matthewcline

Well, first...it may have been Kenny's idea, but I think Bernie had a hand in the planning. Maybe even his wife, but we've proved she wasn't in SW Washington on the afternoon/evening of the hijacking. Kenny's letters home are a key. He was constantly talking about how broke he was and how unhappy he was with the airline. They only showed a couple of them on Decoded. We have maybe a dozen of them written over a period from about 1960-1970. Lyle says there were a lot more, but it's been seventeen years now since Kenny died and some have been lost. He busted butt for the airline for almost five years on that freezing rock in the Aleutians. Most NWA employees stayed 12-18 months, tops. Then he quits the airline for a year or two and eventually ends up back in Seattle, where he re-applies as a purser and takes training. He's happy - at first. Then come the strikes, the layoffs, year after year, the same thing. No money, no job a lot of the time. He's a proud guy, a former Army paratrooper, and after another ten years with the airline, he's still stuck in a crappy little apartment in Sumner making $512 a month. I think he decided enough was enough and it was time to stick it his employer. I don't think he would have done it without some influence from Bernie, though. Not on his own. He wasn't the type. Besides, you would need some help on this, otherwise the plan is completely crazy. Bernie had the easy part. He just gets to sit at Paradise Point and wait. Of course, when he got home Margie was furious. Helen Jones didn't believe Kenny was the guy, but she DID testify that both men were missing in action for Thanksgiving dinner and that Margie went through the roof about it. Not about Kenny , though. Margie thought Kenny had gone back to Minnesota maybe. But Jones found out later the two men were together. I think I reminded people to see where Paradise Point State Park is located. Isn't it on a riverbank and just up the street (figuratively speaking) from Tena Bar? Yeah...it is. Might make it easy for you to just take a few bundles of the money, put them in a bag, and toss them into the river. Too bad it took the FBI nine years to find the money. I'm pretty sure Kenny would have preferred eight or nine DAYS. Where is the rest of it? None of it was used in the "throwing around of money" by your suspect. Where did he get the "throwing around": money? Remember what happened after they found the money? The FBI changed their stance on the hijacking. They started saying more strongly that they thought the hijacker probably died in the jump, which is exactly what I believe Kenny WANTED them to think. An Instructors first concern is student safety. So, start being safe, first!!!

it is influenced by the government's need to regulate what we as a free people put into our body. they are using employee drug testing as a club to force their moral and religious views into the general public. if you support forced drug testing you are giving the government the sheep it needs. As a group we are bound and determined to get this sent to SC. If it a condition of employment go work some where else. Some take a test already for "Real" work but are against it for the "weekend" work? I do not understand that rational. If the employer (not the government) has it as part of their hiring process that is their Company, so it is their way. As to the "marketing" I was not clear. By this I meant so many DZ's have web pages that say "We are a USPA GM DZ and only use USPA Instructors". I was thinking it would be used like this: "we are a drug free facility and conduct random testing. Our state of the art hanger houses....." Not a whole add run, just a line or two. Matt An Instructors first concern is student safety. So, start being safe, first!!!

Yeah, that is kind of how I was looking at doing it. A short flat head through the male portion, on the inside a lock washer and nut, small dab of lock tight, maybe. I have a snap setter, so I won't be using the hammer method. No replies cause I seemed to have pissed off the industry in another thread. Oops MAtt An Instructors first concern is student safety. So, start being safe, first!!!

Good luck and best wishes for ya Bigun! Matt An Instructors first concern is student safety. So, start being safe, first!!!

An Instructors first concern is student safety. So, start being safe, first!!!

Then the tests need to be "eight hour" tests. Follow the Bottle to Throttle rules. Again this was for opinions. I am of the Opinion the Owner can do it if it is a requirement for employment. If a potential employee doesn't like it, apply some where else. Those who are taking this personal, it is not my problem, I dis not ask this with any knowledge of you in my mind. Those who are trying to make this a "Government is trying to control me" argument that was not my intent either. Matt An Instructors first concern is student safety. So, start being safe, first!!!

Sure it could work if Green socks caused one to be impaired like Alcohol or (pick a drug). It is the DZO's business. If any of us don't want to get tested we work some where else. Matt An Instructors first concern is student safety. So, start being safe, first!!!

I asked for opinions and am getting them. Some seem to have this as a "hot button" issue. This was not a post asking about any person or DZ. It was to ask about and get opinions on. I should have been clearer as to legal and illegal drugs. AS for safety. I was of the mind set that a person would not do any thing that could be in their system and cost them their job. Thus increasing the chance they would be "sober". Thus increasing the chances of them making good decisions. Matt An Instructors first concern is student safety. So, start being safe, first!!!

We are not talking about a Government entity, but a private employer and their rights to hire who they feel most comfortable working with. Don't want to take the drug test as a condition of employment, don't apply. Simple really. Matt An Instructors first concern is student safety. So, start being safe, first!!!

Robert, You keep bringing up "all that money". My question is; was any of it from the high jacking? To date only $5000~ was found ever correct? So wouldn't that make one wonder where "all that money" came from and investigate it? It could confirm the suspect, or more likely, dismiss them. Matt An Instructors first concern is student safety. So, start being safe, first!!!

Well, I've been against testing without cause for a long long time now. I've never had to take one. As far as accepting it as commonplace, well, you can chip away at rights a little at a time, and people will hardly notice. But one day, they realize that their rights are gone. So, how much of this testing actually reveals anything? Mandatory testing is, to me, very much admitting that everybody would be a drug fiend if the opportunity presented itself, but we keep it in check by testing. If your employee smells a brewery or like he just got baked, FIRE HIM! If you don't have people who look stoned, they probably aren't. Testing didn't do that, good people did that. And if the same guy gets baked on his days off, what's it to you? If he demonstrates and impairment, FIRE HIM. If not, leave him alone. Matt, go have a couple of poppy seed bagels and have your test. Report back here to tell us how it feels when it shows up positive. (Yes, it really does happen.) Yes, I know the poppy seed deal, saw it in the Army at the UADC Course before Mythbusters did their show. I agree off time should be your time. BUT right now these are ILLEGAL drugs we are talking about. I see no down side for thew business owner, only the casual user who now has to go find a new job. but that is there choice. Matt An Instructors first concern is student safety. So, start being safe, first!!!

I guess you and I should start the Close Minded Skydiving Team then. Because I agree with you. Matt An Instructors first concern is student safety. So, start being safe, first!!!

Ya lost me. I know your responding to driver1 about his comment towards me, but I am lost. Matt An Instructors first concern is student safety. So, start being safe, first!!!

I wouldn't say it should be the plan, but mentioned, yes. And to those who are trying to say it s a bad idea, like it has been, mentioned drug testing for employment is common place now. So I ask: Why would we as an Industry want to "avoid" drug testing? Many DZ's say they are the safest or better than the other DZ nearby. Wouldn't this be part of safety? Don't you send instructors off to brush their teeth when they smell like a brewery? how about when they smell like they got baked in Spicoli's van? It is about the perception of a Professional Skydiving Center. How can one look like a Professional Business if it puts on the facade of a counter culture environment? Skydiving is no longer out of the public eye. WE need to keep up with where we have taken our selves. Matt An Instructors first concern is student safety. So, start being safe, first!!!

Most pilots I'm sure are glad it's bottle to throttle, and not the other way around! Whoops! But really, aren't we all racing to happy hour each day at the "grind"? Matt An Instructors first concern is student safety. So, start being safe, first!!!

Do the States with medical Marijuana have a "throttle to bottle" type clause? I think "drugs" should fall under the same enforcement as Alcohol. But until then. As most places none prescription "drugs" are illegal, I think testing is a good marketing and safety plan. I think Safety should be the higher priority of course. Matt An Instructors first concern is student safety. So, start being safe, first!!!

I think it can be done at a DZ any time. Just have to give advance notice and let every staffer know. Sure Full Time and Contract Staff will have to have it announced to them in a way to make it "legal". But truly if the DZO says it is a condition of employment, the staff can take the test or leave. Matt An Instructors first concern is student safety. So, start being safe, first!!!

I did a search and did not find it. Is there a preferred Technique to adding a snap to the velcro retention strap on a Factory Diver or Oxygn? Matt An Instructors first concern is student safety. So, start being safe, first!!!

Not all DZ's do this, but a few do. I personally think it is a great thing for the DZ to use in its marketing campaign and not a bad thing to keep every one safe. Any other opinions out there? Matt An Instructors first concern is student safety. So, start being safe, first!!!

Matt An Instructors first concern is student safety. So, start being safe, first!!!

That stat tells me we don't have a problem teaching students to fly and land their canopies and perform textbook pattern work, but rather we have a problem teaching our young "experienced" jumpers to deal with the combination of larger groups, lower break-offs, faster canopies, and increased traffic they confront as their freefall skills offer them new opportunities. We will not solve the "fully functioning canopy" fatalities issue until we get serious about collecting and highly detailed information about each incident, including near-misses. There are simply too many variables in these accidents to make effective changes to our training procedures without that data. This is the issue Chuck. We need to hammer on our "Students" up till they surpass us in jump numbers, ratings and experience. And if being nice doesn't do it, be the caring asshole and put the hammer down. Matt An Instructors first concern is student safety. So, start being safe, first!!!

Thank you. I only use my 21 Years as a Paratrooper as the basis of my conclusions. Matt An Instructors first concern is student safety. So, start being safe, first!!!

I should have said "Could be deadly". All in all I do not think we are talking about a man who lived after exiting the plane, at least not very long. I see no hard evidence to say he did. Matt An Instructors first concern is student safety. So, start being safe, first!!!

A few point if I may: Pocket Knives collect Pocket Lint. Unless the man, using the alias "D.B.Cooper", was a Paratrooper, beyond just graduating US Army Airborne School, he had LIMITED Knowledge and Experience in Night Airborne Operations, not enough to survive this jump unless Extremely Lucky. 550 Cord can and has been tied by many a person in knots that are a pain in the ass to undue after words. A Cub Scout would have learned these knots and a Boy Scout most assured in the 60's. Opening the canopy and "hand deploying" off of the tail mounted stair case would be deadly for an inexperienced jumper. Weather is a factor, even if it is not as cold as some reports say and was warming as Amazon will confirm, hypothermia can happen in 50f when wet or windy, This situation had all three, temp, wet and windy. No money has ever been found except on a river bank. Doesn't that mean no money was ever spent or deposited from this event, yet? We will never fully answer this as his body was consumed in the woods. Heck we are still looking for a A-10 Pilots body and we know where he went, right? Matt An Instructors first concern is student safety. So, start being safe, first!!!

I have learned that I have a lot more to learn. I have learned my "a lot more to learn" attitude is not shared by most of my students (even though I get coaching and training along side of them), but is shared by my peers and mentors, mostly. I have learned I dislike incident reports since I hate filling them out. I have learned I like this sport, near love it, but could leave it tomorrow or next year and it won't affect my life. Matt An Instructors first concern is student safety. So, start being safe, first!!!