To become a good freeflyer one must attain understanding and physical awareness of body-aerodynamics. To achieve this unique knowledge it is important to have a safe and effective learning environment. Having a flight progression creates just that. Learning a set of basic skills which can be built upon is key to a productive learning environment.

With Freeflying becoming more popular due to wind-tunnels and more understanding of body-aerodynamics, many skydivers rush immediately to sit-fly and head-down right after they graduate AFF. This causes them to miss out on a lot of important basics such as belly and back-fly, which is vital for any body-pilot. Almost all freefly transitions pass through the belly and back-fly positions. With so many jumpers neglecting this fact, they will have to re-learn basic principals to progress any further with their body-flight skills.

Once the four neutral positions (belly, back, sit, head down) have been cultivated, one can fly through all dimensional axes of the body. Upon further refinement it is possible to fly around other axis’s unseen, such as around other flyers.

Belly
 

Flying on your belly is the most basic and important position to learn. You don’t have to join a FS team, but possessing the skills necessary to be on one can’t hurt.

Belly Progression:

• Body position
• Fall rate control
• Horizontal movement (forwards, backwards and sideways)
• Turning
• Correct exit technique
• Docking
• Super positional moves (2 directions at once)
• Tracking

The advantages of being a good belly flyer are that you become familiar with basic skills that will carry over to other positions.

Tracking
 

Tracking is another basic skill that can be built upon. It is especially important when you jump with bigger groups.

Tracking progression:

• Body position
• Tracking on exit
• Heading control
• Fall rate control
• Speed control
• Break off procedures

You will find that you will be able to change the pitch of your track, which opens up a new range of flight.

Back Flying
 

Back-flying is the first big step towards Freeflying. This position offers a new set of challenges and needs to be learned well before moving on to sit-fly. In fact, back and sit-fly are very similar in some of the movements that it doesn’t hurt to spend some extra time on it.

Back-fly progression:

• Body position
• Heading control
• Fall rate control
• Turns
• Horizontal movement (forwards, backwards and sideways)
• Barrel rolls from belly flying to back flying and back again
• Correct exit technique

The advantage of back-fly is that it offers a huge range of fall rate. It is possible to fly with belly flyers, as well as people that are on their heads. This makes this position a great “safety position”. If you ever find yourself becoming unstable while Freeflying, go to your back! It will allow you to maintain a fast fall rate and prevent you from colliding with other jumpers.

Back Tracking
 

Back tracking is another important basic to become proficient at. When traveling at higher speeds, such as sit-fly and head down, it is key to have a smooth transition to your track. Going immediately from a sit to a belly track is not a good idea when flying with others. Use the wide range in fall rate that back-fly offers and transition to a back-track. Once you have gained some separation between the flyers in your group, it is ok to then transition to your belly.

Things you should learn:

• Back tracking exit
• Heading control
• Fall rate control
• Speed control
• Break off procedures (different on tracking dives)
• Transitions (back to belly/belly to back)

An added benefit that back-tracking offers is that you gain more awareness of your surroundings, especially at pull-time.

Sit Flying
 

If you have established a solid back-fly foundation, sit-fly is the next position in the progression. In my opinion this is the most difficult body position to get truly good at. Because of its awkward aerodynamics (both legs pointed down) and counter intuitive movements, spend lots of time on this one.

Sit-fly progression:

• Body position
• Heading control
• Fall rate control
• Horizontal movement (forwards, backwards and sideways)
• Turns
• Transitions (cartwheels, front loops, back loops)
• Docks
• Correct exit technique
• Break off procedures

Sit-fly is a vertical flying position which brings along with it higher wind speeds, power, and a smaller margin for error. Keep your movements small and study their effects. Go to your back if you become unstable!

Head down
 

Becoming proficient at Head-down will open a huge range in your body-flight. Your transitions will become smoother and more precise. This body position, just like sit-fly has high air speeds, and must be learned well before jumping with others. In my opinion head-down has much more power than sit-fly because of its more aerodynamic shape.

Head-down progression:

• Body position
• Correct exit technique
• Heading control
• Fall rate control
• Turns
• Horizontal movement (forwards, backwards and sideways)
• Transitions (front loop, back loop, cartwheel)
• Docks
• Correct break off procedures

When practicing head-down make sure that you are facing perpendicular to the line of flight due to the vast distances this position can cover in a short time.