Sluggo_Monster

Here's what I found. Also, Randal got less than 2 cm, so the Cooper landing zone would have gotten much less. Sluggo_Monster Web Page Blog NORJAK Forum

I’m just thinking out loud here: Once again, this is just wild-a$$ speculation, but if the whole purpose of the hijacking was to settle a score with the airline (or its insurance company); the hijacker would be better off without the money. He took it from the airline/insurance carrier, so he would have gotten what he wanted. It would be hard for law enforcement to obtain a conviction, even if the guy’s alibi was weak, if the money wasn’t ever found in his possession and never showed up anywhere. Somewhere on this board someone said that $200,000 was the insurance company’s maximum liability? Was that fact or fiction? If he was terminally ill, or thought he was terminally ill, the money wouldn’t mean squat anyway (or maybe less squat than if he wasn’t ill). Hey! We said it was time to think out-of-the-box. That’s enough OOTB to make some sort of twisted logical sense. Web Page Blog NORJAK Forum

Good point! I think a more likely statement from a stressed-out non-pilot would be “I don’t care about procedures or flight plans, just get this thing in the air!” But, that is pure speculation. We’ll probably never know. I guess I’m “thinking” of him as a pilot due to the instruction to fly with flaps at 15 deg AND wheels-down. One conclusion that I am about to come to is: He didn’t think his chances of surviving were very good. The more he knew, the more he would have come to the conclusion that surviving was next to impossible (assuming he didn’t have a clue about where he was). Maybe, he was terminally ill or suicidal. Sluggo_Monster Web Page Blog NORJAK Forum

Okay, I’ll get serious now. SkydiveJack Said: So an altitude of 10,000 ft would automatically require the plane to take this or some other coastal route. This is where my head was last night. I don’t fly IFR, so I may be mis-interpreting what I see, but, from looking at Enroute L-1 and considering MSA (or I guess it should be OROCA, as I said, I'm not instrument rated), it looks (to me) that that there are only two logical routes south (at 10,000 MSL). They are V-23 and V-27. We’ve talked a lot about V-23 because it’s the one taken, but I was trying to find a reason to eliminate V-27. That is; a reason that Cooper would have known about. V-27 goes SW to the HQM VOR then SE to AST VOR/DME and continues down the coast, so I suspect this was the “out over the coast” route discussed by NW staff. I can’t come up with a reason that would eliminate V-27. Go to http://skyvector.com/ to see what I mean. Anybody got any ideas? Thanx, Sluggo_Monster Edited to clarify Minimum Safe Altitude reference. Web Page Blog NORJAK Forum

Hey SkydiveJack, 377, and any other pilots out there! I just figured out why the FAA, FBI, and AF won't release the Radar tapes..... They don't want potential hijackers to see the super-secret "I'm being hijacked" squawk code LOL! Sluggo_Monster Web Page Blog NORJAK Forum

Oh! Ckret, One other request... Can we get the next few pages of the RTTY transcript that you posted earlier. I'd love to have the whole thing. Thanx, Sluggo_Monster Web Page Blog NORJAK Forum

Ckret, I’m doing some research, and there is something I need to know. Did Cooper request V-23 or did the pilot(s) select V-23? I have seen so much stuff (mostly on the Internet) in the last 20 years that either downright state that Cooper requested/demanded V-23 or implies it. I’ve also seen information that says the pilots selected V-23 because of the low altitude demanded by Cooper and the original destination demand (Mexico). Also, did he state a location in Mexico in his “Fly this plane to _____” demand? Please answer this based on your information and if possible tell me what the source is. BTW: I, for one (I’m sure there are others), appreciate your efforts and your patience. For the first time in a long time (I’ve been at this since about 1974) I feel like I can get some factual data to work with. This thread has re-energized me to start back up where I left off when I decided that the “facts of the case” were totally distorted by the myth. Thanks so much, Sluggo_Monster Web Page Blog NORJAK Forum

SafecrackerPLF, That is an excellent, scholarly work. It is much easier to follow than the previous (long) post. Now this board can take each of these points and argue/refine the assumptions until a picture emerges that all can agree on. There is one statement that I don’t understand; you said “the plane did not fly at a constant rate”. What do you mean by that? It was a 727, flying very “dirty” (flaps at 15 deg, wheels down). The pilot was trying to comply with the 150 KIAS demand of the highjacker, why would the plane not fly at a constant rate? Switching gears here: Why doesn’t anybody ever hypothesize that Cooper’s body was found shortly after he jumped (like the next morning). [Think Cheech & Chong movie here. Oh wow man… he’s dead man! Yeah man.. And he’s got a whole lot of bread man!] A person or persons stumbling across his body in a semi-secluded area, wouldn’t be happening onto the “unsolved crime of the century”, they would have just found a dead guy with A WHOLE LOT OF MONEY, who fell out of the sky last night. We know the search area was waaaaay north. If they could make the dead guy and his gear go away, they could get away with the equivalent today to $1.2 million. Just a thought. Sluggo_Monster Web Page Blog NORJAK Forum

Safe, In LaCamas Fall 1 small you have the "BTG VOR" and "half mile east of VOR" switched or inconsistantly labeled. I thinkj it is ther later. Sluggo_Monster Web Page Blog NORJAK Forum