Initially as a new belly flyer, you will be provided assistance when entering and exiting the flight chamber. As you progress your ability on your belly, learning to be able to enter and exit the tunnel with no hands-on assistance from your instructor will be key. Here you will learn what steps are necessary to execute smooth and controlled entrances and exits.

The belly-flying neutral body position is the first position you’ll learn as your introduction into the world of body flying. The primary objective is to be able to safely and successfully demonstrate a neutral belly-fly position, while staying in the center of tunnel. You’ll need to be comfortable in this position before you learn how to maneuver yourself around the tunnel (learning to turn left and right, and flying up and down).

Belly flying forward a backward movement is a skill that for primary control inside the flight chamber will be an essential tool. Understanding how to control forward and backward movements will help you to maintain a more central place inside the tunnel which ultimately will help you while learning other skills.

Turning is an integral part of your belly flying skill and being able to comfortably do so will allow you to control and maintain specific pre-determined headings and also will allow you to make specific moves while flying with a partner to build set formations.

Fall rate control, or up and down moves are used in many areas of belly flying; when flying with a partner and maintaining the same flight level, performing specific moves during 2 way flight such a verticals and much more. 

Belly flying side slides will complete the basics of the "8 points of movement", as with other belly flying skills will be an integral part of making you a well rounded belly flyer. By now you will be familiar using your upper and lower body together for specific movements and side sliding will utilize those same concepts.

Initially as a new belly flyer, you will be provided assistance when entering the flight chamber. As you progress your ability on your belly, learning to be able to enter the tunnel with no hands on from your instructor will be key. Here you will learn what steps are necessary to execute a smooth and controlled entrance.

Similar to entering the flight chamber, during the early stages of your flight progression, the tunnel instructor will assist you for your exit to ensure that it is performed correctly. As your flight time increases along with your comfort level, learning how to exit solo will be a natural part of the progression. Completing these exercies will ensure that you are able to exit the tunnel safely and efficiently each time.

Flyers will need to demonstrate proficient half barrel roll transitions between belly and back flying orientations. Being comfortable both flying on your belly and your back will be important so that after completing the transitions, you are stationed in a comfortable position.

To tie in with the other transitions between back and belly flying, over the feet transitions use a different set of skills than half barrel roll moves. A flyer will need to demonstrate controlled transitions over the feet between belly and back flying orientations.

Now that you are moving on to learning free flying skills, the neutral back flying position is the first step in that progression. This position is key for a safe free flight progression. Ensuring that ample time is provided to master this skill will ultimately set a solid foundation for your successful progression.

As part of mastering the basics of back flying, understanding and being controlled while turning is a key element. You will use this skill every time you are back flying in order to maintain a heading and to control turns and maneuver yourself when flying with a partner. The techniques described here will outline what is necessary to be successful at turning on your back.

The back fly forward and backward movements are essential skills to learn and understand in order to be able to demonstrate control. These key skills will be used at all times when back flying to ensure that you are able to remain in the correct place inside the flight chamber.

Learning the back flying up and down (fall rate) movements will provide you with the ability to adjust the altitude you are flying at and allow you to control this especially when flying with another flyer. Being comfortable at gaining altitude in the tunnel on your back will also help lead you in to other trick moves during your flight progression.

The back fly side sliding skill is the last skill as part of the 8 points of motion for the back fly orientation. Completing this skill will conclude the basic movements that you will need to progress to more advanced back flying skills. Although this is the more difficult of the basic individual moves, it may take a few flight rotations to begin to feel comfortable with the side sliding move. Following the IBA flight techniques described here will assist you in being successful with this maneuver.

During your Back Flying progression, it is possible that you will also learn how to enter and exit the flight chamber. Similar to belly flying, at the beginning there will be much hands on assistance from the tunnel instructor with the ultimate goal to have you perform the skills more or less solo. Being able to control yourself throughout the entire entrance and exit process will be key especially when you begin competing in 2 way VFS competitions as they require use of these skills.

Knee flying is a skill that will be vital in your success in learning transitions over the feet and also for learning low speed head up out face carving. Mastering how to balance this position will be the foundation for some of the more advanced skills. 

Flyers must be able to demonstrate a neutral knee flying position beginning on or low to the net at low wind speeds and gradually increase to flying higher. In most cases, a flyer will perform this skill transitioning from and then returning to a belly flying orientation. This is a great skill to know when learning transitions.

There are many scenarios that would deem it necessary to learn this unique skill, most notably, if you are or are planning on being a belly fly coach, understanding this skill will be a great asset for your ability to work with your students, also as a new free flyer this skill is most often used to set yourself up inside the flight chamber to begin certain moves.

The first horizontal orientation transition that you will learn is an easy switch from the Belly Fly to Back Fly position. Being comfortable both flying on your belly and your back will be important so that after completing the transition, you are stationed in a comfortable position.

The second half to the belly to back barrel roll transition, which will ultimately place you on to your belly so that the barrel roll cycle will start again. These transitions are somewhat simple maneuvers that in order to master perfectly require a specific set of inputs at the right time to execute correctly. 

To tie in with the other transitions from your back to your belly and vice versa, the Belly to Back transition uses a different set of skills than the barrel roll moves. While the flips are slightly more challenging than the barrel rolls, this skill will help you understand the correct use of the airflow on your body, an important aspect of learning to Free Fly.

To tie in with the other transitions from your back to your belly and vice versa, the Back to Belly transition uses a different set of skills than the barrel roll moves and is slightly more challenging. It utilizes body movements important to Free Flying and will help you understand the correct use of the airflow on your body. 

As you progress from flying all of the Back Fly Level 2 skills to beginning the IBA Static Progression path, you will first need to demonstrate control of all back flying and walking skills at higher wind speeds. This speed increase comparable to the speeds you will learn to sit fly will change how you fly each of the required skills to maintain control. Learning vertical orientations will require flyers be very comfortable bailing to a safe flight position that is controllable at higher wind speeds. 

The back to head up transition is a move that you will likely learn as part of your head up flight training. It is an important skill to master as it is consistently used when trying to master balancing the head up position. This transition will also be utilized when you need to move from a back fly position to your feet to begin walking.

The first skill to learning the “head up” flying orientation. Neutral Head Up will be the first major step to your free flying progression and the  start to learning all of the flight “tricks”. This naturally unstable position may take some time to master but will certainly feel like a highlight in your progression once you have it conquered.

Similar to the forward and backward movements, a basic knowledge of this skill will be understood as you progress through the neutral head up flying position. You will learn to control your upper and lower body to create balanced turns, starting and stopping on specific headings, and understanding how to control your extremities to generate the necessary power to rotate.

Once you can control a neutral, stable head up position, you will understand the basics of how your body, while in the vertical orientation, can be affected with slight body pitch changes. This will mean that controlling forward and backward movement is not unusual at this stage. Learning to balance these inputs to demonstrate controlled and defined forward and backward movements, is described in this technique.

You will have had some exposure to the feeling of lift and understanding how to manage your position to create lift when you were learning the neutral head up position. At slower wind speeds, you were increasing surface area to get the necessary lift off the net. Now it is time to fly at higher wind speeds to learn how to use the same inputs to gain altitude and how to descend, moving to pre-determined altitudes and remaining in control.

Head up side slide is a skill in itself that will be used in conjunction with other head up flying skills especially for moving around other flyers and positioning yourself within a group. Unlike the other basic head up flying moves, it is unlikely that you will have learned the basics of this skill during your progression. However, with having control of the other movements such as turns and upward and downward movement, side slides will be a straight-forward skill to learn. The techniques outlined here will help to identify the specific areas of focus in order to create smooth side slides.

Flyers must be able to complete all the individual Level 3 static moves which also include being proficient at a head up front flip transition. This maneuver is the primary head up transition flyers will learn. 

Flying Head Down is another new flight adventure. It is an orientation that will require a completely new skill set, but also relies on all of the skills you have learned leading up to it - Belly, Back, and Sit flying. The beginning of your progression is highlighted here along with the lesson plans which will outline the first few necessary steps to begin learning to safely fly Head Down.

As part of learning the neutral head down body position,you will be briefed on and execute this "bailing" maneuver each time you end head down flight. From your first exposure to being on the net head down being assisted by the tunnel instructor and on through learning un-supported head down flight. This skill is a necessity to safe progression of the head down progression, the techniques decribed here will provide you the specific information to understanding how to complete this move successfully.

As you begin the Head Down flight progression, there are many skills that you will incorporate that you have already had exposure to in earlier training. The Up and Down movement being one of those, as you have already worked on adjusting your fall rate in Belly, Back, and Sit Flying orientations. Being able to control your fall rate will ultimately broaden your range as a flyer especially when flying with others.

As you begin the Head Down flight progression, there are many skills that you will incorporate that you have already had exposure to in earlier training. Turning being one of those skills, as you have already worked on how to balance while in the neutral position. Being able to control your heading will be the initial means of learning this skill. You will begin to understand how your body position and movements affect flight, to the point you can control your movement so as not to turn, and then make mindful inputs to generate a direction change and stop.

As you begin the Head Down flight progression, there are many skills that you have exposure to during the basic position training in Belly, Back, and Sit Flying. Forward and Backward Movement being one of those, you have the basic understanding of these movements as part of balancing your neutral position. Being able to control any movements in order to stay still will be your primary means of learning this skill and then moving on to specific Forward and Backward movements to designated places inside the tunnel.

The head up to head down front flip is likely the first transition that you will learn when wishing to move from orientation to the other. It should be the most natural transition to learn,  mimicking the movement from learned during your head down training, where you are forward transitioning your body to place your head on to the net, exposing wind to your front side. A front flip is usually the safer option when initially learning the transition to head down flight, so we recommend it as the first transition to master, in order to gain the awareness and ability to safely link head up to head down flying together.

The head up to head down back flip is likely the most common transition used by flyers that have mastered the stable and neutral head up and head down positions. The back flip style is the cleanest and most effective use of the body when transitioning from head up to head down flying, especially at higher wind speeds. Although you will learn this transition without changing your heading, it is more common for people who are comfortable flying this maneuver, to initiate a small turn away from the center, complete the back-flip to head down and then return to the original heading to build the planned formation. This allows you to keep a visual reference toward the other people you will be flying with. 

As one of the methods of returning to a head up flying position from a neutral head down stance, a head down to head up back-flip, the more tricky and less used transition is a maneuver that requires the skill and confidence to complete successfully. The techniques described here will assist in your understanding of how to complete this maneuver correctly, safely and successfully.

Once you have proved your flying ability as a multi-dimensional free-flyer, along with being comfortable with the Sit to Head and Head to Sit transitions, you can begin learning the Half Eagle skill. This will challenge your transition ability as the airflow will be disturbed by the other flyer, so the move will feel different. The Half Eagle is a moving transition and will challenge your overall ability to fly each of the vertical orientations. It is a fun skill to learn and master, leading to competition-type moves.

Progressing from the standard Half Eagle move, the Half Reverse Eagle has it’s own innate challenges. A more difficult move all around, it will test your ability to complete the transitions accurately, your awareness of timing with the other flyer, and your overall flying ability in each orientation.

The Full Eagle move takes all of the individual skills from the Half Eagle, placing them together as one skill. Ideally, during the learning phase of Half Eagles, you became comfortable with starting and stopping in each “slot”. The Full Eagle requires that you are completing each half of the maneuver as one complete skill. The techniques described here will help you learn how to effectively put these moves together to successfully complete a Full Eagle.

The Full Reverse Eagle move takes all of the individual skills from the Half Reverse Eagle move and places them together as one skill. Ideally during the learning phase of your Half Reverse Eagles, you became comfortable with starting and stopping in each “slot”, now you are completing each half of the maneuver as one complete skill. The techniques described here will help you learn how to effectively put these moves together to complete the Full Reverse Eagle move.

The full Barrel Roll maneuver incorporates the techniques mastered from learning the 1/2 barrel roll transitions. Combining the two skill sets will allow you to safely understand the correct control methods to performing the full barrel roll. This skill is an important step in your progression, especially if you wish to explore the Dynamic flight progression.

The front layout transition, the first real “flip” that you will learn and the first transition that travels “over your head”. You will learn how to adjust your body position and manage the airflow around your body in order to succecssfuly complete the transition while covering the the width of the tunnel. This maneuver will give you the first glimpse in to some slight disorientation which is something you will be come ultimately comfortable with as you progress.

A more advance transition that requires a comfort level that is higher than the front flip from your belly to your back. Due to it’s nature to want to drive as you transition, ensuring that you are prepared for this skill will be important. This skill although not a high rotation maneuver will be a key ingredient for your “trick” flying and is an important step for the dynamic progression.

Low speed head up is a mix of skills that pull from everything that you have learned as a competent belly flyer, combining them together carefully to create a balanced and smooth circular motion around the tunnel. For this skill to be considered complete, you will learn and become competent at carving, while belly flying / head up with your head and upper body close to the outer wall of the tunnel. These skills will be the core abilities that you will need for when you wish to begin dynamic flying at slightly higher wind speeds and learning head down carving moves.

Low speed head up is a mix of skills that pull from everything that you have learned as a competent back flyer, combining them together carefully to create a balanced and smooth circular motion around the tunnel. For this skill to be considered complete, you will learn and become competent at carving, while back flying / head up with your head and upper body close to the outer wall of the tunnel, facing the center of the tunnel. These skills will be the core abilities that you will need for when you wish to begin dynamic flying at slightly higher wind speeds and learning head down carving moves.

Low speed head down is a mix of skills that pull from everything that you have learned as a competent back flyer, combining them together carefully to create a balanced and smooth circular motion around the tunnel. For this skill to be considered complete, you will learn and become competent at carving, while back flying / head down with your head close to the center of the tunnel. These skills will be the core abilities that you will need for when you wish to begin dynamic flying at slightly higher wind speeds and learning head down carving moves.

Low speed head down is a mix of skills that pull from everything that you have learned as a competent belly flyer, combining them together carefully to create a balanced and smooth circular motion around the tunnel. For this skill to be considered complete, you will learn and become competent at carving, while belly flying / head down with your head close to the center of the tunnel. These skills will be the core abilities that you will need for when you wish to begin dynamic flying at slightly higher wind speeds and learning head down carving moves.

As you become more comfortable belly carving / out-face carving head up at low wind speeds, it will be at this point, you will increase the wind speed in order to develop a more vertical carving position. The fundementals of what you learn at low speed will mostly apply to this more vertical head up carve. With the wind speed being progressively higher, you will need to progress in to the vertical orientation in stages in order to understand how to control the steeper pitch and faster movements.

As you become more comfortable back carving / in face carving head up at low wind speeds, it will be at this point, you will increase the wind speed in order to develop a more vertical carving position. The fundementals of what you learn at low speed will mostly apply to this more vertical head up carve. With the wind speed being progressively higher, you will need to progress in to the vertical orientation in stages in order to understand how to control the steeper pitch and faster movements.

As you become more comfortable back carving at slow to moderate wind speeds, it will be at this point, you will increase the wind speed in order to develop a more vertical carving position. The fundementals of what you learn for the back carving maneuver will mostly apply to this more vertical head down carve. With the wind speed being progressively higher, you will need to progress in to the vertical orientation in stages in order to understand how to control the steeper pitch and faster movements.

As you become more comfortable belly carving at slow to moderate wind speeds, it will be at this point, you will increase the wind speed in order to develop a more vertical carving position. The fundementals of what you learn for the belly carving maneuver will mostly apply to this more vertical head down carve. With the wind speed being progressively higher, you will need to progress in to the vertical orientation in stages in order to understand how to control the steeper pitch and faster movements, along with gaining the correct visiual picture throughout the carve, learning to open your awareness to see around you.

This move simply acts as an efficient way to return to a head-down orientation as you end a back layout, whether it is to begin a subsequent layout, or enter, for example, an in-face or out-face carve, head-down. 

Belly and back flares are considered three-dimensional maneuvers. Using moving momentum and body adjustments to adjust levels typically while carving. These moves are essential skills for the dynamic progression.

Once you have mastered the individual head up carving movements, out-face and in-face going both left and right, it will next be necessary to learn how to combine the movements by switching between them without stopping.

You will learn how to control your torso in order to be able to swtich from facing one way to facing another and completing the "snake" move.

A head up breaker move is completed once a flyer can successfully complete a full rotation following a flare move and ending head up carving.

A full head down breaker is when a flyer can, from either a carve or layout, dive toward the center of the tunnel, facing the center throughout and perform a 540º barrel roll type maneuver and finish in a head down orientation, either to a carving movement and to a layout maneuver.

Once you can perform head down carves comfortably, you will utilize those skills with some additional instruction to learn how to carve from one direction to another direction or from one visual to another seamlessly.

Now that you have some experience flying with a partner, you may now begin to build some specific 2 way "formations". Using the 2 way dive pool, create a sequence of random and/or block moves, understanding that each random formation is considered 1 point and each block move is considered 2 points when completed successfully. Begin by putting together sequences of only 3 - 4 points total and then work your way up from there.

As part of increasing you overall belly flying ability and to build the skills necessary to be able to perform some of the moves that have been developed as part of the 2-way, 3-way and 4-way dive pools, super positioning is a key ingredient. You will use a multitude of the basic belly flying skills, merging them together to fly one smooth movement which will have you start and ending in different positions in the tunnel/formation, a complex but fun set of drills.

As you are mastering your 2 way flying skills, part of increasing your ability as a belly flyer will be learning vertical maneuvers. These "burble hopping" moves, will intially place you outside of your comfort zone, but will quickly through practice become a normal part of every day flying.

The 2 way entrances serve a purpose, to allow skydivers to imitate the exit portion of a real skydive and also for tunnel competitions to begin timing. They are fun yet challenging exercies which will encompass many facets of what you have already learned.

Upon completing a number of sequences from the 2 way dive pool, you will next begin to learn 3 way flying and 3 way formations. Adding an extra person to the air column will increase the difficulty in itself, reducing the amount of airspace available to each person will mean more accuracy is required to gain success. Early on, building some basic formations will help each flyer evaluate their ability to maintain the correct altitude and heading and will also build the additional awareness needed.

After you are a proficient 3-Way flyer, your next and final step in the formation skydiving progression is to learn and become proficient at 4-Way Flying. In order to be approved to fly with three other flyers, you will need to demonstrate that you are able to safely enter the flight chamber, maintain awareness of others around you while maintaining the appropriate altitude throughout your flights. 

You will need to be able to demonstrate that you can control your position inside the tunnel and build some basic formations that may be pulled from the random dive pool. Below is some information related to the dive pool to help guide you through what each formation may look like and using the video link also as an aid. It is not required that you know every move within the dive pool but those that wish to pursue 4-Way flying more seriously may elect to learn and fly each of the blocks and randoms.

Dive Pool

Note that the video playlist displays all FS formations, both Blocks and Randoms. After 1:31, all formations shown are Blocks and are not a part of the Random Dive Pool.

Looking at the table below, depending on the size of the tunnel determines what available Random formations are used when compiling a Draw selection.

Challenge Yourself! Use the IBA Draw Generator to randomly select a Draw then go fly it!