WA WA - D.B. Cooper hijacking mystery, 24 Nov 1971 - #1

[leftcoast]

his word, your word or a typo?

is the rest of the story, yours or him telling you what he thinks happened?

Those were his exact words. He actually slipped and said "I" when referring to Cooper and drowning. The rest is his "guess" of what happened and why. Not mine,

leftcoast

 

[scandi]

j2mrish: When we go to visit him, we tell him that we are interviewing skydivers and asking them whether they think DB Cooper could have made it or not because we are writing a book. Part of what we tell him is true. We have interviewed several skydivers, including the rigger who packed Cooper's chute. So, once he starts talking, we just listen. At no time, have we ever accused him, and like I said, each time, he begins his speech with what he was doing the night of the hijacking. Trust me, the last thing this guy wants is attention.


leftcoast

There is so much more to this than I would have ever imagined!
Example: The guy who ran the money and 4 parachutes out to the plane was buck naked at DB's request. DB had this planned down to the gnat's eye!

Do you have any clue as to why DB requested 4 parachutes? Those $20's, 10,000 of them, how did they mark all of those bills and get them to SeaTac within a half an hours time or so from the time DB called them from the airplane? Does LE keep marked money like this on hand just for purposes like this? Was the stewardess who DB make sit down next to him the gal you refered to here. Do you think he really had a bomb or a simulation of one for scare tactics? Did he leave that case on the plane. Bet not or they would have had beaucoup fingerprints to work with.

My one idea just got shot down of him landing where he wanted to specificly.
They said his parachute did not have steering capabilities.

Sorry for these disjointed questions, but I just write them out as I think of them or I will forget! :doh: Scandi

 

[j2mirish]

Those were his exact words. He actually slipped and said "I" when referring to Cooper and drowning. The rest is his "guess" of what happened and why. Not mine,

leftcoast

tooo cool-
thanks for sharing --and answering the questions we --- ( ok mostly me ) have thrown at ya so far !

 

[leftcoast]

Scandi: I never heard the story of the guy bringing the money being naked. I don't believe that is true. Cooper had one of the flight attendants walk down the airstairs and retreive the money and chutes.

He ordered two sets of chutes for two reasons. IMO, to make authorities think he may have a flight attendant jump with him, hence, they wouldn't be able to sabotage the chutes and kill him during his jump. Also, this way he could open one of the chutes on the plane and make sure it worked properly.
\
He took the bomb, or road flares with him. I don't know if it was real. the ransom is not kept at banks. IT is easy to record the money. IT is simply run through a recordak machine which makes a photo copy of each twenty, and hence you have a record of each serial number.

Actually, a rigger has told me that all parachutes can be steered. It is just more difficult. As for Cooper, I think he pulled very close to the earth, maybe at 1,000 feet or less, as you don't want to be hanging in mid-air very long after exiting the plane. but, I do think that he landed basically straight down from where he jumped.

left

 

[j2mirish]

Scandi: I never heard the story of the guy bringing the money being naked. I don't believe that is true. Cooper had one of the flight attendants walk down the airstairs and retreive the money and chutes.

He ordered two sets of chutes for two reasons. IMO, to make authorities think he may have a flight attendant jump with him, hence, they wouldn't be able to sabotage the chutes and kill him during his jump. Also, this way he could open one of the chutes on the plane and make sure it worked properly.
\
He took the bomb, or road flares with him. I don't know if it was real. the ransom is not kept at banks. IT is easy to record the money. IT is simply run through a recordak machine which makes a photo copy of each twenty, and hence you have a record of each serial number.

Actually, a rigger has told me that all parachutes can be steered. It is just more difficult. As for Cooper, I think he pulled very close to the earth, maybe at 1,000 feet or less, as you don't want to be hanging in mid-air very long after exiting the plane. but, I do think that he landed basically straight down from where he jumped.

left

and how did you come upon the actual rigger as you said you spoke with in an earlier post?

 

[leftcoast]

jrmish The rigger who packed Cooper's chute is still alive and lives here on the west coast. His name is in several books. I looked him up and called him last summer and talked with him for about thirty minutes. He was thoroughly checked out by the fBI as a possible accomplice, but was eliminated. He was a very nice guy, and I am convinced he had nothing to do with this crime.

leftcoast

 

[scandi]

Scandi: I never heard the story of the guy bringing the money being naked. I don't believe that is true. Cooper had one of the flight attendants walk down the airstairs and retreive the money and chutes.

He ordered two sets of chutes for two reasons. IMO, to make authorities think he may have a flight attendant jump with him, hence, they wouldn't be able to sabotage the chutes and kill him during his jump. Also, this way he could open one of the chutes on the plane and make sure it worked properly.
\
He took the bomb, or road flares with him. I don't know if it was real. the ransom is not kept at banks. IT is easy to record the money. IT is simply run through a recordak machine which makes a photo copy of each twenty, and hence you have a record of each serial number.

Actually, a rigger has told me that all parachutes can be steered. It is just more difficult. As for Cooper, I think he pulled very close to the earth, maybe at 1,000 feet or less, as you don't want to be hanging in mid-air very long after exiting the plane. but, I do think that he landed basically straight down from where he jumped.

left

Thank you. Do you know if the pilot recorded the exact site where he left the plane By longitude and latitude, or however they would do this? Also, do you know if there was ever a map made to show where he most likely jumped out of the plane?

 

[leftcoast]

scandi: Actually, the pilot, co-pilot, and flight engineer did not know that Cooper jumped until the plane landed in Reno at 11:00pm. If was then when the captain went to the back of plane after landing, that he noticed Cooper was gone. Hence, they didn't have a longitude and latitude. HOwever, through examining records, they were able to determine that the trim on the plane changed at 8:13pm, and because of this, and an additional experiment, they were able to prove that Cooper most likely jumped at 8:13pm.


A map of the area where they think Cooper jumped is available. However, it extends from the Columbia river to about 20 miles north to Woodland, WA, and is about 20 miles wide. Hence, it is not very useful. don't forget, this was the first time somebody committed such a crime

left

However, the main focus of the search was the area around Lake Merwin

 

[j2mirish]

scandi: Actually, the pilot, co-pilot, and flight engineer did not know that Cooper jumped until the plane landed in Reno at 11:00pm. If was then when the captain went to the back of plane after landing, that he noticed Cooper was gone. Hence, they didn't have a longitude and latitude. HOwever, through examining records, they were able to determine that the trim on the plane changed at 8:13pm, and because of this, and an additional experiment, they were able to prove that Cooper most likely jumped at 8:13pm.


A map of the area where they think Cooper jumped is available. However, it extends from the Columbia river to about 20 miles north to Woodland, WA, and is about 20 miles wide. Hence, it is not very useful. don't forget, this was the first time somebody committed such a crime

left

However, the main focus of the search was the area around Lake Merwin

why would no one, know, he left the plane until they landed?

 

[leftcoast]

J2: They didn't know that Cooper left the plane because the back of the plane was completely empty, except for Cooper. He sent the final flight attendant to the cockpit once the plane had taken off from Seattle, and told her not to come back. Hence, everyone, pilot, co-pilot, engineer, and one flight attendant were in the flight deck, and Cooper was left alone in the rear. So, for about one half of an hour, nobody knows what Cooper was doing in the back of the plane. He spent some of the time trying to get the aftstairs down, and the rest was spent waiting for his jumpsite. IMO

left

 

[j2mirish]

J2: They didn't know that Cooper left the plane because the back of the plane was completely empty, except for Cooper. He sent the final flight attendant to the cockpit once the plane had taken off from Seattle, and told her not to come back. Hence, everyone, pilot, co-pilot, engineer, and one flight attendant were in the flight deck, and Cooper was left alone in the rear. So, for about one half of an hour, nobody knows what Cooper was doing in the back of the plane. He spent some of the time trying to get the aftstairs down, and the rest was spent waiting for his jumpsite. IMO

left

thanks again-- off to do some reading !!

please keep checking in- be a regular-- dont---blow away into the wind--
K ??

 

[scandi]

scandi: Actually, the pilot, co-pilot, and flight engineer did not know that Cooper jumped until the plane landed in Reno at 11:00pm. If was then when the captain went to the back of plane after landing, that he noticed Cooper was gone. Hence, they didn't have a longitude and latitude. HOwever, through examining records, they were able to determine that the trim on the plane changed at 8:13pm, and because of this, and an additional experiment, they were able to prove that Cooper most likely jumped at 8:13pm.

A map of the area where they think Cooper jumped is available. However, it extends from the Columbia river to about 20 miles north to Woodland, WA, and is about 20 miles wide. Hence, it is not very useful. don't forget, this was the first time somebody committed such a crime

left

However, the main focus of the search was the area around Lake Merwin

Oh, Lake Merwin, ringed by a dappling of cute little vacation cottages! I sold a little cottage there when I was selling RE in Vancouver, in fact in 1978. If he landed there, don't you think he would have had his escape from the area all planned? He wouldn't hitch with a parachute turned money saq LOL And they never found remnants of anything he had with him that night, righ?

Leftcoast, his house, does he have lots of stuff scattered here and there, like he collects things and never throws anything away, or is it precision cleanliness?

 

[j2mirish]

Oh, Lake Merwin, ringed by a dappling of cute little vacation cottages! I RE in
Vancouver, in fact in 1078. If he landed there, don't you think he would have had his escape from the area all planned? He wouldn't hitch with a parachute turned money saq LOL And they never found remnants of anything he had with him that night, righ?

Leftcoast, his house, does he have lots of stuff scattered here and there, like he collects things and never throws anything away, or is it precision cleanliness?

ok lc- your off the hook on this one- --- scandi- why the question about his house?

 

[scandi]

ok lc- your off the hook on this one- --- scandi- why the question about his house?

Some people keep a tidy home and regularly get rid of things they might later regard as junk, and then there are those who are savers In fact a lot of older people I have known in my day have been that way!. I'm not that old LOL, but for instance, I married a guy whose dad was there when that Russian plane landed in Vancouver when it got in trouble in the 30's. It was a big deal, believe me. Well one thing my hubby brought to the marriage was an old tin can that was discarded by this Soviet flyer as he stepped off the plane, and it had held food of some sort.

So a lot of people save things for sentimental reasons, and those of the criminal ILK oftentimes save something to remind them of the crime. In this case I think the guy they expect being DB is quite proud of what he did and would want to maintain the posterity of the crime as it is now a part of history. He has to know this, and I'd bet you if he has a memento from that night he would never destroy it. It means too much to him to have been that wiley and actually never be arrested in the case.

Just thinking, and I could be all wet.

 

[j2mirish]

Some people keep a tidy home and regularly get rid of things they might later regard as junk, and then there are those who are savers In fact a lot of older people I have known in my day have been that way!. I'm not that old LOL, but for instance, I married a guy whose dad was there when that Russian plane landed in Vancouver when it got in trouble in the 30's. It was a big deal, believe me. Well one thing my hubby brought to the marriage was an old tin can that was discarded by this Soviet flyer as he stepped off the plane, and it had held food of some sort.

So a lot of people save things for sentimental reasons, and those of the criminal ILK oftentimes save something to remind them of the crime. In this case I think the guy they expect being DB is quite proud of what he did and would want to maintain the posterity of the crime as it is now a part of history. He has to know this, and I'd bet you if he has a memento from that night he would never destroy it. It means too much to him to have been that wiley and actually never be arrested in the case.

Just thinking, and I could be all wet.

no - i dont think you are wet at all- good thought there- what could he have kept?

 

[leftcoast]

One of the twenties, the ransom note, the airline ticket, his suit, the parachute,

Yes, scandi, that is a good thought. I agree that he did keep something. I think part of him is very proud of being world famous. Let's face it, the guy is very intelligent and is no coward. I think that is why he likes to talk about the crime.

BTW HE lives in a small house that is very tidy. Not much junk. He actually lives in Oregon, a few hours from Portland, basically in the middle of nowhere.

left

 

[fivekidz4me]

I would imagine he has kept his "real" birth certificate or drivers/pilots license, probably in a safe deposit box, maybe with a couple of twenties, and maybe even a detailed rundown of how he pulled it off...wonder if he keeps a key to the safe deposit box on his keyring to remind him of his famous escape...along with newspaper clippings...

 

[j2mirish]

does your guy look like this at all ?

 

[j2mirish]

why didnt the airlines know who was left on the plane when he handed over people for money & parachutes-- even thouhg he may have been able to walk on the plane with a "bomb" back then, wouldnt there have been a passenger list, for the to deduce who was left on the plane?:waitasec:

 

[leftcoast]

j2: Same nose, but he doesn't have much hair left. He looks like a cross between that picture and the other sketch of Cooper (aka the Bing Crosby sketch) which shows a man with a rapidy receeding hairline. It's funny, but through this, I have learned how difficult it is to describe to somebody, exactly what a third party looks like. I think I would be a crummy witness.

Some witnesses said that Cooper's hair was shiny, as if it was dyed or he had a wig on.

left

ps In my opinion, from seeing pictures of our suspect from 1973, I think he most resembles the guy from the Soprano's, James Gandolfino, or whatever he name is. Same receeding hair, kind of a long nose, looks mean. Yes.