DB Cooper

[skyjack71 0]

You take the least little thing and turn it into TRASH. I have done nothing except to describe the things that I experienced with Duane over the yrs. I have not embellished. YOU were NOT there - if you were then MAYBE you would understand.

I am not a writer and all I know how to do is make an accounting in the best way I know how. Just because you and others might not have my ability for recall is not my fault and this does not make me someone who is changing a story.

Perhaps I should humilitate myself by bragging a little about my ability of recall. In 1996 I went to take the FL Real Estate examine. The average grade was around 78.

After the examination 5 of us where asked to remain while everyone else was dismissed. Since my last name started with a W...I commented upon enter the room that I was used to being last. He told me that WAS NOT the REASON I was last. Asked me to sit down and swear to an oath. My eyes must have been big as saucers - I thought OH my GOD what did I do!

He proceeded to tell me I had scored a 98 and this had NEVER been done before. He also told me they took the liberty of viewing the answer sheet, BECAUSE the score was so high. Had I NOT have erased two correct answers I would have had a perfect score - NEVER DONE in the history of that test.

To this day when I go back to Pace I am introduced to the younger agents as the REASON for the FL Real Estate Exam being so hard.

First and foremost -I am not really that smart. I just had an uncanny ability to recall what I have seen and read. I was an above average high schools student but not the head of the class. Some subjects I despised and did NOT excel in. I hated foreign lanuage - and to this day I still do...my mind will not let me assimilate information that way.

Math, science, history, geography, physic and english I did well in and those are the things that kept my over all score above average thru high scool...Latin and French - I barely survived (by barely survived I mean B's or B minus just was not acceptable) to my standards..but was the BEST I could do with those 2 courses.

Having book knowledge and common sense are 2 different animals. I did lack the common sense thing - Hence MOST likely to get lost in a crowd. I did not and still do not always get HUMOR and I cannot tell a joke.

I have NOT wanted to talk about this ability of past recall and being able to excell in certain areas, but your CONSTANT attacks have caused me to do something I did NOT want to do in a public forum.

THEREFORE, if you cannot remember when you were 3 yrs old - then STOP attacking my recall ability. I could BRAG about some other things, BUT let it go at that. Write your dirty little stories, but don't write about me or rewrite what I have said and make it sound DIRTY. This is the very REASON I have NOT let anyone TELL my story.

Every writer out here thinks they have to engarnish the truth with lies and dirt....the truth will always stand the test of time. This same thing happens with reporters and individuals doing documentaries. Everyone thinks they have to tell a better story than the last person...and to do this the truth is often obscured or the myths become entangled with the truths.

GOD as my witness. What I have told is the truth and IF YOU DON'T KNOW NOW YOU NEVER WILL.

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

[Amazon 7]

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I don't know what the truth is about the non-functioning reserve chute that Cooper took with him, but on the Seattle FBI website it says this in their Cooper section:

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'Cooper asked for four chutes in all; he jumped with two (including one that was used for instruction and had been sewn shut)...'

With an NB-6 and the round that it contained... his odds are very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very low that you would ever need a reserve.

That NB-6 bailout rig and parachute are esentially a reserve

[Amazon 7]

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You could have stopped on about the fourth or fifth 'very'.

My point was that WolfRiverJoe said the dummy reserve was NOT sewn shut. FBI says it was. Who is right?

I understand now about the NB-6, though. But that other parachute went SOMEWHERE. Yet, most of the skydivers here say there was no place on the NB-6 to even attach the dummy reserve.

The obvious question: What happened to it?

Probably buried with the NB-6 some where out there.

Just a thought... depending on which hardware was on the reserve it would be possible to hook it to the harness of the NB-6 by sliding the webbing into the snaps.

I can show ya if you are interested.. I have a "few" old harness and containers.. and a few different belly mount reserves in the shed

[skyjack71 0]

I under stood it was marked with an X - but, then that also might be a rumor.

The paper sack - was a lunch size paper sack and I have always believed he carried something on he picked-up on the last minute - such as hooks to connect the container with the money to a support he had around his waist or rubbers ankle rubbers for his shoes.

This support was like a back supporter - with staves in it.
These metal staves - with the right apparatus could pick-up some kind of vibrations. I believe 377 discounted my theory on this long ago.

Duane also told me about his wife making him a bag he could use to carry things around his waist ...but never told me what for. The ex-wife also told me some strange things before she died which to this day I can make NO sense out.

She also mentioned this waist container she made for him. Similar to the fanny packs of today, but less obvious and with pockets all around it...I cannot even imagine what that was for or why she made such a container for him other than so he could put stolen wallets and items in it to avoid being suspect by security when he commited thefts from hotel rooms or in bars.

I have posted a strange picture of Duane which was among the items that appeared in our home in 1990. When my daughter looked at the picture she said the same thing I was thinking - "What does he have on under that jacket". We knew Duane for many yrs..and during those early yrs he was NOT portly as he appears in this picture which I am reposting. I do NOT know when this picture was made nor where...I have inquired of the forum if they could ID the area in the past.

Can anyone explain this picture other than to say he was heavy because at that time he did NOT have a belly and when he did acquire one it WAS NOT that high.

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

[SKYWHUFFO 1]

Robert,
Maybe i am not getting what you are asking? What are all these people going to attest to? That the canopy found at Amboy is of the Cooper ERA ? We can know that from the serial information stamped on it. You keep mentioning NB-6. that in not the canopy. that is the rig. The AMBOY find was a canopy ONLY no rig.
Nobody but Cossey had/has direct knowledge of the canopy in the reserve( it is not a chute it is a canopy) and i question his knowledge of what really was there after all these years.
The question I have for you is what are the odds of finding a 2ft by 2 ft GREEN colored reserve in the woods SOMWHERE along the flight path and even worse now post MT ST. Helens. The odds of that are slime to noe and slim just left.

[skyjack71 0]

Does anyone have any photos of the OLD RED LION which was on the WA side at the foot of the bridge just off of I-5.

I saw the new one, but it does NOT look like it did in 1979 when Duane took me to Vancouver.
Can anyone in the area obtain photos of the old building prior to 1979. Better yet - photos from 1971 or before of the old motel.

This picture is obviously taken in the fall as the leaves have fallen off the tree in the back ground.
I am the one who provided an approximate date for the photo, I did this by comparing it with other photos provided to me by the ex-wife of that time era. Mostly by camera use - I have no knowledge with which to base this on.

I do not know if the hotel was called The Red Lion in 1971.

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

[Amazon 7]

Quote

I under stood it was marked with an X - but, then that also might be a rumor.

The paper sack - was a lunch size paper sack and I have always believed he carried something on he picked-up on the last minute - such as hooks to connect the container with the oney to a support he had around his waist.

This support was like a back supporter - with staves in it.
These metal staves - with the right apparatus could pick-up some kind of vibrations.

Duane had also told me about his wife making him a bag he could used to carry things around his waist ...but never told me what for. The ex-wife also told me some strange things before she died which to this day I can make NO sense out.

She also mentioned this waist container she made for him. Similar to the fanny packs of today, but less obvious and with pockets all around it...I cannot even imagine what that was for or why she made such a container for him other than so he could put stolen wallets and items in it to avoid being suspect by security when he commited thefts from hotel rooms or in bars.

I have posted a strange picture of Duane which was among the items that appeared in our home in 1990. When my daughter looked at that picture she said the same thing I was thinking - "What does he have on under that jacket". We knew Duane for many yrs..and during those early yrs he was NOT portly as he appears in this picture which I am reposting. I do NOT know when this picture was made nor where...I have inquired of the forum if they could ID the area in the past.

Can anyone explain this picture other than to say he was heavy because at that time he did NOT have a belly and when he did acquire one it WAS NOT that high.

No Jo... he is not wearing a "Jaws" rig

[skyjack71 0]

What is a "JAWS" rig?

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

[smokin99 0]

From everything i've read, Cooper left 1 intact back chute, and one cut up chest reserve, some cig butts, and a tie and tie tac on the plane.
He jumped with, or otherwise disposed of, 1 back chute, one dummy chest reserve, 1 briefcase with (fake?) bomb contents, 1 pair of sunglasses, 1 overcoat, 1 pair slide-on shoes, 1 suit (shirt, pants, coat), 1 paper bag with unknown contents, possibly some box lunches, and 200,000 in a bag tied up with cord. Is that pretty accurate?

Now the folks that think he met his maker that night surmise that he and all of his stuff (except for the money found at tena's bar) is either at the bottom of a river, in the ocean, succumbed to the elements and got eaten by bears, or he tunnelled into the ground.

I kind of get the water thing - I guess it's possible for someone to go under with all that stuff and none of it is ever found. And I guess I can picture wild animals munching on cooper and the box lunches, though seems like the parachutes would be a hard swallow.

The tunnelling part though I just don't get. I guess I just can't picture it in my mind. Seems like if someone fell with all that stuff and went into the ground, there would, at the very least, have been evidence of the hole he made or stuff scattered around. I don't doubt it necessarily, I'm just asking someone that knows to explain the tunneling thing to me.

Just something that has always bugged me and I know I should just search for it myself but i'm tired and I just broke the lens out of my last pair of readers.

but....A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.....Winston Churchill

[skyjack71 0]

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I am tired and I just broke the lens out of my last pair of readers.

I just did worse than that - ate 3/4 of a coconut creme pie with a merigue - Now that is a reason to blush.

Oh, and I am 5 ft 6-1/2 inches tall and weigh 122 lbs - and gluten intolerant (celiacs) so the damn thing did NOT taste anything like my fabulous pies of past days.

Also I do NOT look like a Bag Lady - someone in WA and OR gave that description to another party. I expect it was because I wore Sandals with socks. I am unable to walk safely with large clunky rubber soled shoes due to a hip and knee problem...nor can I find shoes to fit 9 AAAA or 9 SS. I also use a cane for support due for the knee and hip (but not in my home or on familiar territory).

I was unable to carry my warm coat due to the bulk so layered my clothes (but, had to buy a nylon light quited jacket at a thrift store because it got so cold). I had a baggy pair of pants I wore in the room at night for comfort.

When I would go outside to have my night time smoke - I had already taken my hair down and just had it in a rubber band at the back of my neck. So I guess I looked like a BAG LADY to them standing outside in the cold all bundled up hovering in an alcove to poison my lungs.

They don't have rooms in WA or OR with private balconies you can use to smoke on. I do not smoke in my own home nor in my car...but the tension I experienced on that trip caused me to regress from my 2 or 3 a day to the point I stopped counting.

Now I am having a hard time getting back to the 2 or 3 a day and some days none at all...I am what you call a sneak smoker...and a tension smoker.
Well, so I made it up - have to have an excuse.

I got a kick out of the BAG LADY thing.

The Real Cooper searchers are SURE very very very quiet right now...probably just the holiday coming up or could it be SOMETHING is getting ready to POP? What did the OLE BAG LADY dig up in OR and WA? What has the FBI found? Maybe they have a NEW suspect? Maybe they are just full of themselves?
Maybe, Maybe and Maybe Not - I never dare get my hope up.

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

[377 22]

Was the Amboy canopy made of ripstop fabric? If not, I'd bet BIG odds that Cossey wouldn't be using it in a bailout rig in 1971. Was ripstop even used in 1946 military canopies? When was ripstop invented?

377

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

[377 22]

Jo wrote:

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I just did worse than that - ate 3/4 of a coconut creme pie with a merigue -

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I am what you call a sneak smoker

Sounds like a typical case of the "munchies" to me Jo. What are you smoking?

377

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

[smokin99 0]

Something else that I've wondered about...what is the the guy at 1:06 carrying....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VY6jzgWJ7c

And in case you worry about the myths and the legend dying out....DB....the next generation.... Brunette Tina and a downright nasty DB (he punches Tina once.....what a cad).... These made me laugh.....

Golden Parachute Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWyPYdn030s

Golden Parachute part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SQaJZQMcyo&feature=related

Golden Parachute Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0oQbWa0Xlg&feature=related

Happy Saturday

but....A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.....Winston Churchill

[Robert99 50]

What could be in Cooper's paper bag? One thing that he could have foreseen the need for is a cloth helmet and goggles. They wouldn't take up much space at all.

Robert

[Robert99 50]

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You could have stopped on about the fourth or fifth 'very'.

My point was that WolfRiverJoe said the dummy reserve was NOT sewn shut. FBI says it was. Who is right?

I understand now about the NB-6, though. But that other parachute went SOMEWHERE. Yet, most of the skydivers here say there was no place on the NB-6 to even attach the dummy reserve.

The obvious question: What happened to it?

Probably buried with the NB-6 some where out there.

Just a thought... depending on which hardware was on the reserve it would be possible to hook it to the harness of the NB-6 by sliding the webbing into the snaps.

I can show ya if you are interested.. I have a "few" old harness and containers.. and a few different belly mount reserves in the shed

Amazon, Do you have the hardware from an NB-6 rig that you are willing to sell? If possible, I would like to get all the metal parts from the container and including the pilot chute spring and the metal cone that was on the pilot chute.

Also, IMHO the NB-6 was not suitable at all even for a jury-rigged chest reserve. The NB-6's "X" type harness would probably result in taking the jumper's head off in the event the reserve was deployed and slid up that harness.

Robert

[377 22]

I agree 100% with Amazon. An NB6 (or NB8, Cossey has said both) with a C9 is a VERRRRRY reliable rig. A reserve really isn't needed. Fighter pilots don't have reserves.

Robert99, what are you planning to do with the metal fittings? Run some magnetometer calibrations? Don't forget the springs in the pack opening bands, they are covered in fabric but are metallic not elastic bands.

377

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

[377 22]

Here is some cheap NB6 hardware, but no ripcord, and other stuff is missing.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Parachute-pack-T-34-new-NB-6-Container-60A114E2-52-/370422799213?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item563eeb5b6d

377

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

[Robert99 50]

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I agree 100% with Amazon. An NB6 (or NB8, Cossey has said both) with a C9 is a VERRRRRY reliable rig. A reserve really isn't needed. Fighter pilots don't have reserves.

Robert99, what are you planning to do with the metal fittings? Run some magnetometer calibrations? Don't forget the springs in the pack opening bands, they are covered in fabric but are metallic not elastic bands.

377

377, I must say that I agree with you that no reserve in this instance is better than a jury-rigged reserve.

On the hardware, we have to look at all the angles. But this may require a custom made metal detector to have any value in this matter.

Robert

[quade 4]

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What could be in Cooper's paper bag? One thing that he could have foreseen the need for is a cloth helmet and goggles. They wouldn't take up much space at all.

Why would anyone ever need a "cloth helmet"? I'll tell you; they don't -- ever. An experienced skydiver would know that. If you assume DB Cooper was an experienced skydiver, you can pretty much rule out the idea of a "cloth helmet." Besides which, that's something not in evidence anyway.

You may have a point with goggles, but they could just as easily fit into an inside jacket pocket.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[skyjack71 0]

What 1:06 are you talking about.
Is it a picture of the plane while it was on the ground. Remember I only have dial-up and cannot play those clips.

Can you FREEZE the segment you are talking about and post it?
Please.

I have always wondered WHY no pictures are shown of the FBI agent delivering the "package".
I have consistently claimed the money did NOT go out of that plane in the Whitish Bank bag, but it is like a tree falling in the forest.

The money went out of that plane in a "satchel" or case with a flat rectangular bottom. It was large enough to hold 2 very large city phone books...such as N.Y. or Chicago with room left over. It was not as wide at the phone books - so you have to picture them placed into the container with the spine down and consider the flexibility of the phone books. There would still have been room on the ends to consider because a phone book is only 11 inches long.

Since I have never seen a N.Y. phone book I have to go by what someone told me...someone else who saw that container and whose description was the same as the container I donated to the Mission after Duane died.

We may never know what was in the paper bag or WHY the FBI was never able to present the paper bag into evidence. I still think it may have been rubbers he put over his shoes that buckled at the ankle. I also know that Duane had a pair of shoes he held onto for yrs, but he never wore them because they were out of style. The were a pebble/alligator grain - they came up high with a zipper. I currently have no recall of the color, but I did in the past. Now, just too much time has passed and I am getting older with more important things to remember,

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

[377 22]

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Why would anyone ever need a "cloth helmet"

If it's lined with tin foil, the government's satellite based thought detectors wouldn't be able to get a reading on Cooper. I wear one at all times.

Robert, why would you need a "special" metal detector?

Let's fly a P3C (update 3) with a proton based magnetometer over the area at 100 ft. We'll know where every rusty nail lies.

377

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

[Robert99 50]

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Quote

What could be in Cooper's paper bag? One thing that he could have foreseen the need for is a cloth helmet and goggles. They wouldn't take up much space at all.

Why would anyone ever need a "cloth helmet"? I'll tell you; they don't -- ever. An experienced skydiver would know that. If you assume DB Cooper was an experienced skydiver, you can pretty much rule out the idea of a "cloth helmet." Besides which, that's something not in evidence anyway.

You may have a point with goggles, but they could just as easily fit into an inside jacket pocket.

Quade, I guess I have spent to much time in open cockpit airplanes. In my limited jumping experience in the early 1960s, I always wore a hard helmet and goggles. And the hard helmet usually had some new dents in the back, caused by the riser hardware, after each jump.

Robert

[Robert99 50]

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Quote

Why would anyone ever need a "cloth helmet"

If it's lined with tin foil, the government's satellite based thought detectors wouldn't be able to get a reading on Cooper. I wear one at all times.

Robert, why would you need a "special" metal detector?

Let's fly a P3C (update 3) with a proton based magnetometer over the area at 100 ft. We'll know where every rusty nail lies.

377

377, Please arrange for the P3C at your earliest convenience. I assume you will also pay for the related expenses, which shouldn't be more than a million or two.

Robert

[quade 4]

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In my limited jumping experience in the early 1960s, I always wore a hard helmet and goggles. And the hard helmet usually had some new dents in the back, caused by the riser hardware, after each jump.

And a hard helmet makes sense. Far more sense if you want to consider DB Cooper as an experienced skydiver. One that would know the toughest part of this adventure would be the landing and possibly bashing his head on rocks in the middle of the night. Something the "cloth helmet" is absolutely useless for.

Unfortunately, a hard helmet requires more space than the paper bag.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[1969912 0]

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What 1:06 are you talking about.
Is it a picture of the plane while it was on the ground. Remember I only have dial-up and cannot play those clips.

It's just the news footage of the passengers getting off the plane. There is a shot of a guy holding a paper and string wrapped package (about the size of a phone book). You've no doubt seen it before.

"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