CooperNWO305

Could be. Could also be that Larry Carr was just really interested in the case. Let's say the chute was Cooper's, what info could the FBI glean from it?

I did not spend a lot of time looking into this parachute, but as I recall, for some reason I did not think it was Cooper's, maybe due to the location where it was found, or something to do with the cords being more like a supply chute vs a personnel chute. Regardless, the FBI held back info on the black clip on tie for 30 years, so for them to not disclose info about a parachute would make sense, and it is their prerogative to do so. As for the tie, if a picture of that tie and tie clip had been given out in 1971, then maybe someone would have identified Cooper. However, in order to rule out impostors, the FBI would have held back some info from the public.

So if the chute is Cooper's, does it point to anyone specific?

If that's the case, then what does it mean? Does it point to a specific suspect?

Agreed. Two chutes in his mind may very well have meant four actual parachutes/two full rigs. If this is the case, then it could be that he never thought of taking a hostage with him on the jump, and it simply could have been because he wanted two sets of chutes, thinking that the FBI would not have sabotaged all four. For a dummy chute to have shown up in the group still perplexes me. Apparently the dummy was stored near the regular chutes, but to me that is like storing cyanide in on the same shelf as your aspirin. It just does not make sense. I figure he thought the government would try to sabotage his chute, so he needed to do something to lower the risk. This could be why he asked for four chutes, or maybe he really did want them to think he was taking a hostage. If this is the case, then it indicates some serious pre-planning and thinking out possible scenarios. Through some research I learned that some aircrews would only have jumped with a reserve. They would have had to grab it quickly, hook it on, and jump. The reserves were smaller and took up less space. That way they could fly wearing a harness, and in the remote chance that they had to jump, they would grab the reserve. A low altitude jump (plane about to crash) would not have allowed time for two chutes. If the main failed, a crewman would have hit the ground before he had time to deploy his reserve, hence just jumping with one. I'm trying to remember here. He left a good back chute on the plane, and a good reserve that he opened. Which means he jumped with a good main, and a bad reserve. Right?

Robert: We all get the point about Quora. It has been discussed ad nauseam. When you post about Quora, it takes focus away from your other content.

Of all the possible scenarios, Cooper putting the money there himself is about last on my list of probable ways. Others that I rate as higher likelihood are: The packets dropped out of the back of the plane The packets are money he tried to give to one of the stews It's money he gave someone else along the way and they got rid of it later, maybe even Tina A few packets broke off from the main bunch and ended up on Tina Bar, while a whole bunch of other money floated somewhere else. None of the above are theories that I came up with, some pre-date all of us joining the case, some are Flyjack's. There are many scenarios. The fact that 97% of the bills are unaccounted for makes the Tina Bar money interesting, but in my mind not a major factor in the case. It has caused a lot of confusion, and gets a lot of attention. It is the only link we have to Cooper after he jumped, so I can see why it is an important draw for people. As we know, if you have a flight path or a suspect and need to fit a square peg into a round hole, then the Tina Bar money can be used to inject some doubt.

True. Many people who know who DB Cooper is would likely tell you the case is solved and it is Rackstraw or Reca.

Robert: Good luck with the camping trip. I'm wondering how the folks in Cooperland can really get this case back in the spotlight, nationally and internationally? Individual suspects hit the news, and there is an uptick in interest for a short time. A show comes on like on the Travel Channel and we see an uptick. A new suspect like Walter Reca comes out and we see an uptick. How can we get sustained interest in this case so that people are thinking about it and wondering if it could be there grandfather, or they go looking in the family safety deposit boxes for $20's, or they hike the area of the flight path and look for relics? How do we get the FBI to re-open the case, or at least take an interest in it? I'm thinking if you write your congressman out there in Oregon that they would probably ignore it. I'm just thinking that once the 50th anniversary comes and goes that this case could die.

Good way of putting it. "possibly brown" meaning probably dark.

I agree with Robert, again. We disagree on some other things, but probably agree on more than we disagree on. The "possibly brown" is used to support suspects with blue eyes. Plain and simple. On Unsolved Mysteries Flo was adamant about remembering the eye color and his eyebrows. Question for Parrothead or any others, if the FBI said "possibly brown" then why not say "possibly blue" or "possibly green"???

Opening up the suspect list to the following would increase the number of suspects considerably Males between the age of 28 and 55 (Rackstraw and McCoy were 28) Males with blue eyes or brown eyes (hazel would be brown). Anyone with skydiving or military parachute experience that fits those ages (that would be anyone who served in the 101st Airborne, 82nd, 17th, etc.). All air crews who wore harnesses/chutes, pilots, etc. etc. Any females who got gender re-assignment surgery like suspect Barb Dayton Anyone with an American accent, to include those from Canada or those who came to the US as youths. Etc. Etc. Etc. My point is that if we don't narrow it down, then the possible list is huge. I predict that if this case is solved, that Cooper will have had brown eyes and will have been over 40 at the time of the hijacking.

Agreed. The favorite defense of the eye color is along the same lines as the age defense that the Rackstraw and McCoy people use. They cite that witness testimony or witness remembrance is sketchy. I was listening to a podcast on the DC Sniper this morning and a professor from Iowa State was talking about how the witnesses in that case were all over the place. The big difference between the Cooper case and some of these other cases like the DC sniper is that the Cooper witnesses had a long time to look at him. If the rationale used by the Rackstraw group on age, or the blue eyed folks was legitimate, then why would the courts ever use witness testimony for cases?

Some background on RMI and titanium. The process is described as well as some reference to military applications.

How do we know for certain that RMI was the only company in the world using this process? When did the other companies stop? Did RMI state they were the only ones or did someone call all the other companies? I’ve heard this before, and I don’t doubt the honesty of the people, I’d just be curious to see some solid proof. It just seems too easy that they’ve narrowed down where the titanium came from.

Very good points about the scrap metal. Good story. Update on the train. They are fun to look at and ride, but not so good when the house you’re sleeping at is next to a rail yard.

It’s 1130 PM on the East Coast. I’m watching a CSX locomotive leaving a rail yard. Anyone who thinks Cooper could not have got on a train is dreaming.

Steel is an alloy. Was there steel on the tie? Maybe. What elements are in steel? Were any of those found on the tie?

A number of researchers believe we can narrow down the exact location of where the tie was (Where Cooper worked). This seems a little optimistic. Regardless, one of the fallacies floating around is that titanium could only be found at a few companies (Oregon, Ohio, etc.). Another is that the largest producers were these companies. Another is that only commercially pure titanium could be found at these companies. All false. The largest producer of titanium in the US was not RMI, it was Titanium Metals, headquartered in NY, then moved to NJ. Also, they produced commercially pure titanium. These articles are snips from 1968 and 1969. Titanium was not as rare as we are led to believe, and commercially pure titanium was not as rare either. Cooperland has taken the Citizen Sleuth's titanium research as gospel.

Could have been an accident, could have been on purpose. I think he did it on purpose. He was brazen about a number of things, so why not the tie? That was his Ace of Spades calling card. I wonder if he did leave a calling card, did he also take a souvenir (something besides the $200k)? I've even thought that he may have taken pictures.

I'm not going to go as far as calling the tie a red herring, but it is close. People use the tie to claim Cooper worked at Boeing, or Tektronix, or now the newer one is RMI Titanium in Ohio. The tie was dropped on the plane in 1971, but the FBI did not even make this public until sometime in the 2000's. There is no telling how much this tie was contaminated through the years. I believe the tie was the same tie that Cooper came on the plane with. Was it his tie, a friend's, or from a second hand shop, or did he take it from a manager at his shop? Hard to say. Where did all the particles come from? Again hard to say, but chances are this was a tie worn by a front line manager versus a bank type manager. The particles indicate some sort of manufacturing environment versus say a teacher, lawyer, banker, etc. There is a lot of misleading information about the titanium out there in Cooperland.

The first letter of the serial number matches the Federal Reserve letter on the left side of the bill, so changing that would not be the number one choice. I considered that he may have wanted to change the last letter, but like you said there were very few that ended in C.

Definitely very low odds. If that C was a B, I'd want to dig a lot deeper. Unlikely that someone would erase a B and make it a C, but it is possible. Wonder what year that $20 is? I don't know what would have happened if the FBI had found one or even a a few of Cooper's $20's. Look at the effect of the Tina Bar money and all the speculation. If a few $20's had shown up in circulation, maybe they could track those back to a certain store/cashier, etc. Money does move around fast though. If the FBI had found $20's, it would add more weight to the theory that Cooper survived, but not make it 100% certain that he did. Using probability distributions, I'm certain the FBI could have ruled in or out that a Cooper $20 was in circulation. But the effort had to be put into it around 1971 to 1975 or so.

Can you post a pic?

Here is the truth- Robert Rackstraw was DB Cooper Walter Reca was DB Cooper Barb Dayton was DB Cooper etc, etc. etc. The truth is what people want to believe or what they see in the media and don't take the time to basic research to confirm/deny. "It's not a lie if you believe it" George Costanza.