FLYJACK

One thing I have always wondered.. If Rataczak was hand flying,, IMO he was but concede that he was for sake of argument... Would he be inclined fly straight into the wind or at an angle??? It is possible the slight track SE before Portland was actually Rataczak hand flying straight into the wind? or would the wind direction be irrelevant.. After Portland the wind was SW... What is typical for flying into a wind? Essentially, would the wind direction have any effect on the path if plane hand flown and gear/flaps down?

Rataczak acknowledged the path on the map was him hand flying the plane.. that supports the path by the actual pilot and rejects the WFP. Why did he have to track the centreline of V-23. It is probably true that the ATC map would be more accurate than GEOREF but remember they did do a more accurate path without GEOREF that was very close to the Spangler one.. The path is plotted points, the points are just connected by hand.. if you account for the GEOREF plotting error, the path can be smoothed to represent a typical jet. The pink line on this map is within the 1 mile plotting error.

How did Cooper get to PDX.. Own car Accomplice Plane Bus Bicycle/Unicycle Boat Skateboard Train Taxi

Obviously, the SAGE system is not GEOREF,, Sage is distance and angle from beacon to lock on target in 3 dimensional space... GEOREF is noted in the FBI documents as the means used to produce the ground map which is 2 dimensions.. lat/long conversion. So, either Spangler converted the Sage data to GEOREF or Sage has some output option for long/lat or GEOREF.. Spangler marked the GEOREF data on the map by hand estimation... The FBI files further state that sometime later in late 72 or early 1973, a computer was used to get a more accurate path.. GEOREF had a mile error and the new computer had a half mile error. There was a very minor area identified for searching. It confirmed Spanglers path. I remember reading that the FAA was tracking the plane, but the map was created from SAGE.. I would assume the Air Force would also have had regular radar tracking planes... Also, the FDR had heading recorded.. Also Rataczak mentioned the "FBI" flightpath map being due to his hand flying the plane. That is his confirmation of the map.

No evidence for an accomplice, possible I guess. Pay phone calls were checked. but, I believe Cooper had planned to jump farther South when he got on the plane and made his fly to Mexico demand, the course change to land in Reno caused him to jump early. There is a good argument for this,,, I have posted it before.

There was a report of a suspicious guy walking on a road North of Merwin and another near Eugene. Another thing I have worked on is evacuation routes and speed/time... If he lands at X location, how long and what route to get out.. Limited river crossings alter the routes and time.. For example,, the railroad tracks go through Brush Prairie, if he landed there he could walk straight to Heisson store using the tracks by 11:30.. whereas if he landed further away, no way he could get to Heisson and couldn't be the robber. or did he take the tracks South? What did he do?? hunker down or travel at night? how, by road, rail or hitch a ride?? What is the best way to get out of there and where do you go first. You are wet, maybe dirty and possibly injured.

Attacking is the wrong word.. Challenging. Challenging the dominant narrative can reinforce it. but figuring out where Cooper jumped or didn't jump does define other aspects of the case. Could the chute found in the south Fork Lewis be Cooper's... Could he have been the Heisson store robber.. or not.. etc.. what about other found chutes. Could he have lost the money and it recovered by a land owner who didn't report it. Is there any evidence still out there, perhaps he landed just W of the path. Did he land near the railroad tracks... was his landing place evacuation restricted by a River. Did he land in a searched area or unsearched... All these things tell us something. Does it tell us who he is,, no, but neither does anything else in the case evidence.

No worries.. I spent years trying to find evidence that the DZ or path was wrong but never did... Challenging the status quo is always worthwhile,, I have just never seen any evidence to change their conclusions.. IMO, given the totality of information, they got it right.

First thing is, that is from a summary.. 302's are investigative notes, not conclusions. You have to look at all evidence. It is not the actual interview with the crew. It is notes taken by an FBI agent then summarized. Isolating a single vague phrase isn't enough. Portland may have been used as a general reference in the context for a flight from Seattle to Reno.. it could have been used by the agent since we don't have the actual crew statements. They speculated hijacker familiar with Seattle - Portland generally.. probably parachuted closer to Portland.. that is how I read that. Also, from that summary, they (the crew) speculated AT THE TIME that hijacker left the plane AND oscillations reported to Northwest headquarters. Some have claimed the crew didn't believe Cooper had jumped.. here they speculated at the time that he did. So, clearly they thought he did but weren't sure. This is consistent with other evidence. They also summarized from last comm at 8:05 within (5 to) 10 minutes and PRIOR to Portland, 8:15 is ten minutes later and about Battleground. The crew believed the time of the oscillation was when Cooper jumped. The crew knew the last comm occurred with Cooper but did not know were they were at exactly 8:05.. that was later determined. The big problem with trying to move the FBI DZ 50 years later is that we do not have all the info they had at the time.. Clearly, they had this vague summary and actual crew statements, but the totality of evidence pinpointed the DZ more accurately. It is not unusual for FBI notes to be vague or even contain inaccuracies or conflicts. Soderlind was listening in and taking notes, they had all the info we have and more including access to fresh witnesses. If you want to move the FBI's DZ, you need a lot more than interpreting a vague summary in the notes. There is no known substantive evidence to move the DZ, only speculation. A couple of you guys are trying to move the DZ, challenging the DZ is appropriate but there is no evidence. Moreover, you have less info than the FBI had at the time. Do you really think the FBI did not weigh the actual crew statements in their analysis. The crew had two factual parameters that they believed were timestamped... to help pinpoint the time Cooper jumped/oscillation. The last comm,, and the call to Soderlind (Northwest) 5-10 min later. They likely did not know the times but knew those times were recorded and that it was before Portland. I believe that when Rataczak later learned of the plane's location at 8:05, he concluded Cooper jumped nearer the Lewis R.. about 25 miles N of Portland.. During the initial interview he did not know that information.

Tina said the bag was green, House yellow/pink and 12x14x4.. No design or logo/name seen.. That isn''t consistent with a chain store with no name or design, the bag isn't big, but not small. The colour is unique and reminds me of something an drugstore or a stationary store might use. Total speculation,,, it may be from an independent drugstore or stationary store..

The bag was described as yellow/green.. my guess is a pharmacy..

If boots were stolen that would have been something mentioned in that file.. Stolen boots would have been important...

One angle that just hit me is the cigarettes.. I have never smoked but smokers need their hits.. When Cooper jumped what was his cigarette supply?? What was the time span for his on hand supply?? Imagine this scenario,,, Cooper using the railroad tracks to get out of the area.. he was low on cigarettes, at least not enough to get through the night. He sees a grocery store and breaks in for cigarettes... then grabs a few other items. Wherever Cooper landed he may have had a limited supply of cigarettes..

A few things about Heisson.. First, the FBI files never named it, we assume it is the Heisson store.. probably is. and robbing a rural grocery store for survival rations at 11:30PM while escaping along the tracks fits a fugitive fine. Claiming he wouldn't do that to reject it is silly. But, I don't have an opinion on Heisson,, there just isn't enough evidence to go one way or the other on it.

The paid hitchhiker scenario has come up before.. But the paper or rubber bands wouldn't hold till spring..

Boots were not stolen... "survival rations" were. At 11:30PM, dark and isolated.

It is 10 miles as the crow flies but almost 17 miles by road, that is more like a 4 hour walk.. seems unlikely Cooper could walk that unless he hitched a ride to La Center??

I heard that before.. I thought it was unconfirmed.

Why, was it solved..

Yes, West.. it is 10 miles from Heisson store. Heisson was 11:30 and the house intruder was around midnight.. those times are likely estimates.. a 10 mile walk is 2.5 hours. Either he hitched a ride or those times are actually further apart.. or maybe they are unrelated.

G the target of the testing is the inside (edge) of the pocket... not the outside of the chute. The chute is the property of the museum.. A lab indicated that fingerprint powder could destroy DNA. The question was whether the card was finger printed and therefore could have contaminated the inside of the pocket. That is all.

Not specific, just inquiring if any was used on the cards.

This is interesting... This guy had an intruder outside his rural home, about 5 miles south of Woodland.. I tracked his past (family home) address to Paradise Point, Clark, Washington about 5 miles south of Woodland - this is about 3 miles East of the flightpath at the 8:12 mark on the map.. If the wind was SE in that area Cooper would have landed very close to this spot.

I see no evidence of print powder on the card..

Cossey.