence) and the jump’s size against the flyers you have.

Elements and performance criteria

1. Size and slot

1.1

Set the group size against the flyers' experience, currency and the conditions.

1.2

Assign each flyer to base, float or diver by weight, build and demonstrated competence, resolving the heaviest-flyer trade-off consciously.

1.3

Confirm every participant's credentials and currency against the entry criteria and the local jurisdiction's gates (e.g. Star Crest above a 10-way).

1.4

Set the exit stack order (base grips, staggered divers, floats stacked outside) and the staged float drop-off timing.

2. Design the breakoff

2.1

Choose single-stage or two-stage against the group size, verifying at least 1,000 ft banked per wave.

2.2

Assign each flyer a breakoff wave, altitude, radial and deployment altitude giving about 30° of radial separation.

2.3

Assign shade and hold for radials within about 30° of jump run.

2.4

Coordinate exit separation with the loadmaster in both directions (a long stack needs more room from the group ahead; the group behind needs room for large drift and up-jump-run breakoffs).

3. Brief

3.1

Brief the dive, the slots, the exit and the approach lanes so each flyer can state their own job back.

3.2

Brief the breakoff, waves, altitudes, radials, shade/hold assignments, and confirm each flyer sets their audible to their own wave.

3.3

Run the mock-up and at least two full dirt-dives including the breakoff.

3.4

Brief the abort and lost-formation plans, and confirm the group's understanding of the overfloating and late-diver rules.

4. Run the jump

4.1

Key the exit and lead as briefed.

4.2

Monitor the build and traffic, holding the plan rather than forcing a formation that is not building.

4.3

Initiate the breakoff on the base wave at the briefed altitude regardless of formation completeness.

5. Debrief

5.1

Run a video debrief that classifies approaches (clean / corrected / aborted) without blame.

5.2

Attribute failed approaches and any traffic conflict to a cause and a fix.

5.3

Record the jump and the plan, and set the group's next objective.

Bold criteria are safety-critical, strongly recommended must-meet standards within FFP courses, not regulations. A breakoff or credential error by the organiser risks the whole load, so a Not Yet Satisfactory on a bold criterion makes the unit Not Yet Competent.

Foundation skills

Building an engineering plan (slot weights, exit stack, breakoff waves) from the flyers available. Altitude and separation numeracy across the two-stage tables and per-wave margins. Briefing and leading a large group so every flyer holds their own job.

Performance evidence (suggested sufficiency — adjust locally)

A guide to how long organiser competence takes, not a gate. A record of organising head-down big-ways of a range of sizes, including some above a 10-way and some flown to a two-stage breakoff, across at least two events or days, with consecutive jumps run and broken off to plan. Organising is learned by doing it under an experienced organiser, then solo.

Knowledge evidence

• Design a breakoff plan for a nominated group size using the ~30° fan-out arc, and justify single-stage versus two-stage, verifying at least 1,000 ft banked per wave.
• Explain why staged altitudes, not the raw fan angle, carry the separation load (head-down flyers start from near-zero and must build the track).
• Explain the shade/hold convention for radials within about 30° of jump run, and why a compressed co-operating gap beats a hot track up jump run.
• Explain the slotting logic: heavy flyers on floats of a fast base and as the exit anchor (and the trade-off when they are the same person); light, nimble flyers dive.
• Explain why a big-way needs extra exit separation in both directions (long door stack; large drift and up-jump-run breakoffs).
• State the credential gates that apply locally (e.g. Australia: the head-down crest above a 3-way; Star Crest plus the applicable crest above a 10-way).

Assessment conditions

Assessed on real organised head-down big-way jumps of a recommended 6-way minimum with some evidence at 10-way or larger; the design work is assessed on the ground and the breakoff in the air. Video: outside footage is the most valuable organiser debrief tool. Assessor: an experienced head-down big-way organiser or freefly coach current in the discipline, using the published FFP-HD401 checklist.

Each criterion Satisfactory / Not Yet Satisfactory; unit Competent / Not Yet Competent, recorded as a milestone.

Coaching priorities

Deliver in the project’s priority order: Safety → Fun → Learning (curriculum Part A0). The organiser owns the load’s safety, the breakoff design and the credential check are non-compensable, and the plan holds regardless of whether the formation builds. Debriefs run without blame and end on a win with one focus for the next jump.

RPL evidence set

For experienced organisers the organising is the evidence. A record of organised head-down big-ways with the breakoff plans used; video showing clean builds and staged breakoffs to plan; a word from a recognised organiser or the drop-zone. One organised jump assessed against this checklist with the breakoff-design knowledge covered completes the picture.

Sources