One Last Time -- Pregnant Woman Dies


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A pregnant Base jumper has died in what she had pledged would be her final leap before retiring.

Wioletta Roslan, of Sweden, had said she would give up the high-risk sport after falling pregnant, but decided to make one last jump near Stechelberg, Switzerland, which ended in tragedy.

The 37-year-old adrenaline junkie was four months pregnant when she died after her parachute failed to open during a Base (Buildings, Antennas, Spans and Earth) jump last weekend.

Her boyfriend Aleksander Domalewski jumped alongside her and could do nothing but watch as she realised her parachute wouldn?t open and spread her arms awaiting the impact of the 990ft drop.

The Via Ferrata cliff was Miss Roslan?s favourite spot for Base jumping and she had been there many times before with her partner.

She was experienced in extreme sports after taking up skydiving as a 19-year-old in Malmo, Sweden.

Her mother Halina Zaniewska-Pettersson, 68, said: ?I was always terrified every time I knew that she was doing the sport again and I kept expecting the worst.

'When she said that she was going to do one last jump while pregnant I begged her not to go.'

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If I had to guess he pulled his and she pulled hers, his went up, hers didn't and she already gained on him before he had a chance to react. I don't know I have never sky dived so maybe you have more time then that. Just seems like a really quick situation to be put in.

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Wow, that sucks. To be her boyfriend jumping with her and just be powerless must have been an awful awful feeling as well.

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Usually when jumping in pairs you stick close together in case a chute fails to deploy. I wonder why they weren't doing this...

This. That is one of the cardinal rules of any kind of jumping, go in pairs and try to stay close.

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This. That is one of the cardinal rules of any kind of jumping, go in pairs and try to stay close.

The other cardinal rule (for base jumping at least) is make sure a professional rigger has packed your secondary chute just prior to the jump, and that you have a proper tool for jettisoning the primary chute in case of a failure. If you've taken these precautions the odds for a chute failure ending in death should be about 1,000,000:1

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This. That is one of the cardinal rules of any kind of jumping, go in pairs and try to stay close.

It was a base jump, there was no time to do anything but watch her drop to her death, that's why base jumpers don't use emergency chutes, too low to react, they jumped lower than the auto release is set to to safely save a person in a regular jump which is 1500 - 1000 ft.

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It was a base jump, there was no time to do anything but watch her drop to her death, that's why base jumpers don't use emergency chutes, too low to react, they jumped lower than the auto release is set to to safely save a person in a regular jump which is 1500 - 1000 ft.

Even in that case if the chute fails to deploy you can usually get a smaller secondary chute to deploy (if you have the proper rigging) in time to at least slow you down enough to have a shot at survival.

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The other cardinal rule (for base jumping at least) is make sure a professional rigger has packed your secondary chute just prior to the jump, and that you have a proper tool for jettisoning the primary chute in case of a failure. If you've taken these precautions the odds for a chute failure ending in death should be about 1,000,000:1

I've never seen a base jumper use a secondary or emergency chute, and usually base jumpers self release their chutes because of the lower heights involved

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Usually when jumping in pairs you stick close together in case a chute fails to deploy. I wonder why they weren't doing this...

actually, you seperate when deploying your chute...to avoid a chance of them getting tangled. (psst!...if one deploys and the other fails..the seperation is to great to 'just reach out and grab someone') expecially during a 900' base jump...even a properly pack chute takes about 200' to fully deploy. A reserve chute @900' would not have saved her. I've done my share of HALO and HAHO jumps.

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Even in that case if the chute fails to deploy you can usually get a smaller secondary chute to deploy (if you have the proper rigging) in time to at least slow you down enough to have a shot at survival.

I'm a base jumper.

First off, jumping in pairs and staying close together? what? where do you get that idea? That would make it more dangerous.

And when we basejump we don't take a reserve. There's generally not enough time to deploy a reserve, by the time you have jettisoned the main and pulled the reserve you would already have hit the ground. Even the main chute is rigged different for a fast opening. For example for low altitude jumps (like base jumps) there is no slider.

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Even in that case if the chute fails to deploy you can usually get a smaller secondary chute to deploy (if you have the proper rigging) in time to at least slow you down enough to have a shot at survival.

Base jumpers very rarely if ever use a secondary chute, they just don;t the time to pull it.

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I'm a base jumper.

First off, jumping in pairs and staying close together? what? where do you get that idea? That would make it more dangerous.

And when we basejump we don't take a reserve. There's generally not enough time to deploy a reserve, by the time you have jettisoned the main and pulled the reserve you would already have hit the ground. Even the main chute is rigged different for a fast opening. For example for low altitude jumps (like base jumps) there is no slider.

I?m not a base jumper but I think many people here are confusing it with sky diving I know jumpers normally work in pairs for safety but I think people are assuming this means a tandem base jump. Hence the secondary shoots etc. No time in base since guys it?s not out of a plane literally not enough time. However I would question the wisdom of doing any sport whilst pregnant.

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I?m not a base jumper but I think many people here are confusing it with sky diving I know jumpers normally work in pairs for safety but I think people are assuming this means a tandem base jump. Hence the secondary shoots etc. No time in base since guys it?s not out of a plane literally not enough time. However I would question the wisdom of doing any sport whilst pregnant.

we don't work in pairs in skydiving too ;), we might jump in pairs (or more) but a few 100 meters before pulling your pilote chute you separate. Staying close is very dangerous and reserved for instructors and their students. So there is no staying in pairs safety rule in either skydiving or basejumping.

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sounds like she (and him) are the type to accept these risks, dying sucks but at least you died doing something you loved doing, too young too soon though.

^^ This.

They all know the risks, hell it's what makes it fun in the first place. It is sad though.

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