sailshaw

Blevins
" You say EDIT: You guys are asking the wrong questions, and seeking out the wrong sources. The pictures of the Amboy chute aren't that great. It was buried in the ground for years, no one knows how long. You should be going to the Seattle FBI"

I can tell from looking at the two photos that the Amboy chute is not rip-stop nylon.

so get over it and forget about the Amboy chute.

Bob Sailshaw
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Bruce you say:"
My book, DB Cooper and the FBI - A Case Study of America's Only Unsolved Skyjacking, is now available at Amazon, in a Kindle version, which is an e-book. The text reads very easily on a commuter screen, but is designed for tablets and such, too."

I say: "It has been nice reading your new book and it is my really first e-book as it is on Michele''s Kindle. Your style of writing makes for easy reading and I am up to chapter 10 now. How many of your books have sold so far? It should do well if it gets advertized somewhere.
Way to go Bruce!

Bob Sailshaw
sailshaw00@gmail

PS Bobby should give up on the Amboy Chute as anyone who has worked with rip-stop Nylon can see from the FBI photo's of the Amboy chute that it is not rip-stop. That might be why Cossey quickly said it was not from DB Cooper. AMBOY CHUTE iIS NOT COOPERS
See attached photo of rip-stop from the chute that went to the Tacoma Museum.

skyjack71: You say ""On the evening of the hijacking, it took NWA some time to locate any people at Boeing who had knowledge of lowering the stairs in flight. That program was simply not common knowledge either at Boeing or any commercial airline."

I say: "Sheridan Peterson and I were both at Boeing before Norjak (I was in the Structures Test Lab and he was in the Manuals and Handbooks group and both in the 9-101 building) and knew all about 727 Airstairs Testing in the B-29 hanger and Flight Tests at Moses Lake. It was common knowledge to us.!!!"

Bob Sailshaw
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73blazer

You say: "I guess I'm with the FBI, unless some hard evidence is to come up, bills, maybe the briefcase although I'm not sure that could be identified, the parachutes...something hard, this just isn't gonna get solved. People evidence might lead you to hard evidence, but at this point, the FBI can't put resources into rabbit holes and peoples memories for a 40 year old crime. I believe they've been burned on this with Marla. Hard evidence...tough to come by."

I say: " The FBI has evidence in their hands that they have yet to look at that could solve this case quickly and at litttle cost. All they have to do is compare the DNA under the stamps and envelope flaps of the four letters sent to the news papers following NORJAK with what they have of Sheridan Peterson and they will find a match. That would disprove his phoney alibi that he was in Nepal at the time of NORJAK. That lie to the FBI could put him in jail for the rest of his life as he is 90 years old now. Release from that sentence in exchange for the DB Cooper story would finally solve the crime.

Bob Sailshaw
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377

You say"Sheridan Peterson might have had access since he worked in technical documentation at Boeing, a job he took after being unable to get 727 airstair info from his landlord Sailshaw."

I say Sheridan knew about the 727 aft airstair test rig in the old B-29 hanger on the East side of Boeing field. Ir was part of the 727 FCTR Flight Control Test Rig and was fully functional and available to anyone with a Boeing badge like Sheridan had. I know I told him about the test rig as he was quite interested in the 727 airstairs

Bob Sailshaw
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sailshaw

Bruce: Additional things we talked about with Ralph:

We covered a lot of subjects while at Eagle Creek and here are some of them:

1) Did DB pull the chute when at the bottom of the airstairs or did he freefall?
Answer: Ralph was sure DB would have done a freefall to a lower altitude.

2) Exposure from plane to ground I thought was less than 5 minutes
Answer: Ralph said from 10,000 ft at one minute per 1,000 ft the exposure time maximum would be 10 minutes but with freefall possibly abound 5 minutes would be possible. So he did not freeze as many have suggested.

3) D-ring handle rip cords (Bruce claims they are not called D-ring rip cords) would fall to the ground if not held on to by the jumper?
Answer: On the old chutes the jumper had to hold on to the D-ring or would have to buy a case of Beer for loosing it. The new chutes have a pilot chute that pulls the rip cord when deployed.

4) Did Ralph recognize Sheridan's photo from the Boeing News photo.
Answer: He said that he did not remember ever seeing Sheridan and did not know him. He did mention that there was a National Parachute gathering at Issaquah Skydiving DZ in 1963. That would have been about the time Sheridon would have been there.

5) Did Cossey do the DB caper?
Answer: He said that Cossey did not have the "balls" to do it and was not that good of a poker player either. He did think the DB had people on the ground to pick him up and Cossey could have been on of the ground crew. I think Duane could have also been on the ground crew as he told Jo that when he said "that is where DB came out of the woods".

6) We talked about how the jumper could have communicated with the ground guys and Ralph said radio was a possibility but blinking of lights would have been possible too but not have used the flares from the fake bomb. They would burn too long and give away the position.

7) Ralph said it was an easy jump and he was sure DB survived and he told the FBI that the jumper was an experienced skydiver before Cossey gave them the other story about how DB would have not survived. I got the feeling that Ralph was miffed that he was not the expert working with the FBI rather than Cossey.

8) I got the story of Jo calling and getting told that Duane had ears too big to be DB and I thought it was Ralph that told us that and Bruce corrected me in that it was the info from Bill Mitchel and he should know as he was very close to DB during the flight.

9) I asked Ralph about Jerry Thomas (close friend of Himmelsbeck) and Ralph did not know of Jerry which is strange if both of them were close to Himmelsbeck.

There were more questions and it was a very informative meeting and lunch. Ralph was not in a rush and seemed at ease with Bruce and I asking questions. Maybe Michele (note only one l in Michele, Bruce) being there was good for the easy conversations.

Bob 73's
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10) Just remembered another thing from Ralph: He pointed out that the packing card on the chute had the signature of the rigger and his mark that had to match the mark on the lead seal so that DB when checking the card showed he was an experienced jumper and knew the chute was not tampered with or had a locater installed inside by the FBI.

Bob Sailshaw
[email protected]

Bruce: Additional things we talked about with Ralph:

We covered a lot of subjects while at Eagle Creek and here are some of them:

1) Did DB pull the chute when at the bottom of the airstairs or did he freefall?
Answer: Ralph was sure DB would have done a freefall to a lower altitude.

2) Exposure from plane to ground I thought was less than 5 minutes
Answer: Ralph said from 10,000 ft at one minute per 1,000 ft the exposure time maximum would be 10 minutes but with freefall possibly abound 5 minutes would be possible. So he did not freeze as many have suggested.

3) D-ring handle rip cords (Bruce claims they are not called D-ring rip cords) would fall to the ground if not held on to by the jumper?
Answer: On the old chutes the jumper had to hold on to the D-ring or would have to buy a case of Beer for loosing it. The new chutes have a pilot chute that pulls the rip cord when deployed.

4) Did Ralph recognize Sheridan's photo from the Boeing News photo.
Answer: He said that he did not remember ever seeing Sheridan and did not know him. He did mention that there was a National Parachute gathering at Issaquah Skydiving DZ in 1963. That would have been about the time Sheridon would have been there.

5) Did Cossey do the DB caper?
Answer: He said that Cossey did not have the "balls" to do it and was not that good of a poker player either. He did think the DB had people on the ground to pick him up and Cossey could have been on of the ground crew. I think Duane could have also been on the ground crew as he told Jo that when he said "that is where DB came out of the woods".

6) We talked about how the jumper could have communicated with the ground guys and Ralph said radio was a possibility but blinking of lights would have been possible too but not have used the flares from the fake bomb. They would burn too long and give away the position.

7) Ralph said it was an easy jump and he was sure DB survived and he told the FBI that the jumper was an experienced skydiver before Cossey gave them the other story about how DB would have not survived. I got the feeling that Ralph was miffed that he was not the expert working with the FBI rather than Cossey.

8) I got the story of Jo calling and getting told that Duane had ears too big to be DB and I thought it was Ralph that told us that and Bruce corrected me in that it was the info from Bill Mitchel and he should know as he was very close to DB during the flight.

9) I asked Ralph about Jerry Thomas (close friend of Himmelsbeck) and Ralph did not know of Jerry which is strange if both of them were close to Himmelsbeck.

There were more questions and it was a very informative meeting and lunch. Ralph was not in a rush and seemed at ease with Bruce and I asking questions. Maybe Michele (note only one l in Michele, Bruce) being there was good for the easy conversations.

Bob 73's
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Bruce: Thanks for your correction to my statement about Duanes ears being too big to be DB Cooper. So it was a statement you got from your phone call with Bill Mitchell and was not from Ralph Hatley (I got the spelling finally correct). Sorry Ralph for my bad spelling but it was a long day for us and we finally got home around 8 pm having started at 7:30 am that same day. What a great trip with very nice weather and fun to talk with Ralph over lunch. He is a very interesting guy that knows a lot about skydiving and has his Commercial Pilots license too.

Bob Sailshaw
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Jo: Bruce and I had lunch with Ralph Hadley and he told us that you had talked with him and he passed on the bad news to you that Duane had ears too big to pass for DB Cooper. You forgot to tell us that little piece of feedback about your husband Duane. We had a nice drive to Eagle Creek and back in one day.

Stay well.

Bob Sailshaw
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WMI Wrecks

You say: "What makes any of the multitude of so called "suspects" suspects? Of course there's not a direct link to any of them, otherwise, the case would have been solved. It's all conjecture. People have been looking for "something" to link suspects to the case for over 40 years now, and where has that gotten us?"

I say: "The link to Sheridan Peterson is in the four letters DB sent to the news papers. The FBI needs to look at the DNA under the stamps and envelope flaps and then compare with what they have from Sheridon that was taken by the two female FBI Agents. A match (I am sure they will find a match) will prove that Sheridon was not in Nepal as his phony alibi goes but he was in Portland (the scene of the crime). This is the SMOKING GUN in the case and such a simple and easy way to solve the case. The FBI has the four letters but have failed to look at the DNA under the stamps and envelope flaps. "

The FBI deserves to solve their only unsolved skyjacking that is 42 years old and show that they always catch their man.

Bob Sailshaw
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Mark 74

you say" "The reason I kick around these dates is to come up with a motive. Cooper did a lot of planning but what was his grudge?
Nov 24th 63 was when Oswald was killed - was that the motive? JFK could have prevented the assassination of Ngo, was Cooper upset about that? Was he happy Oswald shot JFK? I happen to think he planted the $5800 for a reason if he didn't then this is pointless."

I say, "my suspect Sheridan Peterson had a Grudge when he lived at my house ten years before Norjak"

His Grudge when he lived with me was about the System that included his childhood, Marines, work situatioins and all. He felt he was not compensated enough for his education and abilities. That is why his mantra was about "devising the system to beat the System". That was shown in letter three salutation to the newspapers.

Bob Sailshaw
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Mark What lead me to believe that Sharidan wrote the four letters was the salutation on letter three "from the guy that devised the system to beat the system. DB Cooper" or something like that. He had mentioned the same mantra while living at my house for a month over and over. That was when I knew Sharidan was DB. That is why the DNA from the letters/stamps would show it was him.

Bob Sailshaw
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Jo you say "I STILL believe Duane WEBER was Cooper and will BELIEVE that until the day someone SHOWS me proof he was NOT."
I say "You forget that you have told us that Duane told you where DB came out of the woods and when asked if he was DB he said no but maybe he was the ground man"
Is that not enough for you to quit claiming that Duane is DB but just a partner in the caper "the ground man"

Enough is enough just like KC is too short at 5ft 8in to be Cooper but Blevins keep pushing KC as DB. Enough is enough.

Bob Sailshaw
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Blevins you say: "Here's MY theory: The chute was the one Cooper used. The FBI keeps it in storage and still calls it evidence, even though it is basically useless in leading them to the identity of the hijacker."

I say : The Amboy chute was the wrong color as Norm Hayden purchased two white rip stop chutes that were provided to Cooper as the two "Back Chutes". That is proof that the Amboy chute was not Coopers even though it was found in the right location. END OF STORY ON THE AMBOY CHUTE.

sailshaw
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"note new email address"

377:

Ha Ha about TOO SHORT but his name is spelled with a dollar sign in place of the S. TOO $HORT

As a lawyer you should have noticed the difference.

The photo of Blevins attached shows a TOO SHORT Kenney Christensen. Blevins is like the fisherman that steps on his catch until it is long enough to meet the required minimum length. He would have to stomp on Christensen a whole bunch to grow him from 5 ft 8 in to 6 ft in height.

No way does Kenney fit the height of DB Cooper and is not a qualified suspect.

Bob Sailshaw
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Blevins:

The reference photo of Kenney Christensen in a group of four people shows how short he was and could no way be DB Cooper.

He was 5ft 8in and too short to be the 6ft that Cooper is.

Your own photo is the evidence of this problem and therefore he is not a valid suspect!

KENNEY WAS TOO SHORT, TOO SHORT, TOO SHORT, TOO SHORT

Bob Sailshaw
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Reference you say: "I've sent the attached picture to Bruce Kitt. It's a picture of Kenny with some of his co-workers, and was taken before red uniforms for stews were implemented."

377. I have the proof you seek about colored contacts. Jim Erickson the owner of Erickson Labs says they were available way before 1971 and started as a way to make contacts easy to find. However, they were used in 1971 and before by people in the movies and on stage. Jim is a member of my Yacht Club and would take any questions you might have about contacts.

Bob Sailshaw
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377 You say: " Anyway I am very glad his health is improving. Too bad I cant have a dialog with him. I'd love to hear his opinion about Norjack and Cooper. I'd also like to know why he thinks the FBI even bothered asking a blue eyed man for a DNA sample to rule him out as Cooper? Think about it, that is quite odd. His eye color alone should have ruled him out but the FBI apparently didnt agree. "

I say: " The FBI knows that eye color can be changed from blue to brown by cosmetic brown contact lens and Cooper spent special time showing two Flight Attendants his eyes before putting on the sunglasses for the remainder of the flight. Height is one detail that is hard to change, but Sheridan Peterson was 6 ft tall and just a perfect fit on height. He also fit most of the other details about Cooper including olive skin color."

Bob Sailshaw
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To 377 You say: "I like to think that Cooper's NB 6 (or NB 8) rig choice evidenced military parachute knowledge, but I am painfully aware that it could have been a coin toss. Two chutes were available. He had to pick one. Might have been as simple as just randomly choosing one of the pair. Occam likes explanation that but I am still arguing with him."

I would like to say: "You and I have talked about the choice of parachutes and the only thing that the choice involved was the carrier since the chutes inside each carrier were the same and purchased at the same time by Norm Hayden. The carriers were different as one was civilian and the other was military. You told me that the choice made by DB was to take the military carrier which was the best choice due to it being stronger and able to take the jet speed usage better than the civilian carrier. He would have the same chutes inside the carrier and if he knew that the choice would have been the military stronger carrier. Did DB know what chutes were inside the carriers? Hayden and possibly Cossey knew. DB might have slipped some of the chute material out to examine it and found them to be the same.

I think the choice of carrier made by DB shows how knowledgeable he was of what he was doing and he made the correct choice. That goes along with he not needing the written instructions.

Bob Sailshaw
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SAILSHAW

The site for Bruce may be approached by:

Google "DB Cooper Discussion Site on Word Press."

Bob Sailshaw
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377 Says is getting quiet around here.

I say: "Possibly everyone is switching to Bruce Smith's new site where he is not banned."

http://dbcooperblog.wordpress.com/2014/02/15/announcing-a-new-db-cooper-discussion-site/comment-page-1

He hopes to limit the constant posters here that say nothing new.

Bob Sailshaw
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377
you say: "Also he definitely chose the right canopy. But, was it dumb luck or evidence of parachute knowledge? We don't know."

You are right and he had many years to plan the DB Caper. I think 10,000 ft is a Natural thing to say as it gave him a lot of height without requiring oxygen. He would enjoy the ride for only 5 minutes to the ground anyway and not requiring oxygen makes it simple. DB was a smart skydiver with guts and skills to pull this caper off without a hitch.

Bob Sailshaw
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377

Ted Braden and Kenney Christansen were both tooooo short at 5ft 8in. Eye color could have been modified with cosmetic brown contact lens, which were available at that time so actors could change their blue eyes to brown for playing Asian characters. However, when you are 5ft 8in you are just too short and not much would be done to gain 4 inches. That alone should disqualify both Ted and Kenney, period as not a likely suspect.

Eye color and brown contacts would explain why DB made sure that both Flight Attendants saw the color of his eyes as brown before wearing the sun glasses the rest of the time. Everything DB did was for a purpose and the eye color was the one big thing he did for his disguise.

Bob Sailshaw
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To Mrshutter45

You say: "Lets talk about how things are told today. who's chute is sitting in the property room of the FBI with his name on it? did Hayden own the reserves as well? is it fair to say Cooper jumped with one of Cossey's chutes, or can you prove he threw it away?"

I Say: It is time to put the who supplied the chutes to rest and get on with other DB Cooper talk.

Cossey supplied two "back chutes" that did not get to DB Cooper and probably went to the wrong airport in Renton and not to Sea Tac,
Hayden supplied two "back chutes" that were delivered to Sea Tac by Taxi and got to DB Cooper there. The chute that DB did not use and was left on the plane was returned to Hayden by the FBI and is now in the Tacoma Historical Museum and in the DB Cooper display. The one DB used is located where ever DB put it after arriving at the ground location (where ever that was).

The two "front chutes" were from Issaquah Skysports and delivered by the State Patrol to Sea Tac and DB Cooper. Cooper cut-up the good "front chute" for the lines that he used to tie-up the bank bag with the loot and to himself. The left over part of the cut-up chute was aboard the plane when it landed in Reno. The "dummy front chute" was not found aboard the plane and assumed to have gone with DB Cooper.

Now, Cossey believed his chutes got to DB Cooper and were used in the sky jacking. They were not, but Cossey thought they were and that is why he gave the misinformation about his were the ones used. Cossey did not lie but was mistaken that his were used. Cossey had modified one of his chutes to be a left hand pull and thought that would have confused the skyjacker and contributed to his non-pull and death. However, Cossey's chutes were not used.

Per 377, it was an easy jump and DB Cooper could have survived with no problem as his exposure to the weather was less than 5 minutes and then he was on the ground. Also, 377 concluded that DB Cooper selected the correct carrier to survive a jump from a jet as it was designed to provide safe emergency survival from a downed jet airplane. DB Cooper was a smart jumper to select the right carrier to use and was not a WOOF-O.

We really don't need to cover this part of the DB Cooper story any longer as it just takes up too much time and space in this DropZone.

Bob Sailshaw
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Skyjack71

Jo: You say "Hayden's chutes were at Cossey's house when the call came in for 2 chutes - he had 2 chutes he had just repacked for Hayden to meet regulations!"

I say: Jo you have that all wrong as the two chuites that were given to DB Cooper sere sent from Hayden's company by taxi and not from Cossey. Cossey sent two of his chutes, that did not get to DB Cooper, with one modified by Cossey for a left hand pull.
This was reported by Bruce in the Mountain News and matches what Hayden told me on the phone. Cossey thought the two that he sent, with one modified, were used by DB but they were not and Hayden's were. Also, to make a point of it as you carry on about the left hand pull, that was on Cossey's chute and not on Hayden who lives at his company in Kent.
Jo, please try not to make-up any more stories as it just adds nothing and takes up too much space in the DropZone.

Bob Sailshaw
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