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quade

DB Cooper

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Georger says in part:

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'What was Kenny's grudge?



Kenny sent a lot of letters home to mother between about 1961 until the year of the hijacking. After that, he didn't write home much. Many of the letters express his frustration with the airline, i.e. the constant strikes, the low pay, as well as having to take odd jobs like digging for a construction company in Seattle or picking apples in season. And he was supposed to be a purser for NWA, a position of at least a modicum of respect. But he wasn't getting that. They put him through the training program, sent him overseas on the Orient routes 2 or 3 times a month, and ten years after his rehire he was still barely 'making it'. He wasn't alone. Not too many folks made a decent living with NWA, not back then. Maybe the pilots.

Former NWA employees who worked with KC said the same three things about him:

1) He was a quiet guy, basically unhappy with the airline, and seldom attended the union meetings.

2) You hardly noticed him.

3) After the hijacking, although everyone at NWA in Seattle was buzzing like crazy about what happened, (it was the sole topic of discussion at work) Kenny was the only one who avoided talking about it. His co-workers described this as 'strange'. Not just one employee...every one that was interviewed who knew him. However, none of them thought for a moment he could be the hijacker.

Speculation: I don't think for a moment (if he was the guy) that Kenny thought the whole idea up on his own. 'Mike Watson,' his good buddy and general all-around crook, had a hand in it. You can almost see how it might have happened. Mike no longer works for the airline, but Kenny does. Mike's heard about cash payouts for hijackings, it is big news. He puts up the idea to Kenny.

We know that Kenny (temporarily) was staying at the Watson's place in Bonney Lake over the summer of 1971, even though he had the apartment in Sumner. Mike, 'Katy Watson,' and even our new witness 'Helen J' told us this. This is when we believe the planning took place.

You are right when you say direct evidence is needed here. Oh, yes. Trust me...I have not given up on this. I think perhaps the TV show will either end up proving or disproving the KC case one way or another. Not the show itself, but what happens AFTERWARD. In a way, I am excited to see what might happen, that is, if a viable witness will step forward. You never know.

Quote

'You roll the dice...
You takes your chances...'



If KC were finally proven to NOT be the guy, I would be okay with it. He's a major suspect and someone needed to look into his life in depth. You give it your best shot. If he isn't Cooper, at least that might narrow the field and I would think I had done my job.



a lot of people were pissed and acting out - economy
rotten, Vietnam, protests, etc. There were nightly protests in my home town with bombs going off, fires, every window in the business district broken almost nightly, ....... a mess. (Even the Mormons were acting out!) So in that regard Kenny was just
one of the crowd of potential actors. This was 1971.

It sounds like even though quiet, Kenny was still
not withdrawn ... he must have had a social life of some kind? I dont get the picture of a seathing
psychopath writing a manifesto hiding in the woods,
or a semi social withdrawn person hatching a plot? Maybe Im missing something?

I think there has to be some specific spark which
ignites an underlying rage which then translates
into concrete planning, and execution ...

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G wrote:

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I cannot
image real skydivers turning on this thread or Quade
... whatever is going on.



Real skydivers can be vicious cannibals who eat members of their own tribe. I think every dropzone moderator has been attacked, ridiculed and provoked often for no good reason. It's a thankless task being a kennel keeper at a pit bull diet farm.

I actually think Quade would make a fine appellate judge. He sentences too harshly to be considered a fair trial judge. He does have a certain Solomonic quality in his reign as a moderator. Do you see it Georger?

377


Yes I want Snow back but damnit I dont have any
say in any event.... Snow brought some of this on
himself,, but I do believe in redemptive mercy in
the hands of a just and merciful God!

:P

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This procedure has been in place pretty much since WWII as it's the one that makes the most sense and allows the intercepting aircraft to have the most control over the situation.



Correct. Remember the Soviet intercept of Korean Airlines flight 007?

It gets dicey in cloudy conditions. One of a pair of USAF jets dispatched to do a practice intercept of a civilian plane off the East Coast in clouds collided with the target and caused it to crash killing all aboard. The interceptor was able to return to base where the ground crew found parts of human scalps embedded in wing seams.

377



see Snow's post
#Jun 2, 2008, 1:10 PM
Post #1958 of 19190 (5495 views)

In addition:

The further south 305 & the 106s got the worse
radar contact from McChord became - the T33s
were ordered up from PDX FAST. Now the controller
is having to help manage them also.

The F106s approached from the North at 20k feet
and 10 miles out on a parallel course with 305
almost "on top of" V23. The 106s passed over
305 and were vectored around in a wide arc so
they could come back in and adjust 1000 feet
above and 5 miles behind 305, slightly east of
305 still flying almost on top of of V23.

One F106 reported having brief visuals on 305.
but both 106s were having problems keeping 305
in their narrow radar cone(s) and staying behind .......
the 106s were relieved and the
T33s made their intercept.

Himmelsbach's description sounds basically
accurate. Neither 106 saw Cooper bail or had
him on radar at any time.

The 106s "were having a helluva time holding
their positions, it almost became critical" until
they were relieved and the T33s came in.

I dont believe the 106s were 'under' 305s altitude
at any time.

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Blevins wrote:
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This is why they never saw anything.

At first, they are almost two miles above 305 and ten miles away. On the next approach, after a wide arc, they are a thousand feet above, but still five miles behind the 727.

It's dark, it is raining, and you had better watch for those high spots along the edge of the Cascades. They screwed the pooch. The chase planes should have determined the exact position of 305 and stuck to its ass like glue. Otherwise, they never had a chance.



Still don't know why the SAGE system wasn't used for the intercept. F 106s had it. SAGE allowed ground based USAF radar and computers to control the F106's autpilot and steer it to a perfect target intercept. A two way data link was established between the F106 and the SAGE ground station.

As I recall a lumbering turboprop driven C 130 Herc transport was the only Air Force plane that actually intercepted and followed the 727. That must have really embarrased the F106 wing at McChord.

377
2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

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I have to say there's a lot of interesting reading here. What I find amazing though is those who think D.B. Cooper was killed doing this. They say there's just no way anyone could survive. There are plenty examples of people surviving what was thought to be unsurvivable. So how can anyone say that with absolute certainty? You can't, just like we can't say he survived for certain either.

Everyone talks about the cold and the clothes he was wearing. Maybe he needed to look like a businessman instead of being dressed for the task at hand. Maybe the business clothes were needed for a certain look after he was on the ground. I'm still trying to figure that one out but I definitely believe there was a purpose in his dressing that way and it had something to do with being on the ground, not in the plane, and not in the air. This guy obviously had a reason for what he did and how he did it.

The placard from the 727 was found in a cemetery. Maybe Cooper left it there on purpose. I'm mean really, what are the odds of that placard landing in a cemetery? Maybe by leaving it there he was making a statement. As meticulous as D.B. has appeared to be about things it wouldn't surprise me if it was left there on purpose. Was that placard ever finger printed?

I'm also thoroughly convinced that he had an accomplice or transportation in place on the ground. Now that would mean he would have to know where he was at in relation to the earth below during the flight and up until he left the plane. How hard would that be to do? If you knew where the plane was at in relation to the earth then you would have the navigation problem licked. A compass, a map, and a little math would get you pretty close. Why have the plane fly just below 200 knots? I think he was calculating where he was at. The plane could have flown slower than that. According to Boeing approach speeds for the 727 - 100 is 124 knots and the 727 - 200 is 133 knots. 200 is a round number and easier to do math with than say 178. If the pilot followed his instructions and kept it just under 200 and he was somehow figuring out where he was he wouldn't be off by much.

I know the chances of most people surviving something like this aren't all that great. But the right person and wham it's done.

I think back to Marcus Schrenker. If you don't know who he is Google his name. Marcus jumped from a plane where I fly my rockets at in an attempt to fake his own death. There's nothing there but fields, forests, creeks, cows, goats and a lost rocket or two. Yet a farmer picked this guy up, gave him a ride to police in Childersburg, AL.

Schrenker told officers from the Childersburg, Ala. Police Department that he was in a canoeing accident and asked for a ride to a hotel. Unaware of his pilotless plane crashing in Florida, officers agreed. When they returned to the hotel in search of Schrenker, he had disappeared. The officers learned he had paid for his room in cash before putting on a black cap and running into the woods next to the hotel. He went about 10 miles or so to a little town called Harpersville where he had a motorcycle in storage and he was gone until he was caught in Florida. This guy was from Indiana, flew to Florida enough to know about the vast open space and woods he chose to jump over in Alabama, put a motorcycle in storage less than 20 miles where he jumped from, and even had the police, unknowingly, help him escape the area. And this happened in January of 2009, not 1971. This guy really didn't plan this out all that well either and caught some lucky breaks. One he didn't have enough fuel in his aircraft to fly on out into the Gulf of Mexico and as soon as his plane crashed and there was not a body inside the game was up. Yet here he is 4 hours north being helped out by the local police in making his escape.

Obviously law enforcement in Childersburg did not know about the pilotless plane that crashed 4 hours south of there in Florida. Why? because they were not in touch with law enforcement down there, had no reason to be. Which brings up a question about D.B. At the time that he left the plane how many of the local law enforcement agencies in that area even knew about the hijacking? How many found out when they read the morning paper with their coffee? Remember this was 1971 and law enforcement agencies interacted with each other a lot less then they do now. And the FBI is not known for it's willingness to bring in other agencies now, how much worse where they about that in 1971? How many of the local sheriff depts found out the next day?

Back to Marcus Schrenker. This guy, from what I have been told, never even completed AFF. I can't confirm this to be true. but he does not hold a USPA membership. Also I can't find anyone to claim they taught him how to skydive either. And now through his attorney, he claims that when he jumped from his plane he did so with 1,400 ounces (50lbs) of gold attached to his body and that he hid it in the Coosa River. Estimated worth, approx 2 mil. Gold closed at 1364 an ounce yesterday making his loot worth 1.91 mil

So this highly experienced stunt pilot, jumps from his plane, gets a helping hand from a farmer then the local police dept. in making his escape only to get caught at a K.O.A. in Florida, broke, in withdrawals from the pain meds he was addicted to and suicidal.

Sometimes fact is weirder than fiction and if the truth ever comes out about D.B. Cooper I think we will find this to be the case in this mystery as well.

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JCW1966, Marcus Schrenker was dumb and is now living proof that sometimes the Almighty gives a special break to idiots and drunks. He could and did determine his jump point from his aircraft navigational instruments. He neglected to consider the increase in drag that the opened cabin door would cause after his jump and that resulted in the aircraft crashing just short of the Gulf of Mexico rather than in it.

Also, he did not anticipate that his aircraft, now flying on autopilot, would be intercepted by military aircraft that could determine that the windshield was not broken (as he had told ATC) and that the cabin door was ajar.

If he had had 50 pounds of gold, I don't think he would have made the flight in the first place. He was just trying to run out on the "life" that he had created.

For people like Schrenker, it usually comes down to money, liquor, and women (not necessairly in that order). And Schrenker apparently cut a wide swath with all three.

Crime does not pay (at least as Schrenker was doing it). Boom! Boom!

Robert

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Though not about Cooper, it seems applicable for trivia on a skydiving forum.

I found this popular (there’s that word again) slot machine game called ‘Mid-Life Crisis’. This is not like the old standard three reelers with some fruit and stars, no sir. As a player you enter the interactive world of a man in the clutches of a crippling task, to regain the coolness that never was.

Your job is to equip this curmudgeon with all the panache to join the Old Navy and Dockers demographic. Choose the hot tub and proper toupee for starters. There are also the other standbys like the cars (you know the kind, they don’t) and of course- skydiving.

Why would a game, named ‘Mid-Life Crisis’ have skydivers? I mean really, is this the engine that powers the Clockwork Orange and Lord of the Flies behavior? Oh well, it is just a game and I’m sure a purely random collection of symbols which is not inspired by any actual displays by real people. Sure would be embarrassing if it was.

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JCW1966, Marcus Schrenker was dumb and is now living proof that sometimes the Almighty gives a special break to idiots and drunks.

Robert



LOL, I have to agree with you there. But see that's also part of my point. If that dumb ass could get away with it for a few days until he was caught.....

And where he jumped has some nice clear areas to land in, but there's a lot of trees and very thick woods surrounding any open space of land in that area. He got very lucky he didn't end up impaled on something.

As far as his gold goes, who knows. Why did he even mention it? If he had the gold I could still see him doing it though because he wanted people to think he was dead. I haven't been down there since the news released that part. I figure there's people stomping and trespassing all over the place looking for it and it's probably not there. Probably an excuse to say I had it but I don't anymore and it's really somewhere else and he'll grab it 10 years from now when he gets out of prison.

Obviously D.B. had his crime planned out way better than the dufus jumping out of his plane over the state I live in.

Speaking of determining a jump point how hard would that have been in Cooper's case? If you know the plane is going to be flying from point A to point B at a certain speed I would think that one could figure it out. The "fly right under 200" has always intrigued me. The plane could have gone slower than that making for an easier exit but yet he wanted right under 200, why?

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JCW1966, Marcus Schrenker was dumb and is now living proof that sometimes the Almighty gives a special break to idiots and drunks.

Robert



LOL, I have to agree with you there. But see that's also part of my point. If that dumb ass could get away with it for a few days until he was caught.....

And where he jumped has some nice clear areas to land in, but there's a lot of trees and very thick woods surrounding any open space of land in that area. He got very lucky he didn't end up impaled on something.

As far as his gold goes, who knows. Why did he even mention it? If he had the gold I could still see him doing it though because he wanted people to think he was dead. I haven't been down there since the news released that part. I figure there's people stomping and trespassing all over the place looking for it and it's probably not there. Probably an excuse to say I had it but I don't anymore and it's really somewhere else and he'll grab it 10 years from now when he gets out of prison.

Obviously D.B. had his crime planned out way better than the dufus jumping out of his plane over the state I live in.

Speaking of determining a jump point how hard would that have been in Cooper's case? If you know the plane is going to be flying from point A to point B at a certain speed I would think that one could figure it out. The "fly right under 200" has always intrigued me. The plane could have gone slower than that making for an easier exit but yet he wanted right under 200, why?



As I recall it, he didn't mention speed as such but specified 15 degrees of flaps and the landing gear down. It was the NWA performance group in Minneapolis that told the crew that an indicated airspeed of 170 knots would produce the best range for the aircraft. They would have considered such things as the gross weight of the aircraft, the winds and atmospheric conditions, as well as the aircraft configuration.

Cooper apparently wanted to jump shortly after leaving Seattle. However, he didn't get his wish on that point. There was nothing that he could have had on his person in 1971 that would have produced any meaningful information about his location while he was on the aircraft. Basically, he probably could not have known his position to within a radius of about 20 miles at the time he actually jumped.

I agree with your earlier point that he probably had an assistant somewhere along the way to help his escape.

Robert

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Blevins wrote:

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This is why they never saw anything.

At first, they are almost two miles above 305 and ten miles away. On the next approach, after a wide arc, they are a thousand feet above, but still five miles behind the 727.

It's dark, it is raining, and you had better watch for those high spots along the edge of the Cascades. They screwed the pooch. The chase planes should have determined the exact position of 305 and stuck to its ass like glue. Otherwise, they never had a chance.



Still don't know why the SAGE system wasn't used for the intercept. F 106s had it. SAGE allowed ground based USAF radar and computers to control the F106's autpilot and steer it to a perfect target intercept. A two way data link was established between the F106 and the SAGE ground station.

As I recall a lumbering turboprop driven C 130 Herc transport was the only Air Force plane that actually intercepted and followed the 727. That must have really embarrased the F106 wing at McChord.

377



It was what it was.

Everyone realised the F106s were not the perfect
tool - had limitations (serious limitations). The
pilots were under strict orders with protocols to
follow. Nobody wanted a collision. The narrow
nose radar windows of 106s presented a practical
limitation coupled with risk. The 106s had to
adopt a defensive posture in case 305 would suddenly blow up. .... etc. They did the best they
could do. Sage radar was involved. The controler
was very busy so say the least. That is the picture
I have.

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JCW1966, Marcus Schrenker was dumb and is now living proof that sometimes the Almighty gives a special break to idiots and drunks. He could and did determine his jump point from his aircraft navigational instruments. He neglected to consider the increase in drag that the opened cabin door would cause after his jump and that resulted in the aircraft crashing just short of the Gulf of Mexico rather than in it.

Also, he did not anticipate that his aircraft, now flying on autopilot, would be intercepted by military aircraft that could determine that the windshield was not broken (as he had told ATC) and that the cabin door was ajar.

If he had had 50 pounds of gold, I don't think he would have made the flight in the first place. He was just trying to run out on the "life" that he had created.

For people like Schrenker, it usually comes down to money, liquor, and women (not necessairly in that order). And Schrenker apparently cut a wide swath with all three.

Crime does not pay (at least as Schrenker was doing it). Boom! Boom!

Robert



Beautiful! B| Holy crap!
Just beautful!!!!!

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Farflung wrote:
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Your job is to equip this curmudgeon with all the panache to join the Old Navy and Dockers demographic. Choose the hot tub and proper toupee for starters. There are also the other standbys like the cars (you know the kind, they don’t) and of course- skydiving.



Great slot machine graphic Farflung!

Silicon Valley is the undisputed epicenter of Mid Life Crisis Manhood. We have a busy Ferrari dealer to prove it.

These paunchy Porsche pilots don't do comb-overs, they get follicle transplants from the top docs and are not strangers to liposuction needles.

It's funny to watch them shopping at Nieman Marcus with their young trophy babes who are apparently so passionate about their man that they cant be bothered with mundane things like looking at price tags.

These front line fighters against entropy and oxidation show up at the DZ for a tandem once in a while, but I cant recall ever seeing even one in an AFF class. Perhaps they buy a Harley instead. Most old skydivers are grown organically and got into the sport young.

Look at the parking lot at any DZ on a Saturday. Exclude the tandem passenger cars. What you are left with wouldn't make a very appealing used car lot. This demographic doesnt appeal to affluent older guys in mid life crisis mode. That's too bad because we'd like to see their eye candy come to the DZ with them.

I wonder if Cooper was in a mid life crisis? He sure didnt seem to focus on the money. You'd sure feel like a hot shot if you could pull off Norjack successfully. Problem is, you couldnt brag to women about it.

377
2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

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R99 said:
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I agree with your earlier point that he probably had an assistant somewhere along the way to help his escape.



It sure would be hard to egress undetected from your landing area and get back to civilization without getting caught unless you had help from an accomplice.

There is another possibility though. Gossett was in the Army (reserves?) and could have jumped into Ft Lewis (very unilkely to be noticed at night) and blended in. He might have even left a car there and a uniform. Wasn't Ft Lewis consistent with a very early jump post takeoff?

I don't see convincing evidence that Gossett was Cooper, but there are viable Norjack escape plans that could have been pulled off without an accomplice. If Gossett was Cooper his Ft Lewis jump plan didnt work out because the pilots would not take off with the stairs lowered. By the time Cooper got the stairs lowered post takeoff the plane was far away from Ft Lewis.

377
2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

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You’re right about those modern day ‘hunter gatherers’ at the Neiman-Marcus. I’ve had to attract women the old fashioned way, through humility, sensitivity and a Henry the VIII codpiece.

Strange breed that group. They all feel so unique as they travel between Aspen, Corfu and Atherton. I’ve always wanted to live adjacent to East Palo Alto, but will probably never get the chance.

Still sitting the fence on Cooper and the money. He may have not thought that he would actually get as far as he did and was more surprised by the money as anything else. What would any of us do with a cash pile of money?

The elite struggle with the inverse side of the money equation. Who would worry about 0.14% (14 hundreds of one percent) regarding any purchase, investment or whatever? That is what percentage $200,000 represented to Meg Whitman’s, self funded campaign. What level of detachment must have been involved when ‘contracting’ with an agency to hire a part-time house cleaner for $25 an hour? I’ll bet she could have found a native born citizen, with all zee papers, if she offered fifty clams an hour and would have come across as a ‘Good Guy’ to boot.

Proportion, logic and relevance are usually the first victims when money is involved.

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More about witnesses to the 1971 incident:


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"I am going to make a judgement call from the telephone conversation the other night...and say the plane was probably low. He describe a couple of layer of clouds, but he could still see the sillouette of the plane and it was loud. His call was putting the plane way too low so I will double his call and say 7000 to 8000 ft. I wonder if at anytime the pilot dropped his altituted below the reported 8000 to 10000 ft. when he had to make adjustments in a curve - as I know they complained about the fear of the flaps at a specific degree."

"Another would be - when the lower stairway opened and they felt the pressure pump if that might not have cause some lowering of the altituted if only briefly. Maybe there was some communications with the skyjacker about this time. Some reason or something that would cause the pilot to pull back if only briefly and loose altitude."



:)I made 2 quotes from a prior post I made that no one responed to, but then this new guy comes in and mentions DRAG caused by an open door.

Question: Could the DRAG of the aft stair well being open have caused the plane to slow and to drop in altititude?
---------------------


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"There were just too many similar accountings in this same area. AT least I am not claiming nor are they claiming they could see anything other than the image of the plane beyond the clouds. This one man said the cloud cover was layered."



:) just cloud cover. Obviously certain areas may have had rain and more clouds than other area, but the area WAS NOT BLANKETED with A STORM.
Copyright 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 2013, 2014, 2015 by Jo Weber

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What would any of us do with a cash pile of money?



I'd grab a stack of bills and offer some to Tina (as a test). When she declined I'd know I had found a very attractive woman of good character and figure out a way to connect with her later sans disguise.

Isnt that what you'd do Farflung?

377
2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

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JCW1966 stated:

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The placard from the 727 was found in a cemetery. Maybe Cooper left it there on purpose. I'm mean really, what are the odds of that placard landing in a cemetery? Maybe by leaving it there he was making a statement. As meticulous as D.B. has appeared to be about things it wouldn't surprise me if it was left there on purpose. Was that placard ever finger printed?




:|JCW - you just asked the questions that have always puzzled me. In another post later on this same day - I believe it was Georger who stated he didn't know the placard was found in a Cemetery. Perhaps this is just part of my fantasy. I do know that the card was found by hunters and I knew about the cemetery in that area because Duane told me about it on our trip. The location mentioned in the books for the find is Toutle. How far is that from a cemetery?

JCW1966 stated:
Quote

I'm also thoroughly convinced that he had an accomplice or transportation in place on the ground. Now that would mean he would have to know where he was at in relation to the earth below during the flight and up until he left the plane. How hard would that be to do? If you knew where the plane was at in relation to the earth then you would have the navigation problem licked. A compass, a map, and a little math would get you pretty close.



:)
Copyright 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 2013, 2014, 2015 by Jo Weber

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The placard from the 727 was found in a cemetery. .



That would be news to me if true.

We have someone here who can probably
answer this.



I actually read that on here, it's the first time I had heard it. The problem is to go find it there's almost 800 pages of posts to rummage through

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Question: Could the DRAG of the aft stair well being open have caused the plane to slow and to drop in altititude?



I hope Farflung will respond to you Jo. He has flown big jets.

My guess is the speed loss from stair and open door drag would be only a few knots, certainly less than 10.

Jet airliners are on autopilot most of the time and maneuvers such as climbs, turns and descents are done by making inputs to the autopilot rather than hand flying the plane with the control column and rudder pedals. The autopilots have an altiitude hold feature to assure maintaining level flight, so you wouldnt get a lot of altitude variation unless the power settings were insufficient to hold the set altitude.

When I jumped from a DC 9 jet I didn't feel any deceleration at all when they opened the cabin door, but it wasnt faired into the fuselage outer surface, it was inside and at the top of the stairwell area. The stairs had been removed and we just jumped out of the now open area where the stairs were normally stowed. We had good looking flight attendants too, but none quite as appealing as Tina.

377
2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

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Jo, with all due respect, just exactly what does a chase plane sound like? How did they know it was a chase plane(s)?




A natural assumption: the chase planes were smaller and faster and that is why they did loops back and forth in the 727's path.

Ever hear one of these small fast planes? They sure do not sound like a Boeing 727. Most who live near bases would know these sounds...they may not know what kind of plane it was or why it was flying where it was.
Copyright 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 2013, 2014, 2015 by Jo Weber

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R99 said:

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I agree with your earlier point that he probably had an assistant somewhere along the way to help his escape.



It sure would be hard to egress undetected from your landing area and get back to civilization without getting caught unless you had help from an accomplice.

There is another possibility though. Gossett was in the Army (reserves?) and could have jumped into Ft Lewis (very unilkely to be noticed at night) and blended in. He might have even left a car there and a uniform. Wasn't Ft Lewis consistent with a very early jump post takeoff?

I don't see convincing evidence that Gossett was Cooper, but there are viable Norjack escape plans that could have been pulled off without an accomplice. If Gossett was Cooper his Ft Lewis jump plan didnt work out because the pilots would not take off with the stairs lowered. By the time Cooper got the stairs lowered post takeoff the plane was far away from Ft Lewis.

377



Cooper had an argument with Rataczak about the lowering of the stairs before take-off. Rataczak claimed that they couldn't take-off with the stairs in a partial down position. Cooper finally said to take-off with them up but he told Tina that he knew the airplane could take-off with them down.

The airliner took off towards the south and, about the time it rotated, it passed within about 1000 feet laterally of the Seattle VORTAC from which V-23 runs to the Toledo area.

In proceeding along the centerline of V-23, the airliner would have passed about 1 or 2 statute miles east of McChord AFB base at about 23 statute miles from the SEA VORTAC.

About 5 statute miles further along V-23, the airplane would have passed about 5 statute miles east of Gray AAF at Fort Lewis. Then as it continued along V-23, it would have passed to the east of several restricted areas that are probably part of the Fort Lewis complex.

The boundaries of Fort Lewis are not shown on any map I have, but it appears that from about the McChord AFB area there is nothing in the way of civilization (even today) that Cooper would have to avoid until he got to the Toledo area.

The airplane probably passed McChord about 7 minutes after take-off, and from that point Cooper would have a "window" of about 10-15 minutes to jump and land in a relatively unpopulated area from which he could probably easily slip through the brush into Fort Lewis.

So his goal may have been to land in the Fort Lewis area after dark and that may have been one reason for selecting this specific flight. Since sunset in Seattle that day was a number of minutes before 5:00 PM, and Cooper specified that the money was to be there at a time that was just after sunset, he probably planned to do a night jump all along.

But giving in to Rataczak, in order to get the airplane flying again, loused up a jump into the Fort Lewis area.

Robert

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Question: Could the DRAG of the aft stair well being open have caused the plane to slow and to drop in altititude?



I hope Farflung will respond to you Jo. He has flown big jets.

My guess is the speed loss from stair and open door drag would be only a few knots, certainly less than 10.

Jet airliners are on autopilot most of the time and maneuvers such as climbs, turns and descents are done by making inputs to the autopilot rather than hand flying the plane with the control column and rudder pedals. The autopilots have an altiitude hold feature to assure maintaining level flight, so you wouldnt get a lot of altitude variation unless the power settings were insufficient to hold the set altitude.

When I jumped from a DC 9 jet I didn't feel any deceleration at all when they opened the cabin door, but it wasnt faired into the fuselage outer surface, it was inside and at the top of the stairwell area. The stairs had been removed and we just jumped out of the now open area where the stairs were normally stowed. We had good looking flight attendants too, but none quite as appealing as Tina.

377



According to a post from Jerry Thomas a long time ago, NWA reportedly told Rataczak to hand fly the airplane all the way to Reno. But with the stair door open, the flaps down, and the landing gear down, the crew did report trouble in climbing, turning, and descending.

Reportedly, the aircraft could not make a standard rate two minute turn (3 degrees per second). In approaching Reno, the crew told the controllers that their best descent rate was slightly greater than 500 feet per minute. Then while on final approach to Reno, the aircraft had to break off the approach and do a 360 degree turn in order to get into the proper position.

Part of the final approach problem may have been that the 727 had a reputation for being difficult to stabilize on the final approach.

Robert

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377 Wildly fantasizes:

“I'd grab a stack of bills and offer some to Tina (as a test). When she declined I'd know I had found a very attractive woman of good character and figure out a way to connect with her later sans disguise.

Isnt that what you'd do Farflung?”

I would have used a three prong approach regarding Tina.

1. After noticing what a ‘God’s gift to Farflung’ Tina represented, I would have bailed on the hijacking idea and told her about my life’s ambition to build orphanages between working at the animal shelter and designing figurines for the Precious Moments Chapel.

2. If she remained nonplused, I would clutch my chest and feign a massive coronary while insisting that Tina write my dying declaration. I would bequeath my vast (and overstated) fortune to my wife and then confess that I had never known the joy of wedded union, my ‘last’ wish. An official on the plane conducts the ceremony in flight and I make a miraculous recovery (if you know what I mean).

3. Confess that I’m bad in the sack and become violently flatulent.

I know one of the tines of my trident would work, just not sure exactly which one.

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