Robert99

Jo, Do you vote in every election and for the best candidate? If not, you have no cause to complain.

I'm just speculating as to why he chose that specific route. Was Seattle integral to his plan or would have any 727 out of Portland sufficed? There seems to be no way to know for sure if he had some plan to jump in a very specific spot, or no plan at all. What do you think "the right time" would be? Basically, the only direction that Cooper wanted to go was south from Seattle. Reno was just a throw in. Based on Cooper's expressed desire to take off from Seattle with the rear stairs down, it appears that he intended to jump very near Seattle.

Maybe from this? http://newsok.com/oklahoma-city-woman-who-claims-uncle-was-infamous-skyjacker-says-she-passed-fbi-polygraph-test/article/3591817?custom_click=headlines_widget As we know, she is releasing a book of her memories concerning the event. What could she possibly have to fill a book? Some vague, suppressed memory from when she was eight years old? A conversation that she had with her father, in 1995, that she only now remembered? Memories that are, only now, surfacing? If it were my uncle, I don't think I could had suppressed anything like a hijacking. That story also says that an FBI spokesman in Oklahoma City cannot confirm that she was given a polygraph test. Does that mean that Taco is her press agent?

Taco, "Getting taken seriously by law enforcement and investigators" and being correct are two separate things. How do you know that Marla took a lie detector test and passed? Your source?

Cooper was definitely looking for a 727 and he double checked that it was a 727 with the ticket agent. Portland was also probably the nearest city that had a 727 flight, and at the right time, into Seattle. However, since the airliner was about 5000 feet above an overcast on the flight south through the Portland area, landmarks could not be seen. Even the lights of Portland could not be seen according to the flight crew.

Jo, You are already looking elsewhere before you have completed your primary mission on this planet of proving that, despite all contrary evidence, Duane was Cooper. Are you just a butterfly?

That is not at all accurate. There was not a match on one finger print. Trust me the FBI is still investigating LD Cooper as all the other known suspects have been ruled out. I love how you talk like you're an insider. This cracks me up. Just like how there would be "more news this week" and then FBI goes and spoils your fun by announcing today that it doesn't match. Marla, is that you? Let's go turkey hunting! Actually, the FBI made the "no match" announcement late yesterday afternoon. Taco must have missed it.

Jo, Let's face the facts of life here. Duane repeatedly demonstrated that he was to dumb to be a successful criminal. Big-time or small-time criminal, no difference. Duane was a con-artist first, last and probably always.

The FBI may not know where he landed, but they have a reasonable idea on where he exited the plane, and so did the crew, as well as Paul Sortum from NWA and his team. I'm just as mystified as everyone else about HOW the money ended up on Tina Bar. However, I CAN think of a good reason why the hijacker (if he did) might return and do a plant of some of the money. Imagine you are Cooper for a moment. Maybe it's been a few years since the hijacking and you haven't been caught...yet. Still, every time you pick up the newspaper or turn on the TV (well, not EVERY time, but a lot) there is something else about the continuing, dogged, hunt for the hijacker. Maybe you start to get a little nervous. After a few years of wondering who is at the door every time someone knocks (maybe THIS time it's the guys in the suits with the guns and a warrant) you get tired of it. Maybe it's time to do something to try and throw off the pursuit, make the FBI back off a bit. And if Cooper planted the money to do this, he succeeded, because it was after Tina Bar that the FBI started saying they thought he was dead. There is also no telling how long before the money was discovered that it actually ended up in the spot where it was found. The dredging does offer a clue on this, though. You would have to ask someone else how that relates, though. I never believed the 'washed down the river' theory only because if the money scattered in the river far away, or a few bundles were tossed into the river, that it is unlikely that three bundles would end up in the same spot. The place where the money was found is quite a ways from Cooper's probable jump point. I did speculate in the book that perhaps the money was planted shortly after the crime, but I laid out that scene from a location only a short distance away from Tina Bar: Paradise Point State Park. And since then, because of some of the dredging issues, I think it's more likely that if the money was planted, it was probably done much later. I've always thought that the money raises more questions than it actually answers. Mr. Blevins, I understand that you are a writer for Adventure Books and other media elements. Also, based on some of your past posts here, you seem to have had more adventures in four dimensions than Buckaroo Banzai has had in eight dimensions. A few questions: 1. Where is the evidence for your statement that the FBI and others have a good idea of Cooper's jump point? Based on my personal experience, even the FBI refuses to answer that specific question. 2. As an ourdoors type, would you mark your escape route? 3. After several years of no progress on the case, why would Cooper be getting nervous? By your own statements in previous posts, you say the FBI wasn't even looking for the bills within 3 to 6 months after the hijacking. 4. You state you don't buy the "washed down the river theory" because the three bundles of bills would not be close together if they were thrown into the river far upstream. What if they weren't thrown in the river at all? What if they didn't come from "far away"? 5. And again, what is your basis for saying "probable jump point"?

Jo, The Army serial number you list was used for Army draftees during World War II. There is a strong possibility that the Navy serial number you list was used by Navy personnel BEFORE World War II. The Navy started using the 280-00-00 series starting in 1920.

21. How is that one Cooper Ignorant Delusion Woman was the only person to relay (unknowingly) to the FBA the only logical explanation that has ever been presented for the Money to explain the money find on Tena's bar in 1980? Jo, Even if you pegged me correctly as a troll living under a bridge, trolls know that people don't throw good money (and paper bills at that) into the river. You do NOT explain how the money got to Tina's Bar. In fact, I believe you have previously stated that you weren't sure that there was even money in the paper sack that Duane allegedly threw into the river. And why throw money into the river years and years after the hijacking and when the FBI was at a complete loss as to even where the hijacker landed?

Maybe I am missing the obvious, but what could be a reason for withholding that particular information? Perhaps to obscure the fact that they initially searched the wrong areas? I am not aware of any valid reason for withholding that information. An invalid reason would be to save face for getting things wrong immediately after the hijacking. But to ask for public assistance in finding Cooper, while at the same time hiding the information that is necessary to find him, is an exercise in futility.

Pek771, I believe some people on this thread have checked into the rubber bands verus paper bands and that the bank that prepared the money always claimed that no paper bands were used. It was all rubber bands and the money itself had been part of a fund that the bank had previously prepared for just such an event. Personally, I don't follow the logic of throwing money into the river as a distraction. Unless, of course, the FBI is about 50 feet behind you and gaining fast.

Pek771, Thanks again. That Cub was completely overhauled and recovered just before it was donated to the museum about 1975. The donor lived in the Houston area if I remember correctly. My last flight in it was a two hour solo on Christmas Eve 1950. The engine in it now is a Continental but it had a Lycoming when I flew it. The cause of the engine failure was that the idle mixture control was out of adjustment and the flight instructor and I were apparently the only two people at that airport who weren't aware of that. We were to practice spins and when I completely closed the throttle during the spin entry the engine quit and the prop stopped. The instructor took over and put the plane into a vertical dive, the prop did rotate a few times but the engine would not catch. Hence, the landing in a pasture with no damage. Actually, it was an educational experience for me. Georger has checked into the rubber bank question, if I remember correctly, and maybe he will elaborate on that. But based on my personal experience, I have had similar rubber bands that didn't last 8 years in my closet. And my guess is that the rubber bands and the money were not in the water for anywhere close to 8 years, maybe a few months.

G_Jones writes: So you are suggesting that the information could have been removed for the specific purpose of hiding the location of the plane during that time? Robert99 replies: No, I am not suggesting. I'm stating that in plain language. G_Jones writes: Possibly, as soon as Tina was back in cockpit they put on oxygen masks and climbed up to 15,000? Robert99 replies: Cooper had told the flight crew to fly at 10,000 feet and not to go higher. If they had gone above 10,000 feet the cabin oxygen masks would have dropped down at some point and Cooper would have known what was happening. In northern California, the airliner did climb to 11,000 feet in order to clear some mountains between it and Reno but that was apparently not high enough to cause the oxygen masks to deploy. G_Jones writes: The pilots must have been very angry and been coming up with ideas of how to get at Cooper or get him off the plane ASAP, especially if they thought he might detonate the bomb anyway. Robert99 replies: Basically, Cooper held all the cards as long as he was on the plane. About the best thing for the crew to do was play along with him and not to get him stressed out. However, it should also be noted that while on the ground in Seattle, the crew suggested that they climb above the existing overcast and then fly over the Pacific until Cooper jumped or blew the plane up. However, NWA ruled that out.

Johnny Ringo, Are you still operating that bar in Tombstone?

Safe writes: I believe you can still figure out the case even without a plane location or time of jump. It's far easier if you have these, but the discovery of the money itself is enough to lead you to a reasonable conclusion... unless you start doubting all the inferences from that also. I'm so confident that this case is totally screwed that I'll bet against any suspect you can come up with and I'll bet against them blind. Safe, You have spoken wisely. In my not-very-humble opinion, the location of the money find is the only viable clue that can be used to find anything that may remain of Cooper, the parachutes, the money, and anything else he had with him. Anyone who takes you up on that bet is going to lose. At this point, only St. Peter knows for sure who Cooper was. St. Peter probably met him about one minute after Cooper departed those airliner stairs.

Hmm that is interesting. Any theories as to what is missing? I would think the pilots would want to go check for an activated bomb as soon as they thought he was gone. This is not "theory" but everything that would help pin point the airliner's position at the time of the pressure bump, which is the supposed time of the jump, is missing. The exact flight path cannot be determined from the information in the Seattle ATC radio transcripts. In addition, at least the times, and probably the aircraft locations, shown on the so-called FBI maps of the flight south from Seattle are not believeable. There are rumors that, despite their denial, the flight crew did check the cabin after the pressure bump.

Pek771, Thanks for the compliment. From the information that is "public", and as Georger has stated earlier today some has been redacted, it is my understanding that the sled drop tests were used to support the idea that the "pressure bump" was the time of the actual jump. While there is no mention of a pressure bump in the Seattle ATC radio transcripts, the flight crew may have passed some such information to NWA's performance group in Minneapolis through the ARINC radio system. Until the airliner was some distance south of Portland, it could communicate directly with the NWA group in Minneapolis by VHF radio patched directly into the commercial telephone system. And I understand the NWA office in Seattle and the FBI were also patched into those communications. At least some of those communications with NWA Minneapolis were transmitted to Seattle and elsewhere by the NWA teletype system. And the "FBI Notes" include information from those communications, especially the teletype printouts. But these communications have obviously been redacted also. While in range for direct ARINC communications, the time hacks on the teletype printouts are probably accurate to within two minutes of the actual transmission. As the airliner got further south of Portland, it could not maintain direct contact with Minneapolis through the ARINC system, due to its relatively low altitude, and those communications were then relayed through higher flying airliners that were still able to directly communicate with the ARINC system. In this case, the time delays between the actual transmission from the airliner until the message appeared in the teletype printouts could easily have been 5 or 10 minutes. In taking off from Seattle, the airliner was cleared for takeoff on the ground control frequency and told to contact Seattle Center on an enroute controller frequency. Consequently, the airliner bypassed both the tower and the departure control controllers on the takeoff. That is the main reason why there is no exact takeoff time available in the transcripts. After takeoff and upon switching to the Seattle enroute controller, there was initial confusion as to the airliner's location. The airliner was about 20 miles south of the Seattle airport before this got cleared up. After that, there is nothing in the Seattle transcripts to pin point the location of the aircraft until it is handed off to the Oakland Center controller near the Fort Jones VORTAC in northern California. In the Oakland Center transcripts, both the radio communications between the airliner and the controllers plus the phone talk between the controllers are included. There is no doubt at all about where the airliner is and what the flight crew and controllers are doing. The Oakland Center's radio transcripts make sense and the Seattle Center's transcripts do not. So to repeat, the "public" version of the Seattle Center's radio transcripts do not contain the "raw" data that pin points the airliner's position or the time when the "pressure bump" occured.

You know I'm just a simple country girl so somebody please help me out here. What am I missing? They've known about this fellow for a year. If this article is legit, they've checked out the DNA - (which many suspect is a futile gesture from the get go - but that's another topic), but they're still waiting to find another object with fingerprints??? Does this mean that fingerprints from military service are not readily available from the military??... or maybe the FBI has to fill out an FOIA request to get em from the Navy. Now that would be govment bureaucrazy at its finest. Seriously, though ...is all this sounding kinda strange to anyone besides me? I believe the FBI is the repository for all military finger prints. However, the 1970 era prints may not have been digitized and would have to be checked manually.

I looked through the transcripts at Sluggo's site but never noticed anything redacted. Did I miss something? This just in: No DNA Match To Purported D.B. Cooper Hijacking Suspect http://news.opb.org/article/niece_no_dna_match_to_purported_d.b._cooper_hijacking_suspect/ Take another look at the Seattle Air Route Traffic Control's transcript for the very time the hijacker is supposed to have jumped (about 8:11 to 8:13 PM) and you should notice about an 18 minute time gap. If that transcript is to be believed, the airliner crew didn't radio a single word about the supposed jump. In addition, about the only information on that specific tape after they got the airliner level at 10,000 feet was the airliner crew being passed altimeter settings, switches between sector controller frequencies, and being told to ident (push the ident button on their transponder). If you want to see what air traffic control communications are actually like, take a look at the transcript for the Oakland Center commuications with the airliner. The Oakland Center also included the phone talk between the individual controllers. To make a long story short, the Seattle ATC transcripts have been sanitized.

Dan Cooper Comics - What is a famous publication, previously unknown in the Western Hemisphere, that has generated more profits for paper manufacturers than its entire initial editions combined? DZ.com (specifically the DB Cooper thread) - What is %*&^@#%=$?

Some sources also state that the back parachute left behind was a "sports" parachute. Some people state that it was a ParaCommander backpack. Has anyone on this thread ever seen a 1970 era "sports" parachute or a ParaCommander backpack that didn't have D-rings for a belly reserve?

I guess I'll have to go for $1200: Attics - What are inaccessible spaces above the living area in some houses that are needed to help explain improbable theories?

The idea that Duane Weber's Navy serial number (if he was actually in the Navy) and/or his Army serial number can be rearranged to represent some kind of meaningful "code" is an imaginative piece of nonsense.