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quade

DB Cooper

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Previously, Cooper could have been imprisoned for armed robbery and found out about the 727 jump capability from a cell-mate. Someone who had actually done that stuff before in the military, and had plenty of time to tell him all about it, about how you'd need flaps down and to stay below 10k feet.

Afterward the FBI is checking skydivers, ex-military, pilots, laid off Boeing employees, rogue CIA smokejumpers and the like, but never thought to check and see if some convicted felon, recently released back east somewhere, had vanished.

Cooper could have been in prison for so long that by the time he got out, there was nobody around to notice him missing at Thanksgiving dinner.



This is exactly the same story I told the FBI over and over and over....I had multiple conversationg with Mr. Himmelsbach about this.
I kept asking Mr. H (remember I thought of him as being FBI) to check to see who Duane knew in prison...and who was there when he was. The FBI ignored me...in my pleading phone calls. Remember I did NOT have a computer - and I could NOT afford to spend long lenghts of time on the phone.

The reason I asked him about Jefferson was the stories Duane told me about Jefferson - after 1990...after he came home. This is when he tried to get the John Collins ID and I found out about Jefferson.

Although I did NOT push him with questions about Jefferson the conversation was one he related on his own. I may have asked him how horrible it was in a prison and what they did.

This was when he told me about their sitting around planning "the big one". He did not mention names that I remember. He also told me that James Earl Ray was there.

Duane did mention war veterans and pilots who had been given a raw deal, when they got home. Remember at that time I had NO idea Duane was Dan Cooper...and he could have spelled it out for me and it would NOT have hit me. When I say "Most Likely to Get Lost in a Crowd" I am NOT kidding. I was a really naive person. Smart book wise. Remember this is a title that was given to me in High School....so it goes WAY back.
Copyright 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 2013, 2014, 2015 by Jo Weber

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If Cooper survived the jump, after the statute of limitation expires there would be a huge financial incentive to "come out". If he were to claim responsibility I can imagine him selling his story and basking in the glow of out smarting everyone. But that never happened because Cooper was probably a solid citizen with a productive life. I can see him being ashamed of what he did. He was from a generation that did what they were suppose to do. Why would he go off the rails like this? I don't know.



You must be Marla or one of her family because YOU do NOT have a CLUE:

There were NO statue of Limitations. If you are going to make statements like that - PLEASE do your homework. I will let someone else explain this SIMPLE fact to this uninformed person
. :([:/]

So sad when someone makes such comments! READ The THREAD - READ a book - READ!
Copyright 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 2013, 2014, 2015 by Jo Weber

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No, Cooper was from Oregon or Washington. He knew the land, he knew roughly where he was despite the fog. He had been on flights from Portland to Seattle many times and recognized what Tacoma looked like from the sky. He had jumped from planes many times but mostly as a younger man. I imagine in 1971 you could not fly out of the United States from Portland, or you had very little choice, maybe to Canada, but to fly to the orient or other international destinations you would fly to Seattle first.



I agree that it seems to make sense that he would have known the area. Add that with his choice of chutes and a picture is emerging. Seems logical, but what if those assumptions are wrong? What if the part about recognizing Tacoma from the air isn't as clear or as significant as it seems? If Cooper overheard a passenger mention it or guessed from seeing it on a map?

The FBI was investigating people based on what might seem to make obvious sense, maybe they were looking for the wrong person due to making the wrong assumptions. Those being that he was a jumper at some point, probably ex-military, some kind of aviation experience, and that he knew the area. He could have been all those things and still off the radar somehow, but there's no actual proof of any of these things, they are just guesses, so they could all be wrong. All he factually needed to know about the plane, somebody could have told him. Jump from a 727, make sure it is flying low and slow, and watch out for air marshals.

I do think if Cooper was from or knew the area well, even with fog he'd have an idea where he was jumping, at least from lights from the interstate and the glow from Vancouver and Portland. If Cooper was a pilot then he'd probably have a very good idea where he was.

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He was quiet and efficient and had nerves of steel, which were aided by nicotine. He used exactly the right amount of words to convey his message to Tina, no more, no less.



That efficiency and confidence makes it seem like he'd done this kind of thing before, not a hijacking, but some kind of planned crime. Clearly he knew what he was doing up to a certain point, but that may not mean he was a skydiver or spent much time in the air. He sure didn't want to reveal much. Maybe he was also masking a regional accent by saying little.



There were no prompts for his use of Tacoma. That was spontaneous on his part. Wondering why the chutes were taking so long. Some connection to Tacoma in his mind. Tacoma only 20 miles away - where are the chutes!? (not the kind of remark Kenny would have made, either).

Underneath the calm exterior is an anxious person
pissed at times.

Then he misses the next tell - fuel snafu. Normal refueling/cleanup turn around time about 15-20 mins max, normally. He sites and say nothing at first. Someone experienced with the NWA turn-around time at SEA would have caught that quickly.
Vapor lock?

There are other tells at work ...

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Jo, You can forget Pyramid Lake since it is northeast of the Reno airport. Just a handful of miles north of the Red Bluff, CA airport, the airliner turned and flew directly to the Reno airport

Moreover, she obviously hasnt read the transcript for
this part of the flight.



[BLUE]FOR GOD'S SAKE I NEVER SAID COOPER JUMPED AY PYRAMID Lake - JUST THAT WE PASSED THE ROAD TO PYRAMID Lake AND WHAT DUANE TOLD ME ABOUT PYRAMID Lake AND THE PE0PLE WHO LIVED THERE AND HE TALKED ABOUT JUMPERS.

I HAVE NOT INTERTAINED THE IDEA THAT COOPER JUMPED IN THAT AREA.
[/BLUE]

I might get lost in a crowd, but I sure as hell am not stupid...I do know how to read! Pyramid was a suggestion by others and I listened and thought about "what if",, but I did not buy into it.
Copyright 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 2013, 2014, 2015 by Jo Weber

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Well, today I read a great deal from Gray's new book .



The sad part is: Gray knows no more than he has been given in many cases and the accuracy of that will be in question. That's the risk people take in writing books of this nature. Still they go ahead.
Just the kind of incomplete vagueness Blevins
likes. You can do anything with that. Your next
limitations is your intelligence! :)

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Jo, You can forget Pyramid Lake since it is northeast of the Reno airport. Just a handful of miles north of the Red Bluff, CA airport, the airliner turned and flew directly to the Reno airport

Moreover, she obviously hasnt read the transcript for
this part of the flight.



[BLUE]FOR GOD'S SAKE I NEVER SAID COOPER JUMPED AY PYRAMID Lake - JUST THAT WE PASSED THE ROAD TO PYRAMID Lake AND WHAT DUANE TOLD ME ABOUT PYRAMID Lake AND THE PE0PLE WHO LIVED THERE AND HE TALKED ABOUT JUMPERS.

I HAVE NOT INTERTAINED THE IDEA THAT COOPER JUMPED IN THAT AREA.
[/BLUE]

I might get lost in a crowd, but I sure as hell am not stupid...I do know how to read! Pyramid was a suggestion by others and I listened and thought about "what if",, but I did not buy into it.



To clarify, I, not Jo, brought up the idea that he may have jumped somewhere in the area before Reno.
"...And once you're gone, you can't come back
When you're out of the blue and into the black."
Neil Young

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This is exactly the same story I told the FBI over and over and over....I had multiple conversationg with Mr. Himmelsbach about this.
I kept asking Mr. H (remember I thought of him as being FBI) to check to see who Duane knew in prison...and who was there when he was. The FBI ignored me...in my pleading phone calls. Remember I did NOT have a computer - and I could NOT afford to spend long lenghts of time on the phone.



I suppose one major problem would be, if it wasn't investigated at the time (and maybe it was), it would be probably near impossible to expend the resources on such a potentially broad search many years later. Also, I'm not sure how much even a retired SA could do to to stir things up without some irrefutable piece of evidence.

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G_Jones writes:

All he factually needed to know about the plane, somebody could have told him. Jump from a 727, make sure it is flying low and slow, and watch out for air marshals.

Robert99 replies:

For starters, somebody would have to tell him to select a 727 since it was the only airliner in operation at that with an aft stairs that could be lowered in flight. And that information was very closely held. NWA didn't know that and even some Boeing people didn't know that.

To jump from a 727 does not necessairly require that the aircraft be going slow and you wouldn't want it to be very low. Air marshalls were not a factor at all in this hijacking.

G_Jones writes:

I do think if Cooper was from or knew the area well, even with fog he'd have an idea where he was jumping, at least from lights from the interstate and the glow from Vancouver and Portland. If Cooper was a pilot then he'd probably have a very good idea where he was.

Robert99 replies:

It seems to keep getting lost in the translation that there was an overcast at 5000 feet with about three other layers of clouds below that. The airliner crew has been quoted in several places as saying that they could not even see the glow of lights from Portland as they passed nearby. They certainly would not have been able to see cars on the Interstate.

Pilot or not, Cooper did not have any means, except a wild eyed guess, as to his geographical location when he jumped.

G_Jones writes:

He was quiet and efficient and had nerves of steel, which were aided by nicotine.

Robert99 replies:

His "nerves of steel" were also aided to some extent by some bourbon and soda (or whatever), except that he reportedly spilled about half of the liquor.

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Well, today I read a great deal from Gray's new book .



The sad part is: Gray knows no more than he has been given in many cases and the accuracy of that will be in question. That's the risk people take in writing books of this nature. Still they go ahead.
Just the kind of incomplete vagueness Blevins
likes. You can do anything with that. Your next
limitations is your intelligence! :)


It would have also be a good idea for Gray, or his researchers, to have consulted with an "expert" who knew that it was a "Victor" airway that the airliner was on rather than a "Vector" airway. He simply repeated the mistakes made in the Seattle radio transcripts.

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Bruce wrote:

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After all, the LD Cooper story is so pedestrian. What made the FBI so ga-ga over it?



Could it be a very photogenic blonde?

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Cuties get to the head of the line journalistically, too. Not too surprisingly, I suppose; I just want to add a few kernels of truth to the fact pile, here.

The convergence of Cooper forces is astonishing - Marla and her memories, Geoffrey and his book, et al.

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Do we know the facts of LD Cooper as a person?

Height, weight, skin color, eye color, etc.

I know he was 67 when he died in 1999, making him 39 abouts on Nov 24, 1971.

Did he have any skydiving experience? What did he do in the miliary, Korea, etc.

If this has been discussed, please forgive, as I must have missed it. The pages are rolling here at the DZ over the past week or two.

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Georger this is NOTHING new. I discussed this in the forum - we even had a thread called Pyramid....Quade can help you find this stuff - I just can't do it.

do you mean THIS THREAD you started and to which nobody contributed ?

I just used the search box at the bottom of the page, with the word pyramid. Came up with that in approx 5 seconds (slow typer)
scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

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Robert99 wrote
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For starters, somebody would have to tell him to select a 727 since it was the only airliner in operation at that with an aft stairs that could be lowered in flight.



DC 9s were flying in 1971.

377
2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

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Once again in a fit of hunkyness, I hunted and gathered the examples of civil aircraft which had aft stairs and when they had them. Because I think people have a right to know if their jet can be hijacked by a crook. Well I am not a crook, but I’m giving everything I got.

So step back and take a look at the long history of aircraft stairs.

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Robert99 wrote

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For starters, somebody would have to tell him to select a 727 since it was the only airliner in operation at that with an aft stairs that could be lowered in flight.



DC 9s were flying in 1971.

377



377, Do you have a source that categorially states that the DC-9's aft stairs can be lowered in flight? My information is that it could not.

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Blevins writes:

I wouldn't judge the book badly based on whether Gray used Vector or Victor.

Robert99 writes:

I would. Especially since he starts the book off with that mistake. To me it means that he doesn't have even a general knowledge of the subject.

Unless, of course, his "subject" is really just the personal interactions of the people who pass through the story. And we know that includes a full range of characters, some of whom are not always representative of the human race.

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377, Do you have a source that categorially states that the DC-9's aft stairs can be lowered in flight? My information is that it could not.



I think a copycat skyjacker jumped from a DC 9 a few years after Norjack.

377
2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

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377, Do you have a source that categorially states that the DC-9's aft stairs can be lowered in flight? My information is that it could not.



But remember Cooper asked for the stairs to be down on take-off... So, does this maybe point to him having some experience with DC9s? We have been confused about the instruction to have the stairs down on take-off because we know they can be lowered in flight. Maybe he didn't and assumed it worked like a DC9?
Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

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377, Do you have a source that categorially states that the DC-9's aft stairs can be lowered in flight? My information is that it could not.



I think a copycat skyjacker jumped from a DC 9 a few years after Norjack.

377



I am aware of that incident. However, there seems to be some confusion as to even the aircraft type as well as the exit he used.

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Once again in a fit of hunkyness, I hunted and gathered the examples of civil aircraft which had aft stairs and when they had them. Because I think people have a right to know if their jet can be hijacked by a crook. Well I am not a crook, but I’m giving everything I got.

So step back and take a look at the long history of aircraft stairs.



Farflung,

Has hunkiness and nun lust compromised the thoroughness of your aviation research. Didn't you omit the BAC 111?

377
2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

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Here ya go Robert99,

Although not as popular of a story as Cooper, because they caught the guy, Charles LaPoint opened some DC-9 stairs in flight. This was on 20 Jan 1972, a whopping 63 days after DB.

Another unusual fun fact is that LaPoint opened an over wing hatch then decided against using that. I’m thinking with that wing set so far back and the plane in a slow flight configuration that engine intake might have looked like a sky-shark’s waiting, open mouth.

The third titillating bit of bailout banter had to do with a third hatch that was in the cargo bay that the Douglas engineers said was also a viable escape route. My goodness, they might as well have been handing out bags of money and chutes to passengers as they boarded. I think the DC-9 was designed by a skydiver with that many holes to jump from in flight.

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Here ya go Robert99,

Although not as popular of a story as Cooper, because they caught the guy, Charles LaPoint opened some DC-9 stairs in flight. This was on 20 Jan 1972, a whopping 63 days after DB.

Another unusual fun fact is that LaPoint opened an over wing hatch then decided against using that. I’m thinking with that wing set so far back and the plane in a slow flight configuration that engine intake might have looked like a sky-shark’s waiting, open mouth.

The third titillating bit of bailout banter had to do with a third hatch that was in the cargo bay that the Douglas engineers said was also a viable escape route. My goodness, they might as well have been handing out bags of money and chutes to passengers as they boarded. I think the DC-9 was designed by a skydiver with that many holes to jump from in flight.



Farflung, Perhaps you can find the answer to another question.

Why did the FAA's mandate for the installation of a "Cooper Vane", or its equivalent, only apply to the Boeing 727?

If other aircraft could lower the aft stairs in flight, why weren't they mandated to do something to prevent that action?

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