skyguyscott

FWIW, on large DZs with many different groups on one load, I like a crosswind jump run. The advantage of a crosswind jump run, assuming it is made along a line (or a curve, if you prefer) upwind of the target at a distance appropriate to the prevailing winds, gives every group a separate, clean vector back to the target, and each group's distance to the target is more equal relative to winds and exit point. Crosswind jump runs make it less likely groups will be tracking back to the DZ over or under each other. Now, if you are jumping a 182, or if everyone on the load is in the same group, you can fly a more traditional upwind jump run like normal.

If her 9 jumps are fairly recent, and the distance difference between the two DZs is only and hour or so, I would be reluctant to train her on the new system. I might be sightly less reluctant if the new system she was learning on were to end up being the same system she will use once she has her own gear. If it has been a year or longer since her last jumps or last training, I might not worry as much about transitioning so long as she gets a couple hours of training and practice drills on the new system -- enough training and practice to flush out the old way.

The AAD was an original Cypress. I want to stress that I think the AAD functioned as it was designed to. Just one of those examples of how sometimes "safety" devices can, in certain situations, contribute to a situation rather than prevent them.

Some good discussion, but I want to address the key piece of equipment here that is at the heart of the issue, the jumper's brain. We can debate which EP system, SOS 2-handle or Universal is best for FJS, but that really misses the key question here, which is, how can we ensure someone with limited experience will remember which system she is wearing during the high-stress, sensory-overloaded moment of a malfunction? Most of the DZ's I have taught at for the past decades used SOS systems, but forbade student to jump them once they moved to 2-handle systems for reasons I hope are obvious. It takes some time to learn something, even more time to unlearn something and replace it with something else. Later she will have to unlearn the new learning and relearn the old learning and we all hope she remembers which learning to follow when she has a malfunction. If she was your mother, wife, gf, or sister, what would you recommend she do?

FWIW, Over the last 25 years in the sport, I have now had 3 two-out jumps; here is my own experience. The first time I was doing CRW with a buddy of mine, we had entered a two-man downplane on purpose -- we were young then and took it low, I'd say we broke at 500' or so. When we let go, his foot brushed enough on my reserve cable to fire it. I felt the reserve come off my back. My first instinct was to immediately cut-way, because, in my first jump course, that is what I had been instructed to do (however, in those days, FJS were given round reserves). I hesitated to cut away because I looked for my reserve but could not see it. Unbeknownst to me at the moment, because of the way sub-terminal speed, the reserve fell below me, and the free bag was slowly twisting underneath. When it finally got pulled off, my reserve started to inflate and I entered my own downplane just before I impacted in a muddy cornfield. From break-off to impact was maybe 7 seconds total time. Had I cutaway my main immediately, its likely my reserve may not have had time to inflate. As it was, I suffered a spiral fracture of one of my vertebrae and a nasty sprained ankle, but being young, I healed quickly and was back jumping four weeks later. That was with a Cruslite main and a Raven II reserve, for you old-timers. Years later, my second time, I had a hard, low pull (never tell a crazy buddy you will get his opening on video), and here is the interesting thing, my AAD fired (above it's set firing time, due to the fact that when my main opened about 1700' or so, as I swung under, my ADD immediately swung out of my burble and felt a dramatic increase in pressure. I did not feel it fire. I was flying under my main (a Stiletto) and trailing my reserve pilot chute. It was only when I did a 90 turn that it caught enough air to pull the freebag out of the tray. The next thing I knew, I felt a tug and looked up at a bi-plane. Now, at this point, none of these studies had been done yet and no one knew exactly what to do. I briefly tried to gestimate what might happen with what was then a radically new high performance main and a more traditional reserve, when, with my previous experience coming to mind, decided to fall back on my first jump training and I chopped the main. Luckily, (and I was) it cleared without incident and I landed my reserve. The lesson here is that people do tend to fall back on their last level of training rather than figure out something on the spot. The last 2-out adventure, a tandem student pulled the reserve handle on me during main deployment. I knew immediately this could be very, very bad. Luckily, as my reserve and main started off going into a nice side-by, I chopped it and all ended well. What we tell FJS stays with them for many years later. I have been more lucky than smart, and worn out my guardian angels by now. There may come a time when you are in a situation, follow the recommended procedures correctly, and still have a bad day. There are no guarantees in this sport, or in life for that matter. But these are the best recommendations we have, and by trial and experience found them the most effective in most situations. And no one yet knows the best thing to do in a complete entanglement, so we don't teach it in the FJC. Trust your training, get enough experience to trust your judgement and recognize stupidity, then avoid it. That and some luck just might be enough to keep you free in the skies and whole on the ground, rather than food for the flies and a hole in the ground.