FLYJACK

Odd tidbits in news articles in last FBI file.. Cooper took crew meals with him.. Cooper ransom bill list distributed globally, Interpol.. Cooper tied himself to seat during initial rear stair opening.. Rear stairs retracted to within eight inches during sled test.. (didn't hit?)

There are several overlapping issues with chutes.. The card ID's by the FBI conflict, the physical descriptions conflict and the background stories conflict. Hayden bought the two chutes n May 1971, packed by Cossey May 21, 1971. Hayden claimed he doesn't know Cossey and Cossey doesn't know Hayden. Hayden must have ordered the chutes through Issaquah Skysports or something like that. Hayden claimed his chutes were "identical". The FBI and Cossey claim they were very different. The FBI claimed Hayden gave them the chute descriptions.. Hayden claimed he didn't, never spoke to the FBI and disagrees with the FBI descriptions. Cossey claimed he gave the FBI his packing records, the FBI claimed they never got them. The FBI did not record and does not have the ID numbers of the chutes taken by Cooper. Cossey claimed he altered the handle on the chute Cooper took.. That doesn't make sense to alter one of two rigs if supplying chutes to Hayden for emergency bailout. Another problem,, Cossey was told that a Pioneer chute was left in the plane,, From that Cossey ID'd the chute taken by Cooper on an assumption. Cossey sold two chutes to Hayden 6 months prior not knowing Hayden.. How does Cossey know those two chutes? Cossey is going completely on recall, he is recalling two chutes sold six months prior to a person he never met and doesn't know. Cossey could only have been told that the back rigs came from Hayden (he doesn't know). How could he have Id'd them with certainty after the hijacking? Two backpacks olive drab seen? Olive drab and tan harness? Here is a 28' Steinthal chute.. S/N 66-12982 Sept 1966... consistent numbering with the 60-9707 Jul 1960 chute

Can anyone re-post these pictures? They don't seem to be on the site anymore. Probably this,

Can't rule it out until we find the data on the container.. Here is a random 1960 tan Pioneer container,,, the data is stamped across the upper back and oddly it has a silk chute. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Military-Parachute-Vietnam-Era-U-S-Air-Force-Parachute-/264730930067

I was referring to the date on the harness only.. Hayden's returned chute harness data is not the source for any sort of possible dating error. The card for that chute showed S/N 226 for three packing jobs so it isn't the chute either. We don't know about any numbers on the container itself. BTW, the S/N for the 1960 Pioneer back chute "noted" found left on the plane was 60-9707, the precursor digits "60" is consistent with a 1960 manufacture date. (year - serial number) Cossey claimed that he had modified the ripcord location on Cooper's rig..

Hayden's returned chute.. The harness date is April 1957... consistent with Hayden chute 1 .. and not a potential error source for chute 2 data.

Cossey made a Cooper replica for Tosaw... Cossey signed card. A 28' Reliance... https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/b-cooper-replica-parachute-packed-190703299 This is a replica parachute of the chute used by D.B. Cooper in his legendary skyjacking. This replica parachute was owned by Richard Tosaw, former FBI agent, and packed by Earl J. Cossey. Richard Tosaw wrote the first book on D.B. Cooper called, "D.B. Cooper, Dead or Alive?" This parachute is an estate item. I don't know if the parachute works, and have left it packed. It seems to be in good condition. That chute matches Cossey's description in the FBI files, it does not match Hayden's description.. Hayden claimed he never spoke with FBI... yet they quote him describing the chutes. Hayden claimed both chutes were identical... but the two described by the FBI and Cossey were not.. Clearly, this replica chute does not match Hayden's. 1. MAKE: Pioneer TYPE: 26 ft white ripstop conical, SERIAL NO: 226, DATE OF MFR 9/57 (1957) packed by Cossey 5/21/71 (Hayden got this one back) 2. MAKE: Pioneer TYPE: 24 ft white ripstop conical, SERIAL NO: 60-9707, DATE OF MFR: 7/60 (1960) packed by Cossey 5/21/71 (This back chute was left on the plane, ID'd by National Guard in Reno) Hayden requested his chute back, believing one was left and one taken... The FBI responded to Hayden in the plural, "these chutes ... "they".. did the FBI still have both of Hayden's chutes..

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/db-cooper-tina-mucklow-untold-story-1111944/ "Recently, Mucklow has reconsidered her silence, agreeing to occasional interviews. This year, marking the 50th anniversary of the famous crime, she’s consulting on the production of a scripted film — an action thriller by Joey McFarland and Dawn Bierschwal — about the crew’s experience of the hijacking."

Dennis Eugene Lysne is the redacted ticket agent and Hal V. Williams was the boarding gate clerk...

Interview with Jack Almstad NORJAK passenger.. Contradicts the FBI narrative... https://patch.com/california/livermore/livermore-man-recaps-encounter-with-db-cooper "A refueling truck and bus pulled up next to the plane. A person also entered the plane. "They walked down the aisle and it looked like they were holding a pillow slip," Almstad said. "It had jagged points. Looked like a bag of bricks." The bag likely contained the $200,000 ransom D.B. Cooper demanded, Almstad said." https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2011/08/04/bay-area-man-on-d-b-cooper-flight-recalls-hijacking/ “Then a guy, I it was a man, came walking down the aisle with a white sack. To me, it looked like a pillow slip, and it had all these jagged points in it. And I remember the thought I had, that looks like bricks in it, or a bag of money, I thought,” Almstad said. Almstad believes he may have seen the $200,000 ransom that Cooper had demanded, along with a parachute."

It wasn't a light, it was the cabin pressure gauge on the Engineer's panel. If the stairs bang up the light doesn't go out.. because the handle is not in the up detent.

This is accurate.... (est) Tina said about 10 min after she went to Cockpit. Then later noticed red light "go on".. the exact time isn't precise and isn't important here. Several FBI docs and media report have a second light flash right before 8:05, that is the problem. That is the context. That second light could not have been the green stairs locked down..

This might make it clearer... FBI files and news report that two aft stair lights came on. First at 7:42, second about 8:04, right before Cooper says everything OK. Timestamps from transmissions are at end of transmission, event is prior. 7:36 est. take off (7:40 est) 4 minutes after takeoff Tina went forward (Tina) 7:42 air stair light on Tina with us, (Pilot) 7:45 have stair light on (still), (Pilot) (7:50 est) = 10 min later Cooper call can’t get stairs down (Tina) 7:54 Tina said Cooper has “knapsack" tied to waist time estimate… Tina noticed red stair light “go on” (Tina) 8:04/5 FBI - seconds before Cooper says “everything OK” stair light comes on (claim stairs fully extended) 8:05 Cooper said everything OK (AF radar has plane N of Pigeon Springs and E of Ostranger Wa.) 8:12 getting oscillations The cockpit only has two aft stair lights.. amber = stairs not locked up lever not in up detent position and green = locked down How could Cooper go down the stairs at 8:04/5 fully extended/locked to trigger the light and return to the interphone at 8:05 to say everything OK... and no oscillations or bump was noticed. He can't... the second light must have been the amber light (Tina said red) handle moving in and out of the up detent position.

The only way the light flashed or was seen twice was if the lever was moved from the up detent then back to the up detent then from the up detent... The light in the cockpit is triggered when the lever is moved from the up detent not when the stairs move or bounce up.

1963 Boeing in flight airstair opening test,, opened only 12 inches. Says couldn't be forced any more,, I assume that means using the control lever,, not standing on the stairs. So, if Cooper's initial try to open the stairs resulted in a 12 inch opening then he could have, in his struggle, put the lever back to up detent then forward causing the light to flash twice.. and going down the stairs would have been the only way to get them open, he may have gone down to test and back up.

Yes, that is the problem,, that light is green and comes on when locked down. Tina said red light came on (about 8:00) and the stairs couldn't have been locked down.

Well, I don't understand Shutter's comment about the aft stair light in the cockpit.. The FBI docs and Tina's claims are consistent that two lights came on,, one at about 7:42 and one about 8:00.. There are only two lights, a green one for stairs locked down and an amber light triggered when the handle is moved from the up detent. The second light was reported as red by Tina which can be mistaken for amber and the stairs were never locked down. That can only mean the handle was moved from the up detent and back at some point then forward again. Also, the sled test. Anderson was the pilot not Rat.. they discussed running the flightpath in the planning stage.. it makes no sense that they would not fly the fightpath given the opportunity. But, they dropped the sled over the Ocean. I have no doubt that they would have flown the flightpath, then headed out over the Ocean to drop the sled.

Here is the FBI doc on the aft stair light in cockpit.. The red light (actually amber) only goes on when the lever is moved from the up detent... the aft stair light locked down is green. Tina said about 8 PM that the red light came on. Tina red light go on..

In my mind, I think it would but without a real world experiment we don't really know. We don't have the unsprung force data.. The top 4 stairs are fixed and the last 11 are levered.. The airtairs were about level when open and at speed with no weight,, the end opening may have been 1.5 - 2 ft. If Cooper went part way, a few steps how far would the stairs have dropped? If they dropped only 2 ft more then they could have sprung back up and hit the top. You don't need the stairs to drop very far below level to recover the 1.5 - 2 ft gap above level. The key is the stasis/level vs the range of motion..

This is interesting,, I know there were many hoax tips.. and this may be another. But here the runway across the River near I5 would be Pearson Airport which is very close to the flightpath.. I looked for a pond but couldn't find any really close but hard to tell for 1971, there appears to have been one about a half mile East of the runway back then.. it is no longer there. It is almost right under the flightpath.

The problem with the sled test... The sled test assumes that Cooper stood at the end and jumped. The sudden full weight gone causing stairs to bang up. What if Cooper walked down the stairs backward and slowly let his body off the end while holding on to the rails. His weight on the stairs would have been significantly reduced and the air would have lifted his body.. his weight wouldn't have been on the stairs. Then hanging on with his body off the end, he just let go.. This method would not have caused the airstairs to bang up. What did cause the bump,, Cooper may have initially gone part way down the stairs then back up..

Ticket agent remember's Cooper had "black hair".. Bill Mitchell also thought his hair looked odd like it was dyed.. This is odd.. an FAA official boarded the plane. (claimed) Was this the mysterious FBI agent many passengers saw on the plane?? or the person the crew claimed was a passenger trying to get back on the plane?? Geoffrey Gray mentioned pills for the crew... here it is. Cooper also got food for the crew.

Again,,, newspapers.. Nov 26 newspaper reported that the back chutes were owned by Hayden. Hayden had claimed both his chutes were identical.. Here they imply they were different. A sky diver chute???

A bunch of interesting things... from newspapers which are not always accurate. Drop test followed the flight path... the FBI docs claim a sled was dropped over the Ocean, that makes sense. The FBI plan was to follow the Norjak path. It is likely they did follow the path and then dropped the sled over the Ocean. Remember, the FBI claimed the placard could have come from the test flight. Now, we know Norjak did not have the emergency release system. Now, this is very crucial. This newspaper piece is confirmed by the FBI files. The rear stair light was on early, then when Tina went to the cockpit she saw a red light come on. The FBI assumed the first light was the stairs being unlocked and the second was the stairs locked down. This is wrong. There are two lights in the cockpit.. Amber light, the lever is moved out of the detent position. Green light, the rear stairs are locked down. Tina said she saw a red light go on around 8:00.. the light was amber but can be mistaken for red. The means at around 8:00 the lever was moved from the up detent position. The light wasn't green and the stairs were never locked down. The FBI is wrong, the second light was not the stairs in a locked down position. The only way these events could be resolved.. Cooper or Tina moved the lever from the detent position early (about 7:42ish) causing the amber aft stair light to go on in the cockpit. The crew said the light was on for some time. The lever was then returned to the up position and the light would have gone off. Then Tina in the cockpit saw the light go back on when Cooper moved the lever from the detent position around 8:00... It is likely that Cooper pulled the lever back to the up detent position then to open while struggling to get the aft stairs to go down. This indicates that stairs were closed near 8:00..

I OCR with Adobe, newspapers in the FBI covert at about 90%... some are just poor quality.