olemisscub

Regardless, nearly all green emergency packs were some sort of a NB-6 variant at the time. Whether it was an NB-6 or one of the variants doesn't really matter. All we can be certain of is that it was a 24 foot canopy. I believe through my numerous FB lives and postings on FB that I've been able to successfully convince the larger community of this fact. I think it's Cooper canon now. So, good work finding that in the 302's.

By this logic the museum chute isn't a P2-B-24 since it has a 26 foot canopy. Canopy size and intended pack size don't have to match.

Don't think this matters. You can put a 24 in a container designed for a 26 just like you can stuff a 28 footer into a container designed for a 26.

Agree with this. Most all reserves were 24 foot canopies. As you said, if they were that likely to cause injury they wouldn't be so ubiquitous. I've used this analogy: If you were on a sinking ship and your options were to get in a lifeboat or to put a life preserver on and jump overboard, you're going to choose the lifeboat. This is like the option of jumping with a 28 foot canopy or a 24 footer. One is much more comfortable and is less likely to result in any harm, but the alternative is still going to keep you alive. Do you have a higher likelihood of being hurt jumping into the ocean with a life preserver? Sure. But the likelihood of you being seriously injured or killed by doing so is slim. That said, Cooper wasn't a recreational skydiver. I feel safe saying that. If he was he'd have brought his own chute. He may have made a few jumps, but wasn't a dedicated or experienced enough skydiver to have actually owned his own gear. If we look at the copycats who weren't skydivers, 2 of the 3 suffered somewhat significant injuries. LaPoint basically broke his ankle and Mac received such a tremendous concussion that he crawled into the woods and slept for over 12 hours. Unsure if Hahneman suffered any injuries, but he was spotted the next day boarding a bus and getting a shave, so I don't believe he was. As for the NB-6 stuff, I'm not sure what to think of that. If it wasn't an NB-6 then it was probably something very similar. I don't think it was "identical" to the museum chute since that is a WWII chute and they were almost all tan colored. Hayden accurately related the color of the museum chute to the authorities so there is no reason to doubt that his color description was also accurate regarding Cooper's chute. Green emergency military backpacks were essentially all the same at the time. They were all variants of the NB-6 design. It's hard to tell the NB-6 and it's Air Force counterpart apart. So if his chute wasn't precisely an NB-6, it was something similar.

Here's a map a news article published about McNally's hijacking. I'm quite certain they have his jump spot incredibly wrong. The distance between his jump and where the money bag was found (which would have gone straight down as soon as he opened his chute) is 5 miles. That's essentially impossible. Also, the submachine gun would have fallen straight down as well. The aircraft was flying northeast at the time, so I'm guessing the actual flight path (starting from where the gun was found) would be more in the direction of the money location than their "jump" location. Also, Mac said he absolutely didn't jump over a city when I asked him. He had not gone very far at all from his landing spot when he was given a ride by the Sheriff. He emerged from the woods where he had dragged the parachute and fallen asleep and started looking around and that's essentially when the Sheriff found him. Worth noting that I put "Mac picked up by sheriff" at the same spot where they have "gun found." They're referring to the spot where they found the pistol. Mac had a pistol with him when he emerged from the woods and he slyly tossed it into a ditch off the side of the road when the Sheriff told him to hop in. The distance between where the money was found and where he was given a ride is about 2 miles. That sounds about right with what we know about the distance Cooper may have traveled. I've been unable to find any data about which direction the wind was blowing during his job. Found plenty of archival data about the temperature, etc, just not the wind direction. I expect that it was blowing southwest. The spot where his pants were found (southwest of the flight path) seems to be a good indicator of this as well.

If we were still in the pre-vault Dark Ages back when we were grasping for every little straw, this tidbit from 1965 about passenger William Murphy could have caused a rabbit hole to form.

Nothing confirmed. I feel like Nicky may have spoken to the original owners or their children or something and they seemingly confirmed that it happened, I could be mistaken. But it never appeared in any papers or anything.

Jude has an overall negative take on Cooper, which I’d say is somewhat refreshing to hear. Kinda gets old hearing the same old takes on the hijacking. Also great listening to Cooper discussed through a Northern Irish brogue. He gets a few facts wrong but overall his knowledge is very good for being so new to the case.

Thank you for checking dude.

Why would the FBI have investigated his murder?

You’re the one insinuating he was murdered because of a connection to the hijacking

Some of you people place way, way too much significance on this case and make it a bigger deal than it was. No one was getting murdered over a stupid 40 year old unsolved hijacking. Cooper heist was a clever bank robbery where the perp got away, nothing more.

Bruce seems to believe that there was a packing card found on the floor. Obviously that's not in any 302's that we've seen. I wonder where he got that idea from.

So, it's interesting to me that when the FBI boarded the plane they found the 1960 packing card "in the pocket of this parachute." No mention of the 1957 card. Then, on the 26th when Giorlamo inspects the chute, he also only mentions the 1960 packing card. The 1957 card isn't mentioned until the Dec 21st FBI doc where they are cataloging it for evidence. Just odd that BOTH the FBI on the 24th and Giorlamo on the 26th missed the 1957 card.

Nevermind, I’m thinking of the teletype.

Double post

Doesn’t matter if it’s understood by everyone. It would be impossible to misunderstand many of the FOIA’s I have filed, but they often get rejected on the first try. Besides, I’m pretty sure Chaucer has posted the unredacted transcript, hasn’t he? I saw it in person myself.

Info and photo of the 1979 decal find

From latest Vault. Could this be a shard piece? Looks pretty clean though. Perhaps something someone found in Vancouver and turned in?

Nice find on the shoes and the suit. I feel pretty good about his suit being brown. If Tina remembered it well enough to remember that it had a stripe on it, then she's likely correct. Most people who describe him as wearing a black suit are just commenting on his black topcoat, presumably. Or perhaps the lighting inside the plane made the dark brown look black. Either way, I'm good with what Tina says about it's coloring. Thank you for filing the request on that paper!

No one is arguing about the flight path except people working backwards with an agenda. I’m with Flyjack…what I’m writing isn’t for you but for future researchers. 1) The Air Force provided the entire flight path from Seattle to Reno within a day of the hijacking. When an aircraft was squawking “3500” (hijacking), then our national radar defense system (SAGE) automatically recorded that particular aircraft location on a hard drive. The aircraft was pinged every five seconds during this procedure. This was the most sophisticated radar and computer ever devised to that point. It cost more than the Manhattan Project to produce. 2) We have the testimony of all 3 members of the flight crew. They flew down Victor-23 airway. They noted that Cooper jumped as they were approaching Portland. 3) We have the testimony of the Air Traffic Controller, Cliff Ammerman, who was at the Auburn Station and directed 305 from Seattle to Portland. He has said numerous times that Flight 305 never left the confines of Victor-23. He has also said that he distinctly remembers the southwest turn it made at the Battle Ground VORTEC. We also have the testimony of the Air Traffic Controller in Portland Tower who said that 305 was about 1 mile east of the centerline of V-23. Every bit of this data has to be wrong and all of these witnesses have to by lying for an alternate flight path to be a reality.

Where on the bill are you referring to? I’m not seeing anything standing out.

Yes. Found this one in Himmelsbach's papers.