dumstuntzz

its not coopers nb6/8 the serial number for that canopy is 60-9707 made by m. steinthal (see CKRET's post on the old cooper thread , post #710)

i holeheartedly agree with this theory of unpacking.

the chest chute might have had what we called a "belly band".it is a length of webbing with a snap(b-4,b-12,or quick ejector) on each end. belly band is threaded thru the webbing handle at each end of the backside of the pack and the snaps are hooked to the harness.a belly band would have held the chest pack to cooper if it was hooked up. it would not have kept the chest chute attached to cooper if it had been deployed however also,the snaps at the end of the lines stick thru a hole near each top corner.the snaps are gennerally tackled down with very heavy cotton or nylon thread(5 or 6 cord 45 to 50 lb tensile per turn).what this means is that even tho the chute deploys,the container is still attached to the end of the lines.it does not fall away.so cooper might not have just been holding the chest chute in his hands when he exited.

they are also calling it a conical shaped canopy which it si NOT. navy conicals were not produced that early. take everything you hear about this from the media and even the FBI with a grain of salt.there is SO MUCH misinformation surrounding this thing it makes me ill.

i am thinking that this canopy was the one in the chest pack,not the nb6(ckret did not reveal the serial numbers for that one)also,was the chest chute not a TRAINING or DUMMY chute as it has been called on these forums? a 24 ft twill canopy that was 25 years old would likely at the time of the hijacking have been used as a training device, and not actually been in service as a reserve.

come on CKRET, inquiring minds want to know ... have you found mr cooper??????

ckret already posted the serial number in the other db cooper thread. it does not match the one they found (at least for the nb6,orNB8 that he jumped with. )the nb6/8would have been the one deployed because it was the only one he was given which he could actually attach himself to(i.e. it had a harness)the chest pack that he jumped with would have been worthless to save his life because there were NO D rings to attach it to the nb6/8 harness.if he pulled the chest pack ,it would have departed from his body.(hmmm.. maybe it is the chest pack chute that they found,IIRC, ckret never revealed the serial number for that one)also now that i think about it, one way for a canopy to last this long would be if it was packed in its container for most of the last 37 years,and sometime not too long ago,the container disintegrated and allowed the canopy to be exposed.hmmm,maybe there is a body there.

"when all he had to do was pop the capewells"... NB6 or NB8 harnesses DO NOT have canopy releases.

there are more pictures on yahoo. it is not db coopers parachute(actually maybe it was the 2nd chute he jumped with?).wrong serial number(does not match the serial # that ckret gave up in the the other cooper thread) and date of manufacture is like 1946!this would be a nylon twill canopy, possibley 24 foot.made before canopies were made of ripstop.if cooper had landed under this thing he probably would have been hurt. nylon twill porosity is something like 120 to 160 cfm!(versus 80 to120cfm for ripstop)

looking at the video it does not appear to me to be a 26 conical(yeah i know they are calling it a 26 ft long conical shaped canopy), the radial seams appear to be the type used in a 28 ft canopy ( 1 '' seam with suspension line running thru the middle of the seam.)it is hard to tell tho from the quality of the images.

Bullitt... steve mcqueen did the driving too.

why do you want to fix something that simply aint broke?......if any of you were around in the sport 35-40 years ago you would have seen dozens of different ideas that were used to try to slow down the openings.the slider is still around because it is the most reliable,and simplest device .period.

i didn't used to believe in them but.... in the 70s a bunch of us were camped out on the packing tables at the dz. around 2:30/3a.m. a ghostly female figure appeared and walked thru the packing area. it was the ghost of the wife of a well known(at the time)jumper who had bounced recently.

speaking of LONG closing loops... some years ago i was repacking a racer reserve and noticed the main closing loop was like 14 '' long(not fingertrapped either) .this loop was SO long the d bag could fit thru it ( yes i tried it). i replaced the loop with the proper length fingertrapped one and the owner was so pissed at me. but hey its not like i was trying to save his life or anything,the A.Hole.

"there is no way of knowing it is parchute cord without an analysis"....I DISAGREE. parachute cord (Or in the case of either a 26' navy conical or a 28'military canopy, 550 lb nylon type3 suspension line) is fairly distinctive . it is a woven outer sheath with 7 inner strands ,one of which is colored . these colors identify the manufacturer,each having their own distinctive combination of colors. if you have a piece of 550 cord on that knife and the color code matches the color code on the chute left behind, then you have a somewhat tenuous link to the hijacking.

cross bow was introduced in 1964 or 1965. the pioneer piggyback was not too far behind(if i recall).in the picture the guy is wearing a pioneer piggy back(note the reserve handle. it is what was referred to as a life raft handle. i dont think i have seen them on anything but the pioneer rig back then.)

osprey AND pegasus=knock offs of the para flite cruiseair/cruiselite. titan = knock off of para flite XL Cloud

i know a guy who had left his rig just layin around at the dz,and some ones dog pissed on it.his rigger washed it and while visiting another dz, ANOTHER dog pissed on it.

interesting thing about the pioneer made squares.. they were all knock offs of para flite products,right down to the line trims.seems that when para flite upstaged pioneer in the design manufacturing arena,all they could do to keep up was to copy everything.

actually the best tool advice i could think of would be..be smarter than the tools

you oldtimers may recognize the gentleman on the right.HINT: he introduced many people to square parachutes

dont do it. freind of mine saw one years ago who said he would win 52 million in the lottery. hasnt happened yet,besides.....if they can predict the future would he not have been able to find out precisely what day to play his numbers?woulda saved a BUNCH of money!

YES

NOT true rob.i worked for para flite "back in the day" mt1 production was already in full swing in december of 1979. i know because my brother and fang fenimore (both of whom worked for p.f.i. )were sent to jay hildens shop in florida to build MT1 rigs at The Annex.they were there for 2 to 3 months while trying to iron out some production problems.

why punish EVERYONE because of a couple people?