pek771

Wow. I sure missed a lot not being here for a whole year! I guess no one has found Cooper yet. I did find Felix and his personal trainer, Joe Kittinger, quite fascinating in the interlude. 377, candidate advocate is so rhytymical, like candidates debate. Pusher is much dirtier.

R99, while catching up on my reading, I see you have been discussing AE and TIGHAR for some time. I brought this up only because I saw it in the news, and like Cooper, Earhart is a famous missing person who seemingly fell to Earth somewhere. I still have 60 pages left to get to here.

Well, I've missed a few pages since my last visit. I see that TIGHAR is on to something with Amelia Earhart. Can DBC be far behind?

An act of air piracy happened over 40 years ago, There are very few facts, witnesses, known suspects or conspirators. Essentially, no "truths". Did he get away with $200k? Obviously, yes. Define "get away". Get away may be fish food at the bottom of the Columbia. Perhaps hanging from a tree in Washington, skeletal remains in a harness. Possibly farming in Argentina. There is one, and only one factual solution to this mystery. There are many possible scenarios playing out. You do not need "qualifications" to play at this, at least not any more qualifications than are necessary to play ring toss, for instance.

My fried stopped a large projectile with this apparatus. Prior to stopping the projectile, he hated carrying it. I believe his was even bulkier.

Once, when I was about nine or ten, I was walking home from school, and it was pouring rain on one side of the street, and it was fairly sunny on the other side. How curious, I thought.

If one looks at the first video closely, the old Ford truck being blow into the body of water is stripped down, has no engine, driver, etc. It has a large surface area to mass distribution. It looks good though. I don't believe the exhaust from a 727 would come into play regarding someone alighting from the back stairs. I have walked behind running jet engines at various throttle settings and have lived to tell about it. I can tell you they are hot and smelly. BTW, what sort of rig does Santa carry in the sled?

We also had the Kurt Vonnegut types, captured infantrymen, sent to various POW camps. In Vonnegut's case, that was Slaughterhouse-5. I suspect more downed fliers were inhabitants of the Stalags. I do not know the exact stats. It is fairly clear that the parachutes of the era were quite functional. EDIT: The scope of the Allied POWs was tremendous in number. This link is more than anyone really needs to know, and has no bearing on the Cooper case whatsoever. http://worldwar2database.com/html/alliedpoweto.htm

I seem to recall my Dad saying it was get the canopy open, dive out behind the wing and try to miss the tail section. Then, pull the cord. I suppose that was Navy training. If you are over open ocean, lots of other bad things can follow, but at least you have a chance this way. Did the term "freefall" actually exist during WWII? And, BTW, how does anyone know DBC had an imbalanced load when he left? I am assuming that any load you can put on your "low pressure side", such as your main chute, constitutes "balanced"? Is the preferred method front and back symmetry?

The term "everyone" was used as a figure of speech. Please forgive my poor choice of words.

What makes everyone so sure she is telling the truth about anything?

Hi Marla: So, how do you feel about having close relatives threaten the murder of dozens of people for profit? And, do you happen to have one of those $20's, or maybe a bit of parachute? Thanks, and enjoy your stay. Pat

Oops. Marla refers to this forum as jumpzone on FB. I was stationed in OK for a couple of years, and there are a few unique things about the place. The ratio of churches to taverns is very high, for example. The Lucas systems had 12VDC positive ground electrics. I wish I still had my Sunbeam.

It's actually jumpzone in Oklahoma.

I have believed since last August that MC is in it for the money. Perhaps her idea of potential and the reality of what is to be made are two very different things, bit I am convinced the motive is profit. I started reading this forum after MC started getting press regarding the "breakthrough" on DBC. I think she jumped on Grays coattails. Whether she believes her story to be true is not material to the DBC solution. She has a calculated snarkiness to her narrative which I find contrived.

Good job. The article was quite benign, and kept objective. Marla does give some interesting answers.

BTW, you may not know this, but witness testimony plays a big part in a lot of cases. Art, are you sure about this?

"Dewey, can you pass me the gravy?" "Sure thing, Ma." "So, LD, were you going to just kill those people on the airplane if you didn't get the money?" "No, Ma, Dewey and me were just joking around!" "Well, as long as nobody got hurt..."

Bruce, that all seemed quite objective to me.

377, Thanks for the Honorable Mention! Your idea of pre-inflation was an excellent idea! I had (still have some) friends, Vietnam veterans, who feel to this day they are playing with house money. I have never gotten this sense in speaking with either WW2 or Korea vets. Every one of these friends would have had no problem going off the aft stairs.

Robert99, I agree completely. Once you commit to going off the stairs, it seems a few different things could happen. Pull immediately, as 377 said. Probably the safest thing to do, I suppose. Now, your fate is up to what you hit on the ground. Free fall, with the ensuing risk of tumble, disorientation, and possibly no pull. Survival odds diminish. Pull, partial deployment. Survival odds approach zero. Enjoy the ride, as in the James Dickey poem "Falling". The point is one must commit and accept the consequences, and this is what happens on the stairs. I would doubt that DBC was in any way timid.

Where do the wild conspiracy theories fit in, in the above classifications? I think the conspiracy theories will be filed under "joking and socializing". Following is a story of my youth, also to be filed under "joking and socializing". Monday levity. My grandpa was the caretaker of Iona Island, in the Hudson, and also at West Point. My uncle was the caretaker of the old mothball fleet of merchant ships just south of Iona Island, across from where the Indian Point nuclear reactors currently are. Not necessary info, except that one of them gave me an old cargo parachute; probably my uncle. It was a big sheet of fabric, with some cut off strings, if I remember. This was in 1960, and I was 8 years old. My guess is that the chute was what you divers would call a conical, and no more than 12-16 feet in diameter. I was fascinated with all things flying (my dad flew off carriers in WWII). I figured I could make myself a parachute (I am an engineer, after all). So, I found a cardboard box, and taped the top such that it was a flap; an inverted trap door. I used rope to make a harness and a ripcord; the ripcord simply opened the trap door. I reconnected the cutoff strings (using good Cub Scout knots, no doubt). I anchored the chute to the bottom of the box with rope, and packed all the fabric into the box. It was simple and elegant, for an eight year old. I wish I had taken a photo with the old Brownie. I am eight years old. I have no clue about fluid mechanics, acceleration due to gravity, and I am obviously lacking in common sense. But I am fearless and reckless. And, I watch too many cartoons. I was going to jump off the barn roof, pull the ripcord and float to earth. I figured the chute will pop right out and open instantly. Thank God I didn't have a ladder to get to the barn roof. So, I climbed one of the big pine trees....yeah, if I jump straight out, I will clear the branches. Another stroke of luck. Needless to say, the actual jump did not go as planned. I hit every branch between the alighting point and the ground, which is by the way covered with blackberry bushes (I used to pick them for my cornflakes). I didn't break anything, as I was very pliable in my youth. I did not fare so well regarding bumps, bruises and briars. I wasn't a no pull, as I deployed as soon as I jumped, but I didn't open the chute. I have never again had a parachute strapped to myself, although I have had the parachute-like safety harnesses we used in the AF to work on the wings and tails of C-5's. But, I am still a WHUFFO. Do I get an honorable mention with the skydiving community for this? So, then, what is the big deal about going off the aft stairs of a 727 at night?

I do not doubt that the timing of the release of the entire Uncle LD stuff and Gray's book were not coincidental, at least on the Cooper end of things. Gray at least stood to gain some publicity. Bruce, you must be on to something to get Marla so riled up.

Any accomplice implies conspiracy, which is someone else to keep a secret. So, how did he get to PDX? And, did the FBI ask this question of themselves, and investigate...such as other airlines, busses, taxis, etc? What were the results?

I think if one has the moxie to hijack an aircraft, one would not be fraidy scared to go out the back door in flight.