DB Cooper

[quade 4]

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Quade wrote:

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However, it should be noted, DB Cooper would have had NO access to a DME. There's no indication he carried one and even if he did he would have needed access to external antennas for it to operate nor the 24 volt power required to operate it. At the time, a DME was a fairly large and sophisticated piece of equipment.

Good points about DME being impractical Quade, but there are all sorts of tricks one can use with a cheap 1971 vintage handheld VHF receiver to get estimates of distance and direction to known stations. Hams use body fade techniques (interposing your body as a shield for attenuating when between the receiver antenna and the direction to the transmitting station). You can get crude direction info from body fade without a directional antenna. Range can be estimated by reducing telescoping antenna length and seeing at what point the received signal fades out.

I want Cooper to have used radios because it adds a tech twist to the mystery, but there is zero evidence that he did.

377

I would challenge somebody to do an experiment in a moving airplane to use it as a spotting technique and see how well it turns out.

My guess; the area of uncertainty is going to be huge. If for no other reason than the aircraft itself would have a non-uniform attenuation pattern of blocking outside signals.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[skyjack71 0]

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Good points about DME being impractical Quade, but there are all sorts of tricks one can use with a cheap 1971 vintage handheld VHF receiver to get estimates of distance and direction to known stations. Hams use body fade techniques (interposing your body as a shield for attenuating when between the receiver antenna and the direction to the transmitting station). You can get crude direction info from body fade without a directional antenna. Range can be estimated by reducing telescoping antenna length and seeing at what point the received signal fades out.

I want Cooper to have used radios because it adds a tech twist to the mystery, but there is zero evidence that he did.

377

You guys are WAY over my poor little pea brain. So here I go with my stupid questions one more time.

CB's, 2-way radios (walkie talkies), a gyromatic piece of equipment such as a very accurate Gyro watch and metal staves in a back brace and a compass. Just things Duane talked about and some I saw and questioned. Explain to me if any of you geniuses can do a make shift directional or locator device with those items. Was there a way to use these items so you would know where the "Hat" was located or receive its communication or where someone was on the ground and how far or in what direction? I know a compass gives direction, but put it with the rest of the items.

There was some kind of thing in a narrow container like the inside of a empty flashllght. but made of soft fabric - some kind of connectors on it. What was it? Perhaps it was some kind of flashlight, but nothing like I have ever seen. It could be attached to a belt or maybe put on his arm.

These are just things, but they all came up within a very short period of time...I saw none of this until 1990 after his little mystery trip to a state or a city that started with an O and this is also the time frame the ticket stub and bank bag became known to me. Early 1990. the actually plane ticket I did not see until 1994.

I am not playing games - I am looking for some answers to some very unusual items Duane had...and some strange things he said. They were like your conversations in the past posts above that I did NOT understand and just forgot the explanation he told me.

If this soft thing held a battery and he was able to make a connection to metal staves in a brace - is there a communication coming from that "hat" that would cause a vibrations? when he was near the "Hat".

Ok! Now I have proved I am an idiot...but suddenly we have all of these pilots and individuals who are inventive - what do you get out of the above? To me it was Junk, but it was Junk he treasured and explained it - but, I forgot what he said.

By the way I have approached this question before in the forum and then it got side tracked, but I really need to know since we have new "blood" in the thread who seem to be pilots and men familiar with these kind of things.
377 threw something out there before - but, I know he did something - and I am not sure the gyro had a thing to do with it.

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

[skyjack71 0]

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Direction finders? Sophisticated radio equipment? Maybe he used a big spotlight he kept under his coat, or carried a miniature laser which he used to bounce signals off the moon to pinpoint his location...this stuff can't be serious.

Plane ticket? Where is it?

Other items? Where are they?

Please Blevins - I asked a legitimate question and I am looking for answers. You could learn a few things just by listening to these guys. Please be nice and let them answer...don't knock what you know nothing about. I am not knocking your KC - so please allow me to receive honest answers from these guys.

I have been very respectfully of the 2 yrs you spent investigating as the next post will reveal.

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

[skyjack71 0]

In the event this information got lost in all of these many posts:

2 step-sons in the state of WASHINGTON IN 1971.

One was in SEATTLE (later moving to Vancouver) and the other was in the Navy and stationed at Breming. One was Special Forces.

Duane and his wife bought 2 new cars in 1971 - A Dodge Grimlen and a Dodge Swinger - paid cash. Duane shows up in S.C. with lots of money in 1971. Paid Cash for a trailor and put Central air in it in 1971. Tax reports I have and they show hardly any income for 1969, 1970 and 1971.


Hope Blevins reads this - you guys know about this, but Blevins has NOT taken the time to go back and check all of the prior posts, yet he constantly boasts about his interviews...and his parties were NOT related to his subject.

As I stated before - Blevins has the words for his sword - I have only a worn out keyboard, but I have notes of my phone conversations with individuals and I have paper work to back up Duane's financial background. Duane kept his tax reports (joint) from 1969 untll - his death. I have every tax report from 1969 to 1995. I have the 1099's and W2's.

Who is Gary Lewis?

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

[Farflung 0]

Oh, now I see. In the 19,817 posts I was the FIRST to mention DME and needed to be associated with some absurd notion that Cooper was wearing one. Got it. 99 and 44/100th pure to be sure.

But what is so heavy and expensive about DME? Very vague ‘Shoe Clerk’ terms not becoming a pilot. Sounds more like some ‘Junior Bird Man Wannabe’ who adjusts insurance claims by day and makes people puke by night.

I know it might seem crazy, but damn it; a portable DME might just work!

I just need to find out if it will transmit with a toupee. But how? Curses, I’m foiled again.

Damn you toupees!

[1969912 0]

One could potentially build a yagi antenna from back brace parts, and coupled with an appropriate receiver, use the system for direction-finding. Didn't happen in the plane though.

"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

[nigel99 474]

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There was some kind of thing in a narrow container like the inside of a empty flashllght. but made of soft fabric - some kind of connectors on it. What was it? Perhaps it was some kind of flashlight

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this soft thing held a battery and he was able to make a connection to metal staves in a brace - is there a communication coming from that "hat" that would cause a vibrations

Your descriptions sound suspiciously like a sex toy

FARFLUNG - Relax and stick to comedy you are good at it

377 - I know you already know this but you get ~6dB variation in receive strength at double the distance in free space. If you went by RSSI you would be lucky to have -/+3dB accuracy. I know some time ago I floated the thought about walkie-talkies. From an airborne platform of a low power transmitter will go a long way - preaching to the converted here

Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

[skyjack71 0]

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Your descriptions sound suspiciously like a sex toy

I hardly believe it could be a Sex toy, but it was good for a laught.

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OTHER people suddenly weave these suggestions into the fabric of their stories. I'll take the credit for Cooper having a vibrator in his paper bag BTW[laugh

]

Nope, I didn't weave anything into the story - I have asked about these items before and what the possibliites might be.. The back brace was just something I did not understand and it was a curiosity. Maybe at one time he had a bad back - but I NEVER heard him complain about his back...but, he seldom complained about anything.

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377 - I know you already know this but you get ~6dB variation in receive strength at double the distance in free space. If you went by RSSI you would be lucky to have -/+3dB accuracy. I know some time ago I floated the thought about walkie-talkies. From an airborne platform of a low power transmitter will go a long way - preaching to the converted here

Since that is ALL Greek to me I am assuming due to prior discussion that he could have had a walkie talkie - and that makes absolute sense with what the ex told me about how they used they CB and Walkie Talkie,
The cell phone of the 60's with a short range?

I guess this could work on the ground as long as one was mobile and crusing certain areas waiting for a signal at a specific time. Then on to the next spot and then rotate back...until you find each other. Why not just break into a house and make a phone call.

At least Blevins is aware that I have as much as he has and more - but, I didn't put it in book, but relayed it all to the FBI and to Himmelsbach. I think most of what I told Himmelsbach DID not get relayed and I just could not form an effective means of communication with the FBI that worked..... just stopped and put it in this thread for the last few yrs.

At least it is out there - What Really Happend and all of the conjectures and could have beens are here in one place - at the courteousy of the DZ.

I had more of the pieces than anyone else did - I just didn't have enough early on to put the thing together and no one to help me find the missing pieces. Now 14 yrs later - I do what I should have done in 1996 (the trip), but was unable to afford at that time. Now pieces of the puzzle do come together, but then some of the pieces are lost for ever - due to death and some damaged due to time.

I admit readily that things are now getting confused in my memory because of time and stress and progressing age. They are relative minor and make little or no difference to anyone but me.

One is the description of that "thing" with the connectors. I didn't really pay much attentions to it then and my memory of it is faulty. Someone put a couple of things up they thought it might be - but, I just didn't know...and I cannot remember what he said about this item other than it was used by skyjumpers. That is the extent of my memory on this thing. I do remember it was in a glass jar with a lid and there was some hooks and thing in there with it...and my asking what it was for. Outside of that I am BLANK.

Very Tired! When I use the Pirate - it mean all beat up.

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

[Orange1 0]

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Skyjack71 says in part:

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Tax reports I have and they show hardly any income for 1969, 1970 and 1971...'

Which indicates it was highly likely the proceeds of crime, which given what we know about Duane is hardly surprising. However, it indicates nothing at all about the hijack.

And Blevins has a good point. Can you prove, Jo, when those cars and trailer etc were bought? All after Thanksgiving 1971?

Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

[377 22]

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I would challenge somebody to do an experiment in a moving airplane to use it as a spotting technique and see how well it turns out. Wink

My guess; the area of uncertainty is going to be huge. If for no other reason than the aircraft itself would have a non-uniform attenuation pattern of blocking outside signals.

I did try it Quade and it works just OK, not precise enough for spotting but well enough to get rough bearings. The plane was a King Air. I used body fade to determine which side of the plane faced a Mt Diablo sited 144 MHz band repeater. My hand held radio has a variable attenuator on it, but you can do the same thing with a telescoping whip antenna. This is an estimate but I'd say my bearing uncertainty was about 70 degrees, but anything less than 180 is useful.

Planes do, as you pointed out, have non uniform attenuation spheres, but it doesn't make DFing from the interior totally useless. This is all hypothetical, but if Cooper had a 1971 vintage radio Shack Sky Patrol tunable VHF transistor radio, he could have monitored all plane comms to the outside world and also got some very rough bearings on VOR transmitters using body fade techniques and variable attenuation by means of changing whip antenna length.

The radio position info would have been very very approximate. I am sure you'd do better by looking for the glow of city lights and highways to figure out where you were.

Here is an excerpt from a ham radio DF site:

http://www.homingin.com/equipment.html

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If you are a typical ham radio operator, all you need to get started quickly and find foxes successfully is your VHF/UHF handi-talkie (HT) or scanner and some simple accessories. The most elementary way is called the "body fade" or "body shield" technique. Hold your HT tight against your chest and turn around slowly, looking for the direction at which your body blocks the signal most effectively (the signal null). At this point, the signal is coming from behind you. Walk in the direction of the null, taking bearings at regular intervals, and observe the signal strength get stronger.

377

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

[quade 4]

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I did try it Quade and it works just OK, not precise enough for spotting but well enough to get rough bearings. The plane was a King Air. I used body fade to determine which side of the plane faced a Mt Diablo sited 144 MHz band repeater. My hand held radio has a variable attenuator on it, but you can do the same thing with a telescoping whip antenna. This is an estimate but I'd say my bearing uncertainty was about 70 degrees, but anything less than 180 is useful.

I don't see how.

Find any number of radio stations and nav aids you care to find along the assumed path of the highjacked aircraft. Assume you can be within a cone 70 degrees from all of them.

How big is your area of uncertainty?

Also remember the aircraft, as noted on the FBI map, isn't maintaining a perfectly straight course, but appears to wander several degrees left and right over time. From inside the aircraft, all you'd have are vague guesses within 10s of miles.

Assuming DB Cooper had the level of sophistication to pull off such a stunt using this as his method of locating a predetermined landing zone brings into question why he didn't do other things like providing his own parachutes or specifying the precise route to be flown rather than leaving those details up to chance.

No. The guy was clearly winging it and really had no idea what the hell he was doing.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[skyjack71 0]

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Skyjack71 says in part:

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'Duane and his wife bought 2 new cars in 1971 - A Dodge Grimlen and a Dodge Swinger - paid cash. Duane shows up in S.C. with lots of money in 1971. Paid Cash for a trailor and put Central air in it in 1971. Tax reports I have and they show hardly any income for 1969, 1970 and 1971...'

Unless you're saying that Duane did all this in the 35-day period that remained in 1971 AFTER the hijacking...then he obviously got the money to do these things from another source than the ransom.

Side note: The interviews are evidence I have shared on this thread, nothing more.

I may have the yr wrong on the purchase - 1971 or 1972. Haven't felt like pulling any records because they are so massive. I have a picture with the vehicles taken in 1972. He divored this wife and remarried in the Summer of 1972...

Per a conversation with the ex-wife (1962 - June 1972): She said they bought both vehicles after she went back to him in early 1972. Claimed they separated in Nov 1971 and he called and begged her to come back the early part of 1972.

He had a gash on his forehead and he was recovering from what he said was a fall from trimming a tree in the front yard. She never deviated much from that story, but there were variations. As I have said before she would call me at 1 AM and 2 AM in the morning ( 2 and 3 AM my time). Because she wanted to talk I would call her back on my nicklel and I have the phone bills to prove it.

After she returned to GA, they continued to have marital problems. Neither she nor Duane ever mentioned a supposed suicide attempt that took place in 1972...I was informed about this by a 3rd party at a much later date.

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

[skyjack71 0]

Since I posted the last post I got some bad news not related to Cooper or Weber and NOT related to our subject matter.

I am still trying to process this information and I need your prayers.

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

[377 22]

Quade wrote:

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How big is your area of uncertainty?

The bearing uncertainty was way too large to be of practical use in exit spotting. I said that. Also the radio stuff is hypothetical fantasy. There is zero evidence that Cooper used radio gear. Still, I bet I could use that 1971 radio to get a very rough idea of position. I could tell if Ratazak had taken me offshore for example.

I think Cooper just jumped and hoped for the best. The weather was not conducive to visual navigation. Dead reckoning by course and elapsed time was not likely as Cooper had no compass and only a very rough idea of ground speed.

Jo, the back brace direction finder is completely impractical, don't waste time on this theory. CB walkie talkie could work to communicate with an accomplice, but there is zero evidence tha Cooper carried one.

Your last post was unsettling. I hope the bad news is not about your health.

377

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

[Amazon 7]

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Quade wrote:

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How big is your area of uncertainty?

The bearing uncertainty was way too large to be of practical use in exit spotting. I said that. Also the radio stuff is hypothetical fantasy. There is zero evidence that Cooper used radio gear. Still, I bet I could use that 1971 radio to get a very rough idea of position. I could tell if Ratazak had taken me offshore for example.

I think Cooper just jumped and hoped for the best. The weather was not conducive to visual navigation. Dead reckoning by course and elapsed time was not likely as Cooper had no compass and only a very rough idea of ground speed.

Jo, the back brace direction finder is completely impractical, don't waste time on this theory. CB walkie talkie could work to communicate with an accomplice, but there is zero evidence tha Cooper carried one.

Your last post was unsettling. I hope the bad news is not about your health.

377

If it would have been me doing that jump at that time and those conditions... I would have used the largest visual aid available on that course.

I have flown that route a few times at night... and the lights of Vancouver and Portland are discernable even in bad weather. And there ios a HUGE tell on what city you are looking at... there are two very nice big BLACK stirps that run right thru them... I would have waited to exit south of the river ... and south of all those lights. The confluence of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers is very distinctive when seen from many miles away even at night. ESPECIALLY at night.

[EVickiW 0]

Hi Jo, I hope you are well. Your last post was disconcerting.

I follow the D. B. Cooper page on Facebook and another person has come forward with their suspicions about their father. Just thought I would post this for the curious.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/DB-Cooper/10001004301 Click on comments left by "just others".

Melvin Luther Wilson - Missing Person since September 1971:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03QLnFvk8Fs

[Orange1 0]

Well, ignoring the Knoss rants ..interesting we get a photo of a tie clip
Everyone just assumed Cooper was a pesudonym, wouldn't it be funny if it wasn't?

When Georger's banning period is over, await to hear his thoughts on the photo vs sketch.

I'm not sure exactly what all the rationale is/supposed to be - trying to find out now.

Instinct is no but will at least try hear the story before dismissing !

Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

[skyjack71 0]

Vicki:

I do NOT go to face book.
But I have never heard of Dan "Burkett" Cooper and with Larry Carr's email attached to boot.

Weird!

When I opened your url I expected it to be Knoss's page.
But to see "Burkett" and Carr on the same page that was weird.

If any of you guys go there let me know what this is about. I DO not mess with Face Page.

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

[EVickiW 0]

OK...What am I missing? Burkett??? Carr's e-mail??? i am lost :(

Melvin Luther Wilson - Missing Person since September 1971:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03QLnFvk8Fs

[skyjack71 0]

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Well, ignoring the Knoss rants ..interesting we get a photo of a tie clip
Everyone just assumed Cooper was a pesudonym, wouldn't it be funny if it wasn't?

When Georger's banning period is over, await to hear his thoughts on the photo vs sketch.

I'm not sure exactly what all the rationale is/supposed to be - trying to find out now.

Instinct is no but will at least try hear the story before dismissing !

Does anyone know anything
about this "BURKETT" business or is that just face book as usual?
But why is Carr's email on that same page?

I am lost, but that is not unusual - the old woman in the mirror finally moved in with me.
When I leave to see the Creator I hope she doesn't follow me there.

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

[Amazon 7]

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OK...What am I missing? Burkett??? Carr's e-mail??? i am lost :(

From the INFO Tab...

.Website:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._B._CooperPersonal Information:








D. B. Cooper (aka "Dan Burkett Cooper") is an alias of an aircraft hijacker who, on November 24, 1971, after receiving a ransom payout of US$200,000, jumped from the back of a Boeing 727 as it was flying over the Pacific Northwest of the United States somewhere over the Cascade Mountains, possibly over Woodland, Washington. No conclusive evidence has surfaced regarding Cooper's whereabouts; the FBI believes he did not survive the jump. Several theories offer competing explanations of what... (read more)

Personal Interests:Hijacking aircraft, parachuting, hiding, and evading capture..

Contact Info .Email:larrycarr@fbi.gov...

[EVickiW 0]

Ahhhhhh. Thank you very much. I did not even look at he info tab...

Looks like those two Jaimie Cooper and Knoss are still arguing/name calling. Ha ha....fun to watch.

Melvin Luther Wilson - Missing Person since September 1971:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03QLnFvk8Fs

[Orange1 0]

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OK...What am I missing? Burkett??? Carr's e-mail??? i am lost :(

From the INFO Tab...



Contact Info .Email:larrycarr@fbi.gov...

From what I can gather, Carr set the page up initially, as part of his trying to gather info when he was looking at it. He doesn't seem to have done anything on it for ages though.

So far the theory is no more outlandish than some of the stuff we get subjected to here.

Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

[Orange1 0]

Question: what do you suppose the chances are of an air traffic controller in SE Asia knowing about the drop tests? ...

Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

[Orange1 0]

OK, I have Jamie's permission to reproduce his story. The reason he believes Cooper was his father was because his father confessed to the crime, and because there was an unexplained appearance of a couple of hundred thousand dollars around the time of the crime. Some of the stuff here makes sense/fits in with stuff we have spoken about. There are 'holes' from a Cooper perspective of course. But like I said before, at the very least it is no more outlandish than some of the stuff we have heard before and at least it does not require wild conspiracy theories to hold together, so I think it is at least worth an airing.

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I should put together a timeline outline or something at some point I suppose. LOL
but for now I will answer your questions as best I can.
beginning with why, He told me on one tear soaked, apologetic, confessional, occasion.
along with this, all the evidence I have ever seen backs his story up, and first hand accounts from my mother backed it up as well.

prior to serving in the army, he was cropduster, maintaining his own plane. I imagine during this period he experimented with parachuting as well.
he was a hotrodder, showoff, ham of a sorts.
in high school he wore a capgun belt into his late teens, crossdressed for school plays...
he always wanted to tame a wild horse, and idolized the outlaw cowboys who pulled off train robberies.
He served as a air traffic controller during the vietnam era in Asia.
while there, a plane crash happened killing many of our troops, which he felt was caused by his and and his coworkers drunkedness.
his time in the military left him a drunk. sometimes he would cry and hold imaginary hands of dying soldiers after drinking, reasoning they would bleed to death if he let go.
I am not aware of any specific jump training or even his service dates.

the "usual" questions...
in 1971 He was living in Fergus falls MN with myself being a year or so old, my mother, and my 2 older siblings from a previous marriage.
he went to seattle to get a job working for Boeing, the plan was to send for the rest of us later and we would move there. before my birth, my mother, father, and siblings traveled between MN and Washington during harvest season to take advantage of temporary employment in "custom combining". this built many friendships.
when he arrived in Seattle, he found boeing was laying people off instead of hiring. not wanting to return home empty handed for xmas, he improvised the hyjacking.
he used wires and crap he stole from road construction to concoct a pretend bomb. reasoning, he didnt want to hurt anyone.
in his mind, he also felt the charges would be less if he was caught for using a fake bomb.
most think he was some sort of mastermind, not true at all.
He liked to view himself that way but in reality wasn't all that clever, he had a chip on his shoulder about that btw. he used the name "Dan" Cooper thinking that again he was being clever, his name being Don, was close enough, that his built in senses would pick out "Dan Cooper" if it was said over the intercom, or muttered by others, therefore tipping him off if need be.
also he figured he could easily prove it wasn't him because his id would show the name "Don".
this is also why the typographical errors with the clerk.
he was con artist, a flirt, and deliberately acted confused and incompetent with the teller who sold him his ticket.
he didn't give many details about what happened on the plane or during the jump. He cheated on my mother many times, wasn't even sneaky about it, the accounts of the flight attendant reflect this demeanor. he drank whisky, later switching to beer, and chain smoked.
i used to think they were viceroys but now realized they were Raleigh cigarettes. i thought viceroy because of the the pic of the man with a viceroy goatee on the package. he smoked these mainly because they came with collectible tickets redeemable for free crap, same reason he later switched to camels when I was older.
this is reflected in the witness accounts as well.
He stood just over 6 feet tall, had brown eyes, and thinning hair from male pattern baldness. most likely did a comb-over on the day of the jump.
after the jump he went to a bar in the area, drank, and secured travel back home thru friendships from "Custom combining" in the past.
when he arrived home, my mother accused him of cheating on her, and a huge argument ensued. there may be a police report from this time? police were called because he kicked my mother and siblings out, keeping the infant Me with him. He had many many guns, was unstable and drunk.
police were afraid to enter the house for over 24 hours.
my mother described it as a standoff with the police.
ending finally when I was crying too much for him to handle.
He moved out and purchased a small farm near Wahpeton ND.
I didn't see him more than a couple times during this period until I was age 12.
by this time he owned his own construction company, had a major stake in a readymix cement plant, and was driving his own 18 wheeler off and on as a over the road truck driver.
He and my mother attempted to reconcile, after the incident, he quit writing, he had all his teeth removed and got dentures, which changed his jawline, and he grew facial hair.
he asked my mother to help him with his taxes because the irs was coming after him. he hadnt filed in over 5 years, and had nearly unintelligible records. while going thru his papers she noticed he came into roughly a couple hundred thousand dollars, around 1971 with no explanation of how.
this was the subject of many arguments, she was mad because we lived on welfare while he didnt pay any child support, or even visit, but had all kinds of money.
some years it showed he made over a million dollars, but because of his drinking and womanizing, he was basically broke.
their reconciliation was short lived, at one point during these attempts he discussed over the phone with me what happened, how he had regrets, that he had stole that money, revealed the story I have relayed above.
I didn't see him again until I was 18, he gave me some money, and was gone again, always on the move traveling. for my 21st birthday he took me to a stripper bar and blew alot of money, and was gone agian. essentially the remainder of his life was spent on the run, never settling down for long, working road construction, truck driving, painting cars at one point, and eventually ended in a veterans home in Bagely MN. He only quit smoking and drinking when he was forced to in the hospital. even after being told it was killing him.

my mother revealed, that on a trip in his truck, during their attempted reconciliation in 1982, they went to a bar near the jump site. where there was a DB Cooper party of some sort. one of the patrons ws an actual person who ws on the plane when it was hyjacked and said without a doubt, my father was DB Cooper.
he acted like they were friends. my father denied it and laughed it off but, confided in my mother that it pissed him off and they had to leave asap.
my father was suspected of being db cooper by many people over the years, he just laughed it off in most cases. only confirming it on the one occasion with my over the phone in 1982.
my mother broke into his home on one occassion to secure evidence proving he was DB Cooper after I relayed what he told me in 1982.
the evidence was kept in a briefcase in our living room for a short time.
she then had a friend hold it for her, his name was "Roger Galbreath"
later when she asked for it back, he claimed he had no idea what she was talking about.
in the meantime police got involved in the search for this briefcase, which also contained the title for his home and vehicles.
none of which was recovered that I am aware of.
Roger died a few years ago, I live in a home bought from him.
He was a good man to me, his wife Joyce was one of the women my father cheated on my mother with, and it was a kind of revenge for him to be more of a father to me than my actual father.
I am willing to share these facts now because none now live who can be prosecuted or harmed by them being known.
thanks.
also, My birth name is "Donald Jason Cooper"
but I've always used the name "Jamie" because of my mothers worries that there could be a connection between my name and my fathers name if he ever was caught for the hijacking.
she claimed no knowledge of the hijacking at times then wold tell me she always knew on other occasions.
if I made a outline, im sure I would remember more and build a more coherent timeline.

Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.