skyjack71 0 #21101 January 25, 2011 QuoteHere is a series of photographs with a 727 (guess who) in various stages of use and disuse. Okay - where is the aft stair door, all I see is the forward stair door. The 727 on the Nov. 1971 flight had 2 doors plus the aft stairway - OR am I completely wrong on this. Was the second aft side door added after they sealed off the lower Aft with the Cooper Vane...or are those modified 727's.Copyright 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 2013, 2014, 2015 by Jo Weber Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Farflung 0 #21102 January 25, 2011 QuoteCooper’s bag is described as 4x12x14 inches in size. What sort of bag is that? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Are you sure that is NOT the description I made of a bag I told Himmelsbach about which was in the possession of Duane Weber. I do NOT recall the size of the bag Cooper carried on being discussed other than ON the forums. I know that over the yrs it went from being called a sachel to a brief case...I had asked Himmelsbach about this and I don't remember the answer he gave me - but, it is all in my notes from 1996. Here is where my ‘Bag Size’ came from: http://foia.fbi.gov/cooper_d_b/cooper_d_b_part01.pdf Page 8, A bulletin from the FBI, right side of page. (Warning: Accessing the above link will activate cameras and microphones in your bathroom) This information was published in ‘Air Line Pilot’ magazine in Feb 1972. If you chatted with Himmelsbach before that time, then you may have been the source of those bag dimensions. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
377 22 #21103 January 25, 2011 Jo wrote:Quotehe is at the very least an inspiration to other troubled young men and excons around the world that they CAN change who and WHAT they are. Really? Duane? Tell me ONE person who has been inspired by Duane Weber's alleged turnaround. What proof have you that he changed his evil thieving conning ways? I know you loved him Jo, but Duane is hardly a candidate for beatification or even admiration. Time for some tough love and a reality check. 3772018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
georger 244 #21104 January 25, 2011 QuoteHere is a series of photographs with a 727 (guess who) in various stages of use and disuse. ‘Portland 1968’ features the Cooper plane in gleaming splendor three years before the hijacking and three years after manufacture. Anachronistically a C-131 taxis in the background with a 707’s aft hatch open as a display of the only rear exit on that plane. ‘Piedmont N383N’ is the same aircraft with a new registration, owner and paint job. The aft stairs are deployed as if to mock the fuel truck which is vapor locked. ‘Key Air N29KA’ has the earmarks of a Faded Rose. The Matterhorn White paint has that chalky patina that says deferred maintenance. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nYJcxhDtT0 ‘End of the Line’ with various parts removed and given the final dignity of a blind fold before being thrown into the smelter to be reborn as a screen door, lawn chair or some other ignoble item. I especially like the Piedmont photo you posted. Here's a couple more for you, also from Piedmont site. BTW: on the Piedmont site blog there is a post by someone claiming Cooper put his initials on the rear door; covered over by Piedmont. That has since been disproved, I guess. But there is also an anecdote by a former Piedmont stew describing how she used to 'give a little talk' to passengers on Piedmont flights, in that plane. that most people enjoyed. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sluggo_Monster 0 #21105 January 26, 2011 Here's one more plus an artful depiction. N467US on the ramp in Chicago. Web Page Blog NORJAK Forum Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guru312 0 #21106 January 26, 2011 QuoteHere's one more plus an artful depiction. N467US on the ramp in Chicago. Sluggo, you surprise me. In both of your pictures a silhouette is clearly seen beneath the port engine. Obviously, this is a Northwest ramp rat who is in on the hijacking and the picture proves that DB had an accomplice. The accomplice can be seen deactivating the Cooper Vane which is affixed on the port side. This action was necessary to allow the stairs to be lowered in flight. I wonder what his cut of the money was for doing this bit of sabotage. Nice work, Sluggo. [/humor]Guru312 I am not DB Cooper Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
georger 244 #21107 January 26, 2011 QuoteQuoteHere's one more plus an artful depiction. N467US on the ramp in Chicago. Sluggo, you surprise me. In both of your pictures a silhouette is clearly seen beneath the port engine. Obviously, this is a Northwest ramp rat who is in on the hijacking and the picture proves that DB had an accomplice. The accomplice can be seen deactivating the Cooper Vane which is affixed on the port side. This action was necessary to allow the stairs to be lowered in flight. I wonder what his cut of the money was for doing this bit of sabotage. Nice work, Sluggo. [/humor] Definately looks like the nefarious type. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skyjack71 0 #21108 January 26, 2011 QuoteJo wrote:Quotehe is at the very least an inspiration to other troubled young men and excons around the world that they CAN change who and WHAT they are. Really? Duane? Tell me ONE person who has been inspired by Duane Weber's alleged turnaround. What proof have you that he changed his evil thieving conning ways? I know you loved him Jo, but Duane is hardly a candidate for beatification or even admiration. Time for some tough love and a reality check. 377 You know you are taking that as a stand alone statement - be fair and put in the light it was meant to be. I am not a writer nor am I very good with the words. What I am trying to say is that Duane spent most of his early life in one prison after another. Was he just BAD to the bone or was there no alternatives other than working as a migratory farm worker or digging ditches? When someone has a record - even today getting the job and being able to keep it are not the best. Few jobs are available to the ex-cons where they are able to "shine". Most of the jobs are roofing, construction, plumbing, etc. Contractor jobs - require a background check in most states. An ex-con cannot be licensed to sell insurance or real estate or be an accountant or a banker. Duane had to lie and deceive and watch his back - he was a good salesman, but he was forever looking back and afraid he would be found out. The insurance licensing he acquired in multiple states was acquired illegally. Despite this he was successful in the industry. Can you even imagine what he could have done with his abilities had he not have been looking over his shoulder every time he made a sale or met someone that might turn him in? This was why he moved around so much. If there had been a program in place that would have allowed him to have "legally" have acquired his licenses - don't you think things would and could have been very different early on? If such a program had been in effect when he was released from San Quentin - what could he have done with his life? What could he have become? Legally there was NO way for him to succeed except as a laborer, so he slipped in the back door of the insurance industry. With the opportunity to legally have been an insurance agent in 1957 (with supervision and support) after his release from San Quentin...what do you think he could have done with his life? He exceeded his own expectations, but forever looking over his shoulder and always afraid it would be pulled out from under him if he was found out. This is what I am trying to tell you guys. If you still don't understand I do NOT know how to explain it to you. After I learn of the immense criminal record Duane Weber had in 1998 (even then the FBI did NOT reveal it in its entirety) and as much as I despise deception and thieves and con-artists - in retrospect I am amazed at what he did with his life. I want to see other lives changed the way his life was. He was a human being who felt like he was a failure in the eyes of all who loved him. Yes, he was a dirty rotten criminal - but there was a part of him that managed to survive his past...and he was loved by all who knew him. I hated him for the deceit for a long time after I found out from the FBI what he had been and where he had been...but, I have stepped beyond that. NO, I do NOT want his criminal record down played and NO he was not a HERO or Robin Hood, but I look at what changes in the sytem could do for others that have followed in his tracks. Yes, I think he is a good example of WHAT could be. Do you really think I am proud to have been married to Cooper? I want to do something that will mean others who desire to put their pasts behind them can do so without committing another crime. Why Not? You take something bad and make something good out of it. If the lives of others can be changed by what Duane Weber was and what he did - then so be it. It sometimes takes reverse psychology to get the attention of wayward young men and get them interested in really changing their lives. Too many of them end up just being re-incarcerated because the system does NOT usually work the way it is structured. How many of your clients are re-offenders? How many of them are actually given the opportunity to creat a clean slate for their lives? What kind of work is available to the sometimes very sharp and intelligent offenders? Now be fair and do not take what I say out of context.Copyright 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 2013, 2014, 2015 by Jo Weber Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
1969912 0 #21109 January 26, 2011 Quote I felt a lot like Holden Caulfield from Catcher in the Rye... You just made my day. Great story. "Once we got to the point where twenty/something's needed a place on the corner that changed the oil in their cars we were doomed . . ." -NickDG Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
377 22 #21110 January 26, 2011 Jo, Its tough for felon ex cons to get jobs, I agree with you. It's a problem that makes recidivism more likely. It's hard but not impossible for people with criminal records to get professional licenses. I know a lawyer and a physician's assistant who had drug and firearm convictions before they got licensed. They showed remarkable rehabilitation including thousands of volunteer hours helping impoverished people. Duane NEVER showed this kind of dedication to helping the less fortunate. You take food to the homeless. Show me comparable altruism by Duane. Nobody is beyond redemption as long as their heart beats, but few criminals like Duane turn things around and live straight lives. I see no evidence of remorse, no efforts to make his victims whole, nothing that evidences a new way of looking at his criminal actions. 3772018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BobKnoss 0 #21111 January 26, 2011 Why do you not address the content of KC's last will? Cap had the written request from Christensen that was included with his will, asking that he be made a patsy for DB Cooper. If we are talking TRUTH UNDER GOD, right and wrong and pure deception by hook or crook, the truth is NOT the KC story. Now, THAT is "the frickin' truth!!" A fable spun by the same hoaxer as the Gossett fable. I was told this 'will' information directly from Cap's son's mouth. This will be loudly denied, of course, but everybody needs an enlightening for a peep through the BS here. Blevins is like a big-top hawker, trying to change history at a profit. A broken record playing the same old nursery rhyme over and over. It is kinda like full volume speakers pointed at the VC or Waco. Don't taze me. bro! I'm only telling part of the truth. I COULD get real truthful, but I WOULD get tazed then, right? This is just the tip of the iceberg! Burn the fiction, Blevins! Nobody here is buying your crap. Show of hands??? Stow High In Transit. To music: It's just... a matter... of time..." ~Johnny Mathis? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BobKnoss 0 #21112 January 26, 2011 "I know you loved him Jo, but Duane is hardly a candidate for beatification or even admiration. Time for some tough love and a reality check." 377 ALL? All would include James Earle Ray, the rifle in your closet, Duane's over-the-top racial prejudice, McCoy, all the items you so adamently eliminate from your forum story. The FBI secretary from Cleveland, your conversations with the key witnesses you do not discuss. Those truths you want to just bury. Truth can not be selective. Duane was a VERY bad dude and a TOOL, not a worthwhile role model at all. He had a very nice friendly personality when he had purpose to use it, like on Tina and hundreds of other women. Does not count as a positive on the bottom line. You do need a reality check. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
smokin99 0 #21113 January 26, 2011 Quote ALL? All would include James Earle Ray, the rifle in your closet, Duane's over-the-top racial prejudice, McCoy, all the items you so adamently eliminate from your forum story. The FBI secretary from Cleveland, your conversations with the key witnesses you do not discuss. Those truths you want to just bury. Truth can not be selective. Duane was a VERY bad dude and a TOOL, not a worthwhile role model at all. He had a very nice friendly personality when he had purpose to use it, like on Tina and hundreds of other women. Does not count as a positive on the bottom line. You do need a reality check. Reality check 2: What's up with folks who ask to be banned, then when they get their wish, come back under another name?? Sigh.....Someone once compared this forum to the Hotel California....I say the Hotel California with occasional detours through the White Rabbit's hole....but....A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.....Winston Churchill Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
377 22 #21114 January 26, 2011 Self imposed bans should be revocable in my opinion. As I recall it wasn't a punishment but a request. He's hardly doing a stealth re-entry. 3772018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
377 22 #21115 January 26, 2011 Robert, How do you explain KC's alleged abrupt transition from law abiding guy, loyal wage earner, soldier, etc to one of the most clever innovative criminals of the 20th century? That's not usually the case on major crimes. There is almost always a long history of escalating criminal behavior. You have KC going from a peaceful guy with no record to a bomb toting skyjacker who takes down a $200,000 ransom then does what was thought to be impossible: jumps out of an airborne passenger jet with the loot. Please give us your thoughts on this unlikely abrupt metamorphisis. Maybe it's not so uncommon on skyjackings. I dont think McCoy had a prior criminal history, but he was a copycat. DBC was the original and there is a difference. MUCH riskier being the first. More unknowns. Takes more courage. 3772018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
EVickiW 0 #21116 January 26, 2011 377 says: Quote DBC was the original and there is a difference. MUCH riskier being the first. More unknowns. Takes more courage. Dan Cooper was a copycat from a failed hi-jacking two weeks earlier......... QuoteDan Cooper was a copycat. Just two weeks earlier in Montana Paul Cini, who declared himself a member of the IRA, tried to become a para-jacker on an Air Canada flight with a gun but was subdued by the crew as he tried to put on his parachute. Cooper instead relied on the plot of the 1970 movie Airport. He used the threat of a bomb in a briefcase instead. from http://www.super70s.com/Super70s/News/1971/November/24-DB_Cooper.aspMelvin Luther Wilson - Missing Person since September 1971: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03QLnFvk8Fs Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quade 4 #21117 January 26, 2011 Hey Bob, I thought you wanted to be banned from here so you could give up the addiction and arguments?quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
377 22 #21118 January 26, 2011 Rehab, abstinence, religion... nothing cures the DBCrack addiction. If you ban addicts from this alley they just smoke the stuff somewhere else. Bob is still "on the pipe" just like all of us. 3772018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BobKnoss 0 #21119 January 26, 2011 QuoteHey Bob, I thought you wanted to be banned from here so you could give up the addiction and arguments? Yah, Sucks, huh? My moral backbone sprouts porcupine quills when I read the things I KNOW to be bold faced lies and I am compelled by little blue and green men to draw my keyboard close to my chest and fire off their accusations. P.S. I searched the crowd during the State of the Union address for familiar faces and I found KC slouched in the back row wearing a chimp hairpiece and a blue and green pokadot tie. He didn't die in a tractor accident at all. This PROVES that this KC thing is just another cheap joke. Mr. Big is actually Jerry Thomas and I knew it all along, just needed to prove it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BobKnoss 0 #21120 January 26, 2011 "Just two weeks earlier in Montana Paul Cini, who declared himself...." They traded him a sandwich for his gun because he was hungry!!! Not exactly a Green Beret paratrooper to emulate, huh? Don't think there was enough time to train anybody in that short period. He was not part of the Project. Sorry. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
EVickiW 0 #21121 January 26, 2011 Did not say he was part of your "project". Just stated an earlier hi-jacking occurred prior to the Cooper Hijacking. Bob spews....QuoteHe was not part of the Project. Soooorrrrrryyy What are you so Sooooooooorrrrryy about? Mis-reading the posts? BTW....I don't think I would trade my gun for a sandwich...but I would consider a La La Palooza a fair trade.Melvin Luther Wilson - Missing Person since September 1971: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03QLnFvk8Fs Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BobKnoss 0 #21122 January 26, 2011 What are you so Sooooooooorrrrryy about? That was my programmed response to the topic of that incident. Not misreading anything. Sorry you don't understand. Sorry about a lot of stuff. So much effect for such a long time. Unbelievable. Sorry, I can't be as nice as everyone else on here. You are obviously a nice person, but you are having false concerns about your father. I want to be nice, but I have to be truthful. Your suspicions are unfounded and will only lead to the grief Jo Weber finds herself in. SHE is following the truth but can not accept the whole truth. I can't suggest that you pursue the Cooper case as your father. It did not happen. I'm sorry, you are a nice person, and I can not send you down Jo's path. That is what I am sorry about. I consider Jerry Thomas' comments supporting your theory to be criminal as I believe he knows the real truth. At the very least it is as cruel and as inconsiderate as one can get. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Orange1 0 #21123 January 26, 2011 you were right. Twilight Zone is the appropriate theme song for here. Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BobKnoss 0 #21124 January 26, 2011 Quoteyou were right. Twilight Zone is the appropriate theme song for here. Copyright©2009 by Jo Weber Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
EVickiW 0 #21125 January 26, 2011 The thing is I do understand...You were part of a Big Government Conspiracy. That is fine..go with it. I never said my father was DB Cooper. Again you have misunderstood. Maybe I should start a new discussion called 'Fathers who left their family in 1971 and never were heard from again' What do you think Quade?? It is also not your concern about any path I choose to take, whether that be my career, personal relationships or life in general. By looking at different perspectives I have made new friends - even new family!! As far as you being not so nice on here? You are basically in disagreement with everyone other than Jo, but yet you both disagree with each other. I would not call that being "not so nice". You have your opinion. That is fine. Jerry has never came into this forum and confirmed or denied anything about my Father.....Plus ....I am a big girl and can wade through the sh!t...if you get my drift. Now...if you have something constructive to say in the forum....do exactly that. Melvin Luther Wilson - Missing Person since September 1971: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03QLnFvk8Fs Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites