georger

You and FJ have such a total grasp of these files - its a pleasure to just come here to read!

Interesting article on Tosaw ::::: UPI Archives Nov. 23, 1982 Former FBI agent claims D.B. Cooper survived his jump By CLYDE JABIN PORTLAND, Ore. -- Legendary skyjacker D.B. Cooper survived his parachuting from a airliner on Thanksgiving Eve 11 years ago but lost the $200,000 ransom in the Columbia River, a former FBI agent says. Richard Tosaw, now a Ceres, Calif., attorney, is backing his theory by paying for a 27-foot boat to drag the river dividing Oregon and Washington near where some of the $20 bills that were part of the loot were found nearly three years ago. 'So far all they have found is inner tubes, tires, household appliances, pieces of trees and other articles,' he said. 'It is going to be interesting if they find anything (from the skyjacking).' Tosaw is hoping boat owner Blake Payne and crewman Bill Sweeney will either find more of the money, the bank money bag or the parachute. Tosaw, 57, who is writing a book on the skyjacking, is making a check on the progress of the search. About $5,800 of the ransom was found Feb. 10, 1980, by Brian Ingram, who now lives in Highland, Calif. Because the money was found along the Columbia, Tosaw figures Cooper came down further south than the area southwest of volcanic Mount St. Helens where the FBI thought he landed. Extensive searches immediately after the Nov. 24, 1971, skyjacking failed to turn up a clue and officials speculated Cooper had died. Tosaw, who was an FBI agent from 1951 to 1955, said he became interested in the crime after part of the loot was found. Since then he has done extensive research -- interviewing the six crew members on the Northwest Airlines Flight 305 that was hijacked on a Portland to Seattle run and other people involved in the case. He also surveyed 100 parachutists on whether they thought Cooper could have survived the jump from the rear door of a Boeing 727. He said 70 percent of those he checked believe the skyjacker could have survived frigid temperatures if he had served in the military as a parachutist, as Tosaw theorizes. 'He was in his early 40s at the time of the skyjacking, which means he would have been at the right age to be in the Korean War, possibly as a Green Beret,' Tosaw said. 'He learned his parachuting somewhere.' The attorney said his view of Cooper as a veteran was also based on the skyjacker's choice of parachutes airline officials provided. He said Cooper took a khaki-colored back chute rather than a 'more comfortable' white civilian chest chute he also was given. In addition, Tosaw said Cooper did not appear to be a 'loner' whose disappearance would not have been noticed. He said he thinks Cooper returned home after jettisoning the heavy money bag loose after landing in the river. 'He had a mother, father, girlfriend or wife who would have reported him missing otherwise,' Tosaw said. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for more UPI news and photos.

It was at Bruce Smith's Mountain News posted by JAG ... word will get out! JAG says: January 3, 2025 at 5:02 pm dropzone is now skydiveforum: https://www.skydiveforum.com/forums/topic/56036-db-cooper/page/2564/ Reply brucesmith49 says: January 3, 2025 at 6:10 pm Good to know. Thanks

e My issue with Tosaw is the issue of "authenticity". He had no formal role or assignment in the Cooper case, just as in he had no formal assignment or role in Kinnick case, but that did not stop him from issuing 'press announcements' and making 'claims' that resulted in a 'issue' for all kinds of people to have to deal with. Having just announced his involvement in the Nile Kinnick case at Iowa City, he then calls the "Daily Iowan", a small inconspicuous university newspaper and announces to the world that he will now involve himself in the DB Cooper case - too! In other words, the Great Investigator "Tosaw" will now SOLVE the DB Cooper case too, his announcement immediately following the discovery of Cooper money at Tena Bar! People reading this at Iowa City laughed and wondered: What is this? Tosaw told the people working for him on the Columbia that he was FBI and being fed the latest information by ....................... the FBI and experts working on the case. Years later Tosaw has nothing to show for his efforts except for a book, and Nile Kinnick's plane is not raised ... and Tosaw's insistence that a piece of Kinnick's plane be mounted as a memorial to Nile Kinnick outside the front door of Kinnick Stadium does not happen in spite of Tosaw's insistence that 'he is expressing the wishes of the Nile Kinnick family! The whole thing is a little bit embarrassing ... thus I have to question Tosaw's authenticity and the accuracy of his information, as a general premise ? Tosaw did find Kinnick's plane in the ocean off Argentina using coordinates recorded in the ship's log, but he had nothing remotely similar (so far as anyone knows) in the Cooper case. Years later he jumped to announce Janet Wink's story even though that disagreed with his own previous 'estimates' about where Cooper had to have jumped sand landed. Time and circumstance has eroded chapters in the full Tosaw story.

Saw JAG's post with new url for this forum - glad it is back!! Thanks.....

Nobody is hideous here. Its just people working a very complicated problem with incomplete evidence. Its no wonder different people come out with different conclusions. That is expected! This has already come to be one of the very best discussions, ever to occur in any DB Cooper forum - ever. I hope you are all aware of that. Happy holidays to all and congratulations!

Dr. Edwards: A must read - D. B. Cooper and Flight 305: oscillations and pressure bump revisited

Without a doubt! He wanted the chutes back ... thats business/personal.

Early in this thread, someone maybe Bruce talked to Hadyen. Maybe its in an article by Bruce. But I distinctly remember Hayden saying 'if it werent for the FAA he wouldnt fly with chutes at all!'. The chutes were under his seat and in an emergency there wouldnt be time to get to chutes, in any event. So chutes were pointless'. He paid no attention to them and very well may not have even known what they were! ??? Maybe touch bases with Bruce on this. I seem to recall he knew Cossey had packed his chutes but beyond that he may not have known what his chutes were ? Most of Hayden's flying was aerobatic ?

Nice! .... its a long shot but who knows .... I hope some enterprizing person is reading this and follows up.

any photos ?

Does the chute found near Heisson in the South fork of the Lewis near the Heisson store, still exist? Presumably the FBI still has all of this evidence that could be reexamined ?

Years ago, didn't you speculate that Cooper pulled the rip chord while on the stairs - that there would be advantages to doing that? Who would know to do that? Novice vs. experienced sky diver ? Do you still hold to that view ? How could we know if Cooper pulled off the stairs? Can we ever know ?

NEW - DIATOMS ON TENA BAR MONEY: To my mind, the bottom line is that, with a reasonable degree of probability, all six of the Tena Bar genera are present throughout the year in the Columbia River, albeit with much smaller populations in winter. Therefore, I think that the presence of these genera on the $20 bill does not exclude an encounter between the diatom shells and the bill at any date between November 24, 1971 and February 10, 1980. https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2500530.Robert_H_Edwards/blog G - ps: these diatoms still cannot be dated to a specific year. Specialists consulted have no idea what year these diatoms and the Cooper money came into contact. That information would be crucial to have so far as a Cooper Money timeline is concerned.

Well the obvious question is: did the FBI ever reject a chute, when in fact it was Cooper's chute, because of Cossey ? Or is the chute Cooper used and landed with still out there?

What's the context? Never mind.

Was Cossey ever explicitly told or questioned about Hayden's chutes ? Did anyone talk to Cossey before he died and try to straighten this out ? Why didn't the FBI clear this up ?

This is why we need experts who know what they are talking about. 'round' refers the perspective from which parachutes are seen from, as seen from the top or bottom. ! Thanks once again to Dudeman !

Magnum Opus by Flyjack ! wow! Likewise: an AI analysis of money/bundles after they have fallen ten k feet vs. condition/structure of the 'bundles with bands still intact' at Tena Bar indicates the bagged money never dropped 10k feet to explode on impact. This means Cooper and the bagged money did NOT drop 10k feet. The condition of the money implies Cooper parachuted safely at some LZ NORTH of the Columbia. Cooper/money traveled south toward the Columbia. Only a soft landing preserves the condition of the money as it was found years later at TBar. According to a witness who worked with Tosaw, this was part of Tosaw's rational for claiming Cooper 'made a soft landing in the Columbia close to Tena Bar'. A impromptu Cooper Support Group formed spontaneously by chance last night and then talked by conference call. We discussed the status of the case, the claim the FBI has reopened the case, the status of Blevins who is apparently moving to Missouri, transparency in CC24 aftermath, the work of Ulis and other Cooper personalities, etc. The chance meeting was very helpful and enjoyable and could be formalised to become a regular meeting, at a later date. Everyone supported the notion that the current list of personalities active in the Cooper chase, are failing to communicate and inform the public in a constructive timely way. BTW, no one in our group who met and talked Friday night has any information that indicates the FBI has reopened the Cooper case or intends to. ?

Black Box On Line Radio Expert announces that Tom's diatoms came from the Lewis River. (I heard it on Ryan Burns ..... ?)

The area where the money was found is uniquely situated to receive and convey debris, because of its position surrounded by high pressure and low pressure zones. It is a high erosion zone. Historically, due to erosion, Tena Bar does not even exist. It's an artificial creation. It is remarkable to me that a beach erosion hydrologist, Dr. Palmer, would not have said one word about this in his report. One salvage expert remarked to me years ago that 'if you were looking for places to check for things being conveyed down the river, Tena Bar is one of the places you would check'. This was the advice Tosaw was given and one of the reasons he financed dragging this part of the river. For these reasons above, I am torn about whether Cooper money was deposited because of river flow or because of the reclamation project conducted in 1974. I think it could have been either-or. This is why dating Tom's diatoms is crucial, but that seems out of reach. ? I dont know of anything which links the money at Tena Bar to the flight path of 305 or to any conceivable drop zone... Will people take any of this into account? Probably not.

Last time I checked there were three (3) standard theories about How Money Got to Tena Bar, based on the Standard Generalised Theory of Existence on Earth. 1. By natural means. This is includes flow and other standard forces found in a river basin. 2. Burial by a person. Kaye says his evidence rules this out. 3. Dredging spoils placed on Tena Bar in 1974. Members of the public claim the cutters in the dredging pump would have destroyed everything it sucked up and pumped ... *Others theorize the money landed at a higher elevation than Tena Bar close to Tena Bar, and was washed and fell by force of gravity to the location where found by the Ingrams on Tena Bar. Recently some people being interviewed about the Cooper case dont seem to have ever heard about these theories people have been discussing in forums since the year 2000 at Websleuths. These people are getting the bulk of attention these days.

Please continue to hold for the next available representative. We are still accumulating speculation. Have a nice day. *Keep up with FOX13 News.

Go Clemson!

Well said. Interesting. Thanks! This could be a generational thing. Style vs content. The problem everyone is dealing with now is more fundamental. The people who are working the case, have decided not to communicate about the case, PUBLIC ALLY. The public face of the Cooper case has died. People will lose interest but nobody cares.