I think these series of memos posted here support Walt Reca's flight path. NWA said in the memo posted here that they were 99% certain the placard found in NORTHERN Skamania County was from flight 305. Skamania County is EAST of the published flight path and would comport with the path Carl Laurin showed on the documentary "The Real D.B. Cooper."
At CooperCon 2021, I spoke with Catherine Scott and her fiance, who is a pilot. They said the plane was flown manually and the pilots didn't know exactly where they were. The plane was directed from Seattle by NWA out of Sacramento, where there is a heavy CIA presence.
In several Knight Ridder articles published in November 1996, FBI agent Ralph Himmelsbach said he learned for the first time at his retirement party from Rataczak that the plane was flown manually and not on autopilot, as was previously reported by NWA. He also stated the plane was much further EAST than previously believed. In another article, he said the flight path could have been off by as much as 80 DEGREES (that's huge distance)...which puts Reca's landing spot well within the possible drop zone.
Also at CooperCon 2021, air traffic controller Cliff Ammerman said he spoke to the pilots only twice. All ground-to-air contact and flight direction was provided by NWA. In several FBI documents, they note that they are basing their information on what has been provided by NWA.
What I would like to find out is who was on the Board of Directors of NWA from around 1969-1974 and also on the Vinnell Corporation's Board during the same time frame.
