Ckret

n467us, Weber's prints were compared to those recovered from flight 305. There are no other prints to compare.

JJ, The airstairs do slam back into the craft and i posted picks of it doing so on this thread. It is the only way the pressure bump can be created.

Jo, I have been meaning to ask you this for months now, what information do you have that the DNA is compromised?

Uncle Sluggo, Good work, if #3 isn't Cooper he is up to no good.

377, How did you know I went to Iraq, it was reported in the news but they never said my name, just an agent from Seattle. As for the airstairs, they would have been locked on takeoff and would have prevented the plane from rotating up so that it could not get into the air. Quade and 377 got it right. When it landed the stairs were not locked so when they hit the runway the stairs retracted so there was no major damage. I guess if they had let the stairs down but did not lock them they could have taken off. Jo, I don't have the time or energy to reply, so I am going to leave it at, "whatever!!!" Snowmman, The stairs and what I have "gone on and on" about them is not my opinion. Its NWA's opinion's about their plane, i am just passing it to you. The loaner theory is me (passive aggressive are we) in an attempt to explain why no one has come forward and reported him missing, if he died the night he jumped.

Dave, I have thought the same thing, wouldn't that be amzing, the answer right there this whole time and all we had to do was run the prints through AFIS (Automated Fingerprint Identification System). i don't know if any of the recovered prints are AFIS quality. I have been meaning to run a request through the lab for months now. I haven't had time to sit down and write the communication to the lab with the request. I wish it was as easy as sending an email, hell we might actually get something done beside writting communications. This is a whole rant deserving a thread of its own. Have you ever dealt with a government agency and became frustrated at the process? It's no different for the "cogs" in the "machine."

My take on the whole "new suspect" thing is the same as the rest. Nothing links any of these people to the crime other than some stories that can't be proven. Beyond that, our efforts are paying off because people are talking about the case which may bring someone forward that can actually be investigated. And here is the problem with testing these folks against the DNA: The DNA cannot be used as proof that the person is Cooper. The pool of possible donors is too large, it can only be used to exclude. So you have someone that has no link to the crime other than some stories that can't be proved. You then compare their DNA and it comes back as a partial match. This, in reality, is meaningless with regard to solving the crime but could you imagine the mess it would stir. It would cause far more harm in resloving the case than it would ever help. If i just did a random sample of a thousand people, several may match the partial DNA as possible donors. For this reason there are very few people I would test against the DNA we have, there would have to be something more than stories about people who are no longer with us. I do, however, plan to look at the prints.

n467us, This is no different than any other person that has been brought forward. Nothing directly connects him to the hijacking. He is dead so anyone can say anything about him and no one can go back to investigate if it is true or not. I offered to compare prints and do DNA testing on the suspect Cook brought forward but he would not provide the suspects complete information to me. We went round and round for months and he always claimed the client/lawyer relationship prevented him from giving me the individuals name. Guess the real problem was a book in the making.

Orange, The load master guess is a way to explain how someone would have the knowledge Cooper had about jumping and aircraft without actually having working knowledge of either. As a load master he would have just enough information or exposure to dream up his escape, go through the motions of it but not have the working knowledge to successfully forward the plan. The bulk of the investigation was conducted on those with a high level of skill, either a sport jumper or someone with military jump experience. Snowmman, Why would you be surprised that I could not understand your genius. Your brilliance shines too bright for mere mortals. I am blinded by it, maybe you could turn it down a notch.

Snowmman, In regard to military service (I have posted and disscussed it many times) the theory is he was a Load Master operating out of McCord. In regards to the no jump theory i answered that, there was no place for Cooper to conceal himself on the plane and not be discovered and the only way to create the pressure bump is to jump from the stairs and have the stairs slam back into the plane.

Sluggo, Are you the creepy drunk uncle or the cool one who always brings gifts (wait, thats kinda creepy too). When you come out with such bold statements you should read the post for what it was meant. I stated "a part of him" i guess I should have written "a small part of him." in any stiuation like this there are so many unknowns for the subject that when the plan works there is a moment of, "I can't believe it worked." In this case there seems to be more of a change in demeanor than others. At least thats what I learned through my schooling with regard to the matter. I made no comment to Coopers abilities, although the evidence points to his lack of. Landing this jump is one of the most critical parts of Cooper's escape plan, yet your clever Cooper gave it no more attention and planning than to say, "fly to Mexico." Either he planned it, was clever and thorough or he wasn't, you can't have it both ways. He made so many mistakes by ommission (lack of planning) i say he was too smart for his own good. He gave himself way too much credit, Cooper thought Cooper was clever, thats why he thought he could pull it off. But in the end, like most criminals, he wasn't as clever as he thought and paid for it with his life. In regards to releasing information, I cannot release FBI work product but I can tell you what it says. The other data, log's, maps and such i can and have.

Sluggo, I think he was going to bail out as soon as he was comfortable in doing so. On the assumption he was a load master during his military service, he would have a good understanding when he could jump based on the cargo he threw out of planes. I also think there was a part of him that didn't think the plan would work at all. When he got the money the stews said he changed and acted suprised and child like. I take that as, "oh shit, i can't believe this stupid ass plan worked, they actually gave me $200,000 dollars." Soon after the reality sets in, "Oh damn!!! now I have to really jump from this plane."

-They didn't think the stairs would be destroyed upon landing, just damaged to the point they could not be secured for takeoff. -Cooper had no one on the ground waiting for him, he did not demand a flight path. To land at a specific drop zone to meet up with someone you have to coordinate that effort. Telling the pilots to fly to Mexico by way of Reno from Seatac isn't going to work.

Every airport in the US was checked to see if any connections to Cooper could be made.

"wheels up" is reference to take off not wheels up into the aircraft

Snowmman, He cut the lines and tied the money bag up while they were on the ground.

From hs actions and statements I think he wanted to jump just after wheels up. He had the chute on for takeoff and he wanted the stairs down and locked for takeoff. When Cooper learned the stairs couldn't be down for takeoff he had to go to plan B, which he didn't have. Thinking on the fly put him jumping in an area he didn't plan for.

I don't know how the lab got the DNA from the tie. The tie was sent to them with a request to attempt to locate any DNA material. The lab processed the tie and returned their results. My guess is that they swabed any obvious stains and/or areas that would have come into contact with skin.

put a small pearl in the middle of the attached and you have a "Cooper Clasp"

the pearl was too big on the pic you posted

That's amazing, I am right handed. Keep this up and we'll have to put you on full time

The tie clasp is an alligator clip Cooper only had matches and when he ran out Tina used the ones she had. i would imagine in 1971 they carried matches on the drink cart and lit cigarettes for passengers many times a flight. Cooper gave Tina one of his a cigarettes which she smoked. Sitting next to Cooper. The tie clasp was packaged seperate from the tie when it was collected as evidence. Each item would have been seperated and processed individually. I put the clasp back on the tie.

Jo, cooper paid for the drink (singular) with a $20 bill. He paid before he got the $200,000. He was seen smoking, in fact Tina struck a match to one for him.

Reference to the McNally case, what was the key indicator the Captain used in basing his belief that McNally jumped from the plane? Answer: Pressure bump or "shift" as he called it. Just confirmation that the airstairs slamming back into the aircraft when someone jumps from them in flight causes a sudden perssure increase in the cabin.

Jo wrote "A lot of valid questions that requires data from the witnesses and or their statements. The interpretaion question is very good - Why would Ckrets's be any better than Himmelsbach's? I do know that Ckrets interpretations are NOT based on the knowledge of 1971 - because he argued with me about the FBI's printing system and how it was in 1971. He never has admitted he could be wrong. Well, he is wrong and if he were to talk to the people who developed the system he would know that what I told him is correct. Not all prints put into the system were checked against prior records unless there was a request or need to do so. I even went so far as to state one such case, but it was like pouring water over a ducks back - he is right and no one else knows anything (How old was he in 1971?). Sorry, Ckret - but what I just said is true. Until the FBI can swallow a little pride and admit to having made some mistakes this case will never be solved. I want Duane's old prints from his prior incarcerations compared to what they had on the FBI system in 1971. Not what they had on it after that date...but what was there in 1971 - you know were I am going on this. " Jo, this is what you took away from our conversation? Really? And to your thoughts about the case, FBI agents are like everyone else, human, and all humans make mistakes in all aspects of their lives. Were mistakes made on the Cooper case? Mistakes are made on every case investigated. When given the ability to look back 40 years on what the investigators did or did not do of course things can be pointed out. Were there any blunders? Not that I can find. The FBI put everything they had into solving this case and to this day continue to give it the the same effort.