377

Good to see you Sluggo! Throw us a bone, what's going on in the case? Anything new? I never knew Polk Salad was so damned toxic. The old boys just told me how to repeatedly boil and rinse the young leaves to "get the bitterness out". Lucklily I followed their advice. The Collings B 17 and B 24 WW2 bombers are in our area today and will be hauling jumpers for $450 a head. I jumped the B 24 years ago when it was "only" $350. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

"Lawd have mercy, mmmph!!, mmmph!! Now that’s ‘merican elocution fer ya. " I've actually picked and eaten Polk Salad Farflung. Out in Louisiana, way back in Cajun country, Lawd have mercy. My mother was not working on the chain gang however. Ever eat Nutria? Gator? Crawfish from the open drainage ditches along the dirt roads? It's not organic, thats for sure, but with some rice, beans and beer it all works out OK. Flaps 20, stairs 15, gear down and locked, spoilers and thrust reversers armed, pre landing checklist complete. I have the Shemya outer marker on ADF 1 Skipper. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Blevins writes: That's sure news to me. Can't imagine it would help much given the availability of flaps and thrust reversers. Farflung, put on that old pilots helmet and chime in here. I'm neither a pilot or aero engineer, but this story doesn't make sense. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

From Wikipedia Any ideas what this physical detail is? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

And how many times do we have to tell you that the "schematics" don't contain the answer to the question of whether the 727 stairs can be deployed in flight. I have a 727 flight manual full of info including system diagrams. It doesn't answer the question. Not one of the highly trained cockpit crewmen knew the answer. Boeing knew, but only as a result of flight tests that were conducted for covert ops. Jo, we still have open minds for evidence, but not for pure speculation about Duane's background in parachuting. You hint that Duane bought his way out if prison by agreeing to be some kind of James Bond. Nobody in their right mind would have picked Duane Weber for such a task. He was unreliable, untruthful, had poor judgment and could never have been trusted to be the guardian of a large amount of cash. Its true that you don't have many honest capable dependable people in prison, but I am 100% sure that there were many far better suited for a Norjack like caper than Duane was. The FBI, although tired of you, will still look at evidence tieing Duane to Norjack if you can produce it, but it is unrealistic for you to expect them to search for it. Put Duane in a chute or better yet on the plane with Tina, and you will have everybody's rapt attention. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Jo wrote: Jo that's a huge leap of logic to go from messing around with flying, repairing and maintaining light aircraft to self taught parachutists who were improving current parachute designs through "innovations." I am pretty handy at fixing stuff on planes but I wouldn't have the slightest idea how to "innovate" parachute gear and I've been jumping for 43 years. Parachute design and modification is completely unrelated to aircraft mechanical work. Parachute riggers are more like sailmakers and designers than aircraft mechanics. Their tools are cutters, sewing machines etc. It is a skill that you aren't going to learn on your own just messing around with chutes. You are showing outcome bias. You want Duane to have been involved in parachuting prior to 71 so you morph a relative's aviation activities into home brew parachuting, rigging and parachute engineering. Jumping without training is very hazardous. Stable freefall doesn't come naturally. If you jump out of a plane with a bailout rig and no training you will go into a wild disorienting tumble. Show us one piece of evidence (not speculation) that shows Duane was ever involved in parachuting even as a chute gatherer. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Jo, Surely you must see the futility in this line of investigation. The FBI cant prove a negative like that. Nobody can. That's why the burden is justifiably put on the claimant (you) to prove that Duane was a trained parachutist. Just showing he was involved in aviation isnt nearly enough. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Farflung, that kind of talk is likely to get you whacked by the bizjet industry. Tone it down a bit. I worked at a company that had a 30 million dollar bizjet. It blew a tire at an out of the way overseas airport and mildly dinged a wheel. Had to fly in parts and technicians. $72,000 later it was back in the air. Oh, and then there was the matter of getting some drawings, documentation and some kind of FAA paperwork done for non standard avionics rack. That took us into the six figure category. You dont even want to know what a new windshield wiper arm cost. Like you, I don't see how DZOs with twin turbine jumpships can afford to haul jumpers to 14,000 ft for $20. Fuel prices are through the roof and jump prices have only crept up a tiny bit. I've always thought a tethered balloon with a pulley on it and a ground mounted winch was the way to go. Kinda like a ski lift for skydivers. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Sounds like a variant of the FBI POOF malware that has thwarted Jo. Try www.dogpile.com for your searches. It gives you Google results plus a lot more. How did you find that leg strap photo in your collage? As for the NB6, there was a rumor floating around in the late 60s that a guy who had sprayed all his harness webbing with Scotch Guard stain repellant fell out of his harness on opening as the webbing slipped right through the metal fittings. I think it was a bogus story, but maybe some scary slippage occured. As I recall there was a widened piece on the end of the adjsutable webbing to prevent it from coming completely through the fittings. Tried jumping last Sat but gusts over 40 mph kept everything grounded. Spent the day helping troubleshoot some electrical probs on the King Air jumpship. These old planes get pretty beat up hauling jumpers. See my photos below. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

That is logical, but it may not be what happened. Snow posted info about other successful jet skyjack jumps and at least one of the guys had no prior parachute experience as I recall. I suspect Cooper knew a lot about 727s and about parachuting too. His orders about flap angles and altitude tell me he was well informed. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Farflung wrote: In between being hunky and dauntless kindly post a photo showing how your straps are threaded through the hardware. The NB6 leg straps shouldn't be slipping. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

This has nothing to do with Cooper, but it does show that the FBI isnt squeaky clean. In a case brought by the ACLU challenging FBI domestic survellance of Muslims, the FBI "blatantly lied" to a federal judge (Cormac J. Carney) about whether certain documents existed. The excuse for lieing to the judge was that the FBI was "protecting national security". The angry judge said BS and last week ordered production of the previously concealed documents for his review. The judge tacitly acknowledged the FBI's right to "mislead" FOIA requesters by withholding info under section 552 (c), but said it was an entirely different matter for the FBI to conclude that it could lie to a federal judge. To be fair to the FBI SAs, the lies were made by FBI lawyers, not working agents. Jo will say "I told you so", and she did. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Speaking of old Bel helmets, have you seen how much old Bell 500s bring on eBay? Hundreds! I dont get it, what the deal? Bet a lot of old skydivers still have theirs. Sure miss jumping at Pope Valley, it was the best. Bill Dause said he'd take my unused $5 Pope valley jump ticket as full payment for a jump at Lodi. Now that's customer service! 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Recent article on Pope Valley, mentions the old DZ but also says: Is that correct? I had never heard that Pope Valley was used for WW2 parachute training. http://napavalleyregister.com/star/news/opinion/columnists/jeff-warren/article_cb98779e-60ca-11e0-becf-001cc4c002e0.html 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Blevins wrote: My name is 377 and I am a Cooper addict. The first step in our program Robert is to admit your addiction. You are among fellow addicts so there is no need to be ashamed. You do have a life, but you also have an addiction. The signs are indisputable. You've resolved to quit many times but you always come back. By your own admission, this addiction has led to large financial losses. Need I continue? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

If you examine Sheridan's bio and political leanings youd conclude that he is deeply interested in what is going on in Libya. If he had the means I'll bet he'd jump into Misrata tomorrow. He loves peace, hates war but also realizes that Qadaffi is a psychopathic war ciminal who needs to be taken down ASAP. I'll bet he'd be on the front lines even at his age. I bet he is reading this too, but he no longer posts on dropzone. I keep trying to entice him but he doesnt bite. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I think Sheridan joined the USMC either at the end of WW2 or after it and did not see WW2 combat. I'd bet good odds that he is not lying about USMC service. I havent found him to be untruthful in anything he wrote. Some of his claimed extreme skydiving accomplishments (like home made bat wing jumps) raised some skeptical doubt in me but they checked out. I've offered to buy Pete a tandem jump at Lodi but he wont answer my enmails. I think he would do fine on a solo jump with a round chute, but nobody uses that gear any more at modern DZs. He avoids contact with DB Cooper nuts, which probably proves his present sanity and good judgment. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Intersting angle, but back then nobody cared what you brought aboard as long as it fit. It would have been very easy to board the Norjack flight with a chute in a bag and put it in the overhead. No need for a cross country subterfuge. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Farflung wrote (sarcastically): Rare... yeah right. Had JFK and RFK shown a little brotherly love and shared MM with Teddy, he never would have been in that Chappaquiddick mess to begin with. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Johnny Ray grew up around Salem Ore. He was a Boy Scout and attended a scout Jamboree near the Dalles. He had brown eyes. Look at his photo, he's at least a good an FBI DBC sketch match as Duane Weber. His famous rendition of "Just Walkin in the Rain" was a preview of his planned egress from the Norjack landing area. "Just walking in the rain Getting soaking wet Torturing my heart By trying to forget." Jo, prove he was not DB Cooper. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Jo wrote: Jo, You've been told a bunch of BS. Eventually we all run into blowhard fake heroes, claiming to have been CIA, Special Forces, Rangers etc. A standard part of their made up story is that they are under constant govt. surveillance because of their importance and the super secret stuff they know. Y A W N.... 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Don't talk about suing docs while you are still under their knife and needle Orange. That is high risk behavior. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Jo wrote: Your evidence proving this? I've worked with surgeons for many years. Never heard if this. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Dunno about motives and causes, but Jo please tell us what experience you are referring to. You've yet to prove Duane made even one jump. No, you don't have to be a Green Beret or smoke jumper to make a night jump from a 727, but your chances of surviving it as your first jump are low. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Funny. http://www.californiaskywatch.com/documents/htmldocs/chaff_goa_dod.htm 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.