He also used the term interphone which would also be pilot lingo. More likely cooper was a pilot in ww2 or Korean War as that’s what they called the comm system on the b-17 bombers. During the Jet age they used the term intercom when referring to the comm systems. He also said he had bennies (Benzedrine) to help keep the crew and pilots up if needed. Benzedrine is known for being used by fighter pilots in ww2 to keep them up on there missions. I don’t think Cooper was a commercial pilot but probably wanted to be. To me cooper has all the makings of a shot down fighter pilot in ww2. That would of gave him the experience and courage to attempt this daring caper. It also ties in nicely with the Dan Cooper comic. As major Dan Cooper was frequently shot down piloting aircrafts in the pages of tin tin. Now as far as coopers level of 727 expertise there is a case for and against it. Fly has done a good job pointing out the against let me make a case for the for. Cooper knew where the oxygen bottles were located on the 727 now maybe that’s nothing to special not sure, were all oxygen bottles located in the same place on every plane regardless of the aircraft or did it vary depending on the AC? Cooper seemed to know a lot about the fueling of the 727. He knew the time it should take to fill er up and if you believe Loren Peterson who was working for nwo that night he also knew how you should fuel the plane for the configuration he requested which is basically flying what they called a dirty airplane. He requested a certain balance of the two fuel tanks. According to Loren the guys working freight for nwo that night were very impressed. Now this hasn’t been corroborated in any of the 302’s but LP seems credible to me and I don’t see any reason for him to lie. Another big thing for me is the fact that the pilot BR said himself he thought cooper knew what he was doing or as the kids say these days Cooper knew what’s up. Now probably the biggest thing for me was his intel on the capabilities of the aft stairs. He knew that they could take off with them down and that they could be lowered while in the air. Cooper IMO had to be certain of this if not as 377 has said he would of been stepping into an aluminum jail cell. These two capabilities were unbeknownst to everybody on the ground at SeaTac. They also were concerned and unsure if you could fly the 727 dirty with the aft stairs down. They had to call one of the higher ups at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, a gentlemen by the name of Peter Gallimore. Who told them yes you could fly it safely that way. The whole Air America and SAT angle is nice but the only problem with that is if Cooper had knowledge of those air drops he would of known you could jump the plane but he would still have no idea about the operation of a commercial 727 aft stairwell as the moded 727 had the stairs removed and replaced with a sheet metal ramp that didn’t move or could be controlled. For my money if they had to call gallimore at Boeing then cooper had some advanced technical knowledge on the operational capabilities of those aft stairs and that to me trumps the against and puts me in the camp of cooper did have 727 expertise.
