Helicopter Turn and Modified Flutter: Precision Kicks

The frog kick gets you places. These two kicks are about precision: turning on the spot and moving gently where any bigger movement would cloud the water or touch something.

They're part of UTD's five foundation kicks, along with the frog kick, the modified frog and the back kick.

What is the helicopter turn?

The helicopter turn rotates you around your own center, like a helicopter turning on its rotor, without moving forward, backward, up or down.

You stay horizontal and neutral, knees bent and fins up. Then you use small, opposing fin movements: one fin pushes water in one direction while the other pushes the opposite way. The two forces cancel out except for the rotation, so you pivot in place. Your instructor will show you the exact movement, which draws on the same ankle control as the back kick.

Use it to:

• Turn to face your team, especially to check on them or answer a signal.
• Turn toward the exit or a new direction without swimming a circle.
• Reposition for a photo, a skill or a gas share.

Essentials of Tech requires the helicopter turn alongside the back kick, because technical diving demands precise positioning without hands.

What is the modified flutter?

The modified flutter is a compact version of the flutter kick. Your knees stay bent and your fins stay high, and the movement comes mostly from your lower legs and ankles in short strokes. Your thighs barely move.

Use it when:

• The space is very tight, like a swim-through or close to a wall.
• The bottom is very fine silt and even a small frog kick would disturb it.
• You need to move a short distance forward with almost no disturbance.

Any kick can stir silt if the thrust points at the bottom. The modified flutter keeps the thrust behind you and the fins well clear of the bottom.

How do you practice them?

Helicopter turn:

1. Hover over sand at a comfortable depth, horizontal and still.
2. Make small, slow opposing movements with your fins and turn a quarter turn. Stop and hold.
3. Turn back the other way. Build up to a full turn in each direction.
4. Watch for drift: pick a point on the bottom below you and stay over it.

Modified flutter:

1. Hover over sand, knees bent and fins up.
2. Make small strokes from the knees and ankles, keeping your thighs still.
3. Move a few feet forward and stop. Look back: the sand behind you should be undisturbed.

Video from above shows drift in a helicopter turn better than anything else. Video from the side shows whether your fins stay high in a modified flutter.

Common mistakes

• Dropping the knees. The fins sink and push water at the bottom.
• Using too much force. These are small, slow kicks. Bigger strokes move you off your spot.
• Turning with your hands. It works, but it's a crutch. Keep your hands still.
• Losing trim. Both kicks depend on staying horizontal. See Horizontal Trim.

Beyond the five

UTD's wider propulsion material describes seven movements: the frog, modified frog, modified flutter, shuffle, back kick, helicopter turn and sideways kick. The shuffle and sideways kick add more control in tight spaces and for moving sideways.

Learn them with feedback

Our Propulsion and Back Kick Extension focuses on non-silting propulsion and positioning kicks while holding buoyancy and trim. For all five foundation kicks, see Scuba Finning Techniques, and for the hardest of them, How to Back Kick.