Would you like to start flying with a team of quad line kitefliers soon? We suggest you learn team flying with the standard Jst-4-Fn. Over 90 team flying animations and numerous examples are available!
This content has been reviewed and validated by the co-creators of this standard, Roelof van der Tak and Marc van der Graaf. Thank you Roelof and Marc!
The Jst-4-Fn standard
The Jst-4-Fn standard provides essential foundations for any kiteflier who wants to fly in a team, whatever their level and wherever in the world they fly. Thanks to simple, shared conventions, you can join a team on the field and fly together quickly: 2, 10, 30 pilots, or even more.
It becomes easy to improvise a team with the kitefliers present, have fun quickly, and even offer a demo to the public.
The vocabulary of these maneuvers is well known in Europe, especially in Germany and the Netherlands.
The Jst-4-Fn standard has been carried voluntarily by several experienced pilots for over 10 years. It is not affiliated with any official organization, which helps free sharing and practical adoption on the field.
Where to start?
- Discover the basics of the standard to understand the key references.
- Explore the maneuver summary, organized by difficulty level.
- See real examples (animations and team videos).
We integrated the original Jst-4-Fn manual and enriched it with more than 80 practical maneuvers from community feedback and field experimentation.
You can also download the original manual in PDF format:
You will notice that leader calls are in English. This makes it easier to form international teams during festivals and gatherings (Berck, Dieppe, Brouwersdam, Marseille, etc.). We also provide French translations of the calls to support learning and vocabulary adoption.
Discover maneuvers in 4 levels
Pick your current level. You can come back later and move up one step at a time.
Basics
Team references, rules, essential calls, and simple maneuvers to fly safely together.
Intermediate
Core field maneuvers we use very often: quick to understand and central to regular team flying.
Advanced
More technical maneuvers that often require retries, corrections, and calm execution when things tangle.
Very advanced
The most demanding and rare maneuvers. Best for teams that are already very stable together.
Examples of team flying
Want to see what it looks like in real conditions? We grouped routines and team videos to help you read rhythm, positions, and global team flow.
Animated routines
Illustrated routines to learn sequencing and anticipate team movements.
Team videos (4, 8, …)
Filmed examples to observe spacing, alignment, and coordination in real flying sessions.
Detailed summary of the 4 levels
The basics
We suggest you take a look at the basics:
- Introduction: objectives, when and where to fly, skills required…
- Gear: the kite, lines, handles and their settings, tips…
- Basic team rules: the leader, numbering, odd/even, grid, problems…
- A basic set of orders
- Basic maneuvers
- Up / left / down / right
- Face up / left / down / right
- Face in / out
- Turn up / down
- Turn out
- Left / right turn up /down
- Forward / Reverse / Fly
- 180 up / down / clock / anti-clock
- 180 left & right
- 180 out / in
- Slide up / left / down / right
- Slide out / in
- Follow & stop
- Tip landing & 2 tip landing
- Big foot
- Odd / even
- Training instructions: 1st exercise, 2nd exercise
- Instructions for large teams
Intermediate maneuvers
Intermediate maneuvers are maneuvers we regularly perform as a team:
- Take-offs
- Landings
- In-flight maneuvers
- Ball
- Inside ball
- Fast burst, slow burst & slow burst 2 steps
- Left / right tip in
- Split position
- Pair change
- Change
- Transfer from top / bottom
- Diamonds
- Split diamonds
- Zip out / in
- Zip out, in line
- Radar
- Split radar
- In grid
- Position change
- Roll up / down
- Pinwheel Position
- Pinwheel
- Snake & slide out
- Snake & rolls
- San Diego slide
- Texas slide
Advanced maneuvers
Advanced maneuvers are those that are more difficult to master:
- Passing through
- Cascade
- Cascade complete
- Split ball
- 2 columns
- Split burst
- Pair change in ball
- Change 90 in ball
- Transfer in ball
- Pinwheel corner
- Steps
- Take down / in
Very advanced maneuvers
Very advanced maneuvers are the most difficult to master and are rarer on the flying field:
- U-turn
- Double U-turn
- Crazy change
- Crazy move up / down
- Crazy cascade
- Crazy U-turn
- Crazy Double U-turn
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