olemisscub

I’m not saying he didn’t say it, per se, just that he probably said it to the other guys (and gal) in the cockpit…or he said it to dead air.

Yes I’m aware he has said it other times. But who did he allegedly say this to? ATC? Why would he have something like that to them? Read the transcripts. He never says anything to ATC other than boring routine technical stuff.

Yes I’m very much aware of what Rat CLAIMED he said, haha.

I'm not sure what Fly believes about it, but I don't believe Rat made that quote. He essentially tells the FBI that he regrets not doing so. If Rat actually said something about the pressure bump, he said it to the rest of the crew, not over the air.

How many times does this have to be spelled out for you? The redactions are about OTHER AIRCRAFT.

Mac had goggles and was able to see forward. I specifically asked him about this point. He said he looked all around him including forward.

My belief is that Cooper was winging his drop zone. Having spoken extensively to an individual who in fact winged his own DZ (McNally), I think it makes perfect sense for Cooper to have jumped in the Battle Ground to Orchards area. It’s a sweet spot. He’s close enough to civilization to make an easy escape but not so close that he risks landing on top of a police car. Despite it being cloudy, Cooper would have been able to see that blob of light in the distance and would have known that was Portland/Vancouver. From speaking to Jim McClellan recently (pilot of the infamous “light aircraft”), he said that, in general, the combined glow would have started to be visible from 10,000 feet in cloudy conditions roughly around the Battle Ground area. He also indicated that La Center gave off no light footprint whatsoever through the clouds. He said flying over La Center back then above the clouds was just darkness beneath you. He said BG and Orchards would have given off enough light to penetrate the clouds in those days. So if Cooper jumps as soon as he sees Portland lights and with some lights beneath him (so he knows he isn’t jumping into a lake or super heavy woods) then BG to Orchards is really ideal and fits with what I was told by a pilot who flew every day in that area. According to McClellan, Cooper would have been jumping totally blind to what was beneath him if he jumped near the Lewis River, plus that was too early to have seen lights of Portland from 10,000 feet in the clouds. I believe Cooper first starts going down the stairs just based off of dead reckoning. He knows that they must be approaching Portland by that time.

Put not Portland ATC? I suppose the controller who told the FBI that 305 was about a mile east of the center line of V-23 as it approached Portland was just full of crap.

So much of this depends on whether he had an accomplice or not. If he had an accomplice waiting for him in the Portland area he'd just need to stash the loot and get to a phone somehow. If he was solo he'd need to get back to his vehicle somehow (assuming he didn't fly into Portland).

What's fascinating to me is that if they DID get the DZ wrong (let's say it was between BG and BP), how many potential leads and stories have we missed out on? What tips and information might have been revealed if agents were canvassing homes in the Battle Ground area instead of La Center? Imagine a scenario where a gas station clerk in Orchards allowed an oddly acting man to use the phone that night, but opted against reporting it because the FBI’s focus was on an area ten miles away. Stuff like that. Interesting to speculate what we may have missed.

Attacking the flight path is absolutely ludicrous given the evidence, but there is some wiggle room on the DZ regarding the whole oscillations vs. pressure bump issue/possible conflation, etc. Some of us interpret the same data you have differently and that shouldn't be a problem. Orchards is as far south as I'm comfortable placing his jump and I believe the farthest south you are willing to go is Battle Ground (don't let me misquote you there), and that's ok to disagree. None of us here are mouth breathers and we have all reached certain conclusions based on our independent research and interpretations of the evidence that exists. It goes back to the agenda discussion. I have no agenda whatsoever regarding Cooper's DZ. If the way I interpreted the data led me to the conclusion that he jumped over La Center or whether it led me to believe he jumped over Orchards, then so what? Why would I care? Why should anyone have a motive regarding his DZ? This is why I've never really understood why people have so vehemently argued about his DZ. It's not something that will help us find Cooper. It's merely intellectual case knowledge. It's arguing for the sake of arguing. We'll never know precisely when he left the aircraft so it has never struck me as something worth fighting over. If I reached the conclusion that he jumped over Brush Prairie and you say he jumped over La Center, so be it. What does it matter, ya know? Arguing flight path is a different issue. Promoting an alternative flight path DOES have consequences. I wish that Eric had placed the same effort with the media that he just displayed about Tena Bar and WFP along the actual flight path. I'm guessing 99.9% of Clark County residents who know anything about Cooper think he jumped near Ariel, which is understandable. Now, if they see Eric on TV talking about Cooper landing near TB, they may be convinced that Cooper jumped over in that area. If people living in Vancouver up to Battle Ground knew that Cooper actually jumped in their neck of the woods, then who knows, maybe someone would be motivated to go hiking through the woods of their backyard and just happen to find something. Eric does an excellent job of keeping the story alive with the media. That exposure is very beneficial for the case because as long as it's still in the public eye then someone might happen to remember something about a great uncle, etc., and come forward. Placing so much focus on Tena Bar doesn't help, sadly.

A pharmacy? Little too big for that, no? Tina said it was the size of a department store bag for a shirt.

Sent Detlor the 302 of the Heisson store and he says he has no memory of that. Bummer.

I've always found it interesting that Cooper wasn't noted smoking after they landed. Maybe he lit up once Tina was in the cockpit, but he seemingly goes a couple of hours without smoking between approx. 5:45 and approx. 7:45 fun trivia: Mac kept having to bum cigarettes from his hostage passengers throughout his hijacking.

Again, I'm with you. The survival rations angle certainly fits a man in his situation at that moment.

I agree. Paper certainly not. Rubber bands likely not.

One of my dumb theories is that Cooper hitchhiked with someone, much like McCoy did. Whenever he got to his location, Cooper, already showing that he could be generous with money (Tina), tossed the guy a bundle or left it in the car for him. Guy drives off and is thoroughly confused. At some point he hears about the hijacking on the radio and panics, since he is now an accessory to a capital crime, and tosses the money into the brush as he's driving near Caterpillar Island. It sits in the brush until the 72 flood pushes it a mile or so north and deposits it on TB.

I'm with you on this. Although I'm not sure if he was hustling as much as we think. He had no idea of knowing that the pressure bump would betray him. He may have been thinking that there was no possible way they'd know where he jumped, so maybe he didn't rush. However, it's still natural instinct to just get the hell out of Dodge as soon as you can. I don't believe Heisson was Cooper, but it would still be nice to have confirmation that it WASN'T Cooper.

I’ll email Detlor about it. Maybe he remembers.

Another from Broer. This one from 1965. I like the dude with the briefcase staring out the window. Cool visual.

Courtesy of Chris Broer. Gate L42 in Dec 71. Coop was L54

Coffelt:Rackstraw Vault: Cooper TV documentaries

There is a 9 year gap in the chain of custody with the TB money. I don’t think Cooper’s DZ within the accepted flight path makes a difference unless it puts him over the Columbia, which it cannot.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch

Speak for yourself. I could give a shit where Cooper jumped. It makes no difference to me. I have no agenda when I discuss flight path or DZ. These topics really don’t interest me, so my conclusions are based solely on how I interpret the evidence.