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I'm surprised Santos isn't getting any votes. Wendy P.

On the bomb,,,, I lean towards it being real but do not believe he would have jumped with it.. too risky and hard to hold/attach. It was probably FBI "propaganda" to suggest the bomb was road flares.. because dynamite wasn't red... dynamite was red or brown. He may have had a concealed weapon as well... no evidence for that.

I don’t think canopy size would have mattered much to a guy like Braden. He found have handled whatever. He might have gone with which pack he thought looked newer or better. Besides, SOG guys jumped with 24 foot chutes. Even though Flyjack did find an example of a WWII olive drab emergency pack, they were rare. Thus, I feel safe deducing that Cooper’s pack, being olive drab, was a newer pack than the WWII model he left on the plane.

I just don't see Cooper having a real bomb with live uninsulated wires bouncing around in his briefcase. It would be too easy for those to hti eachother and set off the bomb. If they were not connected to the battery and the bomb, then it would take him a few seconds or more to connect, which could mean the FBI had time to jump him. I personally have been zapped a number of times doing electrical work thinking that my wires would not touch. I was also shocked badly with an explosives detonator in high school, point being that live wires are dangerous. If he was that skilled you'd think he would have rigged up a switch or done what the guy in Airport did using a wooden pull tab that when pulled connected the circuit. But like most things in this case, I would not be surprised if the bomb was real or fake. I just lean to it being fake, especially if he traveled by plane or train in his journey. Being found with dynamite on him would get him sent to jail, whereas a fake bomb may be able to be passed off as a gag if he was searched pre-hijack.

Military ordinance people (bomb experts) I had read the FBI transcripts came to the same conclusion - in a nutshell they said 'either Cooper was trying to impress on some knowing eye that his bomb might be real, or it was real'. The people I consulted focused on the wiring Tina described. How could Cooper have known he was showing the bomb's contents to an electrician's daughter who would focus on colors of wires and trace their connections in addition to describing the brief case's contents in detail ! ? The average person would probably not be able to do that with clarity ... anyone is free to duplicate this experiment using experts - anyone!

Or Trump! Meanwhile things may be getting a little sticky for Gym: "Lawsuit against OSU in sexual abuse scandal could result in deposition for Speaker candidate Jordan" https://www.foxnews.com/politics/lawsuit-against-osu-sexual-abuse-scandal-could-result-deposition-speaker-candidate-jordan

+1 for DaVinci Resolve - the best free tool on the market, with lots of features that you'd usually find only in expensive programs. Another big plus is that on its website there are really good and really helpful video tutorials, which I highly recommend watching. This tool replaced Adobe Premiere for me. Its only weakness so far is lack of compatibility with Insta360 format, but it's manageable. Available for all platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux)

What would you ask Lars Larson? He's still doing syndicated radio out of Portland.

The report noted that the congresswoman had met with a lawyer ahead of the gala to discuss potential ethics concerns and determined that she would pay for the services with personal funds, but a campaign staffer would be responsible for making the actual payments. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-met-gala-office-congressional-ethics-house-committee/ The above may or may not be true, but sometimes genuine mistakes are made. In other news, Sarah Huckabee used her Arkansas government credit card to pay $19000 (just under the mandatory oversight limit of $20,000) to her friend’s events company, just before they and a few other Trump campaign alumni went on a vacation to Paris. The invoice said it was for a lectern - even though there is no evidence her friend was in the lectern business, the invoice was for 2.5x more than that particular lectern should have cost, and no one could find any evidence or shipping documents to show that a lectern had been delivered. Then the state Republican Party wrote a check to reimburse the government for the cost, and the person delivering the check was specifically instructed to write ‘to be reimbursed’ on the original invoice and not to date it - falsely making it appear that was the plan all along. Then Sanders’ office released a photo of a lectern to show they really did buy one with the money - and the manufacturer said ‘hey that’s not one of ours, it’s a cheap knock off’. Anyway, long story short she flat out stole $20,000 of taxpayer money and May end up in federal prison. And for bonus points, her initial response to a journalist finding the dodgy payment was to attempt to change Arkansas Freedom of Information law so that no one would be able to catch her doing it again.

Here's another break-in report. Seems to be a rash of break-ins in the FBI DZ the night of the hijacking. I doubt Cooper was responsible for all of them.

It would be hard to imagine a rubber banded bundle of 3-5 packets remaining together for that journey. .......... unless they were in a bag with the rest of the money and the bag or part of the bag was transported to TBar, in some fashion. Post Ingram discovery, the whole area including all of the wingdams were searched by various divers operating out of Aquatic Sports at Portland, including the whole area at the junction of the Lewis and Columbia. The owner of Aquatic Sports kept a log of various people reporting their searches but after he died that log was lost (according to his son) so there is no way to even known the names of all of the people who searched and reported .... and apparently the FBI at Portland did not keep a log of searchers phoning in results to them ? Tosaw was not alone among people searching the Tina Bar area post Ingram-find. Tosaw pestered the Portland Office constantly for any 'news' following the TBar excavation ... the office got tired of all of his phone calls asking for the latest info ... I dont understand why people are so resistant to accept the obvious suspect! The dredging in 1974 which dumped spoils at Tina Bar close to where Ingram money was found. Its almost as if there is some agreement to avoid that actual event - at all costs! The 1974 dredging that placed spoils on Tena Bar is THE DEAD HORSE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD - DUHHHHHH! ??? Its amazing to me how people ignore it and avoid it at all costs, starting with Tom Kaye!

Heisson Store was never confirmed,, it is probably 90%... I looked for other general stores in that area in that era, 10 miles South of the Dam, and didn't find any close. The South Fork Lewis is the river near Heisson that flows to the Columbia. If a high water event caused the money to flow to the Columbia it would end up at the mouth of the Lewis River downstream of TBAR... There were clamshell dredge operations in the Columbia that barged material upstream and dumped above TBAR.. IMO, this is a long shot. It would be hard to imagine a rubber banded bundle of 3-5 packets remaining together for that journey.

New episode out now! DB Cooper Didn't Get What He Wanted with Jude Morrow. Enjoy! https://thecoopervortex.podbean.com/e/db-cooper-didn-t-get-what-he-asked-for-jude-morrow/

The choice of bourbon with 7 Up is interesting considering the most popular highball at the time was 7&7. Typically if you mixed a liquor with 7 Up, it was with Seagram's Crown 7. Bourbon is a sweeter booze that doesn't necessarily require a mixer where a harsher Crown 7 does.

Another angle on this to consider. As I understand it, Bourbon was actually falling in popularity during the 60s. It was considered a more traditional, old guard choice. It was your father or grand father's drink, as opposed to Vodka, which was considered the trendier spirit of choice and giving the Bourbon and Whiskey industry a run for their money. So, if Cooper did in fact order a "Bourbon", it may very well be in line with the age profile of 45 to 55 and with someone who was more "old school" as opposed to a counter culture type, so to speak. In addition, Bourbon is an American drink, so perhaps it could also be inferred that so was Cooper as opposed to being Canadian. This kind of stuff is always a little tricky, of course there are no absolutes and there are always exceptions to the rule, but it's fair game for a profile building exercise. I thought that someone posted the drink menu from NWA a few years back...not sure if it was here or on Shutter's site.

Yes, Jay Stokes reminded us of his IAD pilot-chute folding technique during a USPA IAD and S/L standardization meeting immediately following the 2023 PIA Symposium in Reno. We also watched a bunch of videos of good, bad and ugly IAD dispatch methods. One thing most of us agreed on was the importance of a minimum of exposed bridle. My preferred method is to wrap 2 fingers around the pilot-chute and 2 more fingers around the horizontal strap on the student's harness. That allows me to control student movement while checking the spot, chatting with the pilot, etc. Then I use that harness grip to assist the student in climbing out. Other IAD J/Ms use a variation by grabbing both the student's pilot-chute and shoulder yoke with the same hand. This works well as long as the J/M remembers to "place" the pilot-chute low, Preferably at door sill level to prevent an entanglement with the airplane tail. Finally, we discussed various methods of minimizing the number of loose pilot-chutes - in the airplane cabin - before the door opens. A few mentioned stuffing the pilot-chute down the front of the student's shirt. I have mixed emotions about this method. A better method is to wrap a rubber-band around the chest-strap buckle and use that to control the pilot-chute while the instructor is busy with other duties. The best method - that I have used - is to sew an extra Spandex pouch (like a BOC) onto the left side of the container. Teach IAD school packers to pack all of the pilot-chutes into the side pouch. Then we teach freefall students how to repack the pilot-chute into the BOC.

Yeah not very practical. It just gets complex. (Just like this reply did for me...) In theory if there were a DZ with tons of funding (eg military) you could be lent a reserve canopy set up to use as a main. "You have a Smart 150 in your rig? Well, we have a PD 143 set up here, that would at least be similar." There would be complexities because a reserve doesn't normally have the deployment bag attached. (So you need a specially built reserve, or static lining the jump, or removable deployment system, or someone else chasing the d-bag.) Sometimes there are big boogies where manufacturers bring reserves set up to be tried out as mains, but then you need to be around such a big skydiving event. But if you want to actually cut away from a parachute, then you need a 3rd canopy, a reserve, on the system. You can have the reserve to test in its proper place on your back -- which makes putting a real reserve on your belly more complex, especially to have it fully legal. Or you could have the reserve to test on you belly, which keeps your 'last reserve' in your rig as normal, but then the deployment for the test canopy won't be like a real reserve. Either way, having 3 canopies makes the gear and handles and procedures and crap that your wearing more complex and less suited to a newbie. Maybe more dangerous than a real cutaway after a mal! (There was even a World Champion doing a stunt jump for a commercial about 25 years ago, with 3 canopies, who screwed up the order he pulled stuff and died. An unusual case but 3 canopies does get complex.) And even if you set up everything to cutaway to a reserve to test flying it, there won't be nearly the same stress level as if you were having an actual malfunction. So then ideally you'd at least do something like pop one toggle on the main to get yourself spinning around before cutting away. Reserves do fly a little different than the ZP canopies people are used to today. A small F-111 style canopy will tend to have a shorter, sharper flare motion, not a long gradual flare motion. It used to be that people were used to F-111 style canopies from their student days, but now they don't get that. So I do get a little concerned about newer jumpers these days knowing how to properly flare their reserve. At least people learn that they should do practice flares under their reserve when actually flying it after a malfunction. All in all, it gets complex. So in the sport it is considered reasonable to just spend one's time practicing on the ground. Hanging harnesses are good, handle checks on all jumps are good. And you don't buy a reserve that is way smaller than what you are used to jumping as a main.