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A lot of the above is true, especially the forest through the trees stuff... our microscopic focus on matters of questionable relevance or materiality. I think you are wrong, however, in concluding that DB Cooper researchers do not want the case solved. We might have our favorite suspects and we enjoy the endless blogging and speculation, but I think all the serious researchers would LOVE to have Cooper's identity positively established. I am puzzled by Watsons actions, but they could have many other explanations besides fear of being linked to the Norjack crime. I do admire you posting here and exposing yourself to the inevitable criticism. Every Cooper researcher increases the chances that something or someone new will be found that is relevant to the case. The more the merrier as far as I am concerned. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Way to go! I made my first jump in 1968, jumped rounds for way too long, and still jump thanks to square canopies. No BASE or swooping for me though, I have no orthopedic titanium and want to keep it that way. Congrats again on 40 years in the worlds best hobby/sport. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

First jump in six years, recovering from back surgery, and you do it on a Spinetto 135??? Orthopedic surgeons just love it when skydivers do such things. Its good for business. You weigh about 135 fully geared up, right? Still, big congrats on getting back in the air. No tandem, no coached jump, no big familiarization canopy, just go for it like you never stopped jumping. About Jo, aka Mrs. Dan Cooper: Jo makes Batman's Riddler look like a straight talking up front guy. It has gone beyond teasing and has descended into an undecipherable maze of hints, guesses, dodges and implications. Jo has implied over and over that she has Tina Mucklow's little prayer booklet with Tina's childhood photo. There is Z E R O evidence connecting that booklet with Tina, yet Jo persists. The FBI has not proven that it isnt Tina's book and photo so it must be hers. Not one bit of probative evidence is revealed in Jo's latest posts, but lots of innuendo and of course the mandatory jab at the FBI. Still, I kinda admire Jo. We give her such a hard time and she rarely responds with venom, just dogged persistence. She has set up a church in hell and preaches every Sunday. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Jo wrote: Are you name dropping Jo? Teasing? If not, tell us who the "very famous gentleman" is. The only very famous person associated with Cooper sleuthing was Snowmman. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Jo wrote: (emphasis added) Really Jo? Case number, court. assigned judge please. Until it is a filed case with a properly served defendant it is just blowhard BS. Anybody who spends a penny on a Cooper related slander-defamation lawsuit is an idiot IMHO. You always tease Jo, but it's been awhile since the tease involved lawsuits. I am calling your bluff. Legal proceedings of this type are public records. Prove that legal proceedings are "already taking place". Give us a case citation. Putting Duane in WA proves nothing. Put him in a chute. Put him in the NWA 727. Stop blaming the FBI for your complete failure of proof. You made the extraordinary claims. It's your burden to supply extraordinary proof. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Not so. If they have a Cooper item unknown to the public that was left on the plane then it's just good sense to keep that item confidential to sort out the wannabes. Your suggestion that the FBI run a bunch of fake and real clues by you to see if you call a match with some evidence Duane might have posessed is not good investigative protocol. If you only have one ace you don't show it to any player, period. Wonder how Ckret is doing in his new FBI gig? I miss him and I miss Snowmman. Will another summer pass without a book from Galen Cook? What about Tom's scientific work? Did he find anything of interest? At one point pollens were thought to be of interest. I was clearing out some old stuff from my attic and found my old unmodified C 9 canopy and a stock Navy NB 6 harness/container. Not Coopers rig, but I did ponder some wonderful pranks that I could pull if I had some time in the Washougal area and could age the stuff properly. Maybe I should just toss it in the Columbia and see what happens. One thing I willl not do is jump that round ground hungry canopy. Too old and wise for that stuff. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Jo wrote: somehow Jo, you always seem to find the time. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Such secrecy over things that happened nearly four decades ago? Might one ask why Jo? Between you and what you claim the FBI is withholding, nothing will see the light of day. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

You'd be surprised Jo at how many scared bank tellers get the armed robber's eye color wrong. One real problem is the certainty with which incorrect eyewitness testimony is usually offered. Careful research has proven again and again that eyewitness testimony from stressed crime victims is unreliable. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Remember when Billy Waugh wrote to Sluggo: What if the eye witnesses were wrong about Cooper's eye color? Does that being Ted Braden back in as a suspect? He makes such a good one. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

SKY KING SKY KING, DO NOT ANSWER. (on HF SSB) Does that ring a bell? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

You omitted one color on your C9 USAF canopy I think, brown. All the multi colored ones I saw were either two color orange and white alternating panels or four color orange white green and brown. Those gyro jet rockets were cool. The mfr branched out and made rocket powered .22 ammo based on the flare design. Great fun, mini tracers. I assume the condoms were issued as last ditch inflatable floatation devices, right? I have one of those USAF rappel "rope" packs. The rope is actualy nylon webbing and there is a really long length of it in a small pack along with a rapelling device. Pretty damned cool setup. Was Dr Strangelove reasonably accurate in terms of depicting crew ops and gear in a B 52 headed for combat? The crude overlay arctic flight scenes were clunky (some even had a B 17 shadow) but it looked like a real B 52 interior in some shots with real ECM boxes. Just wondering. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Yeah, the rig you had in the front (ejection) seat of BUFFs was probably full of stuff, bailout beacon, O2 bottle, etc. Cossey's NB6 (or NB8?) was stripped down for use by jumpship pilots and didnt have any survival accessories as far as I know. It had no D rings. It did take a lot of pull force to extract numerous pins from cones in those old military rigs. It was exacerbated if they stuffed an oversized canopy into a non extended container for civilian use. Stuffing a 28 ft C9 into an NB6 container designed for a 26 ft Navy Conical canopy added a lot of extra volume and probably increased the pull force substantially. I work with a former B 52G AC. Somehow he got to go to Ft Benning for some training and has his jump wings. He did about 5 S/Ls, no freefalls. It might have been some sort of exchange program while he was at the AF Academy. Be grateful you always landed on wheels rather than your flight boots. Those C9 canopies drop you pretty hard unless you are a featherweight. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Did you mean to say D rings? Capewells are not needed to hook up a reserve. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

90% ?? Jo, you are addressing an audience primarily composed of jumpers. You must have a dim view of skydiver integrity. I have seen wallets full of cash turned in at boogies a number of times over the years. Other dropzone.com readers can chime in here. Sure, we have thieves among us, but the average jumper is a decent person in my experience. If the guy was dishonest you'd probably have never been informed that ANYTHING was found in the van. Every little ambiguity is resolved as evidence that Duane was Cooper. If money was missing it had to be Norjack twenties. Contrary evidence is ignored or dismissed. The FBI is endlessly blamed for every hole in your speculative case. It is CLASSIC obsessive behavior. It's really too bad you can't see it. As for your frequently repeated "poof" claims, which imply that a third party is controlling your computer, just stop it. You have been told many times how to preserve files before you post them. It's dirt simple. Life is short and you imply that yours is very short. It would be a blessing if you could conquer this obsession and live the rest of your life in a less stressful manner. I do think Duane was involved in some murky stuff, but I see not one shred of evidence that he was Dan Cooper. NONE of the allegedly probative evidence you point to is available for inspection: the bank bag, the parking stub, the airline ticket, hot cash, I could go on and on. You may never learn all of Duane's scams, aliases and history, but why do you need to? He was someone you loved who lived a life of crime. He apparently wanted to be remembered as a big shot and allegedly claimed he was Dan Cooper. Leave it at that and enjoy the rest of your life without being tortured and literally consumed by your obsession. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Occam has a far less conspiratorial explanation. If the FBI didn't keep a few details confidential then any Cooper wannabe could put together very tight Norjack story. Or their widow could. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Someone just bought Duncan Baker's Howard 500 in the UK and will be ferrying it to the US. The Howard 500 is a Lodestar on steroids, R 2800 engines, pressurized, and FAST (338 kts)! This particular 500 had been sitting idle in a hanger for a decade, but was made airworthy with no major trouble. http://home.comcast.net/~fishnpilot/wsb/html/view.cgi-home.html-.html http://homepage.ntlworld.com/m.zoeller/H500.htm 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

You wont be able to stop the dreams and the desire to fly. I quit for a while when my kids were born so I could devote all my weekend attention to them, but once they were old enough to really enjoy a day at the DZ I was back in the air. I am sorry you are losing your job, but a new job will eventually come along that pays more than enough to support the addiction. There will be some new developments or gear in the sport that intrigues you and draws you back. How many "last concerts" has Cher performed? It's very cool to retire with a wingsuit record under your belt, but I'll bet you are really just taking a break. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I am attaching a scan of an article that appeared in the Spring 2010 edition of Smoke Signals, the alum publication for Sequoia High School in Redwood City, CA. Mike and I attended Sequoia High School together. Mike's sister Denise and fellow Sequoia alum Dave McKensie wrote the article. The details of the fatal accident are unclear in the article which implies that a cutaway was involved. If anyone has further info on Mike or the accident, please post it here. I am sure there are some who would criticise a single jumpmaster first AFF jump, but one thing is beyond dispute: Mike Steele made sure his student survived at the cost of his own life. That spells hero in my book. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Yeah, how the hell did Motel 6 do it? If you figure the ratio of condom cost to room cost then vs now, things have really gone crazy. Belly freefall is still about 120 mph last time I checked. Some things never change. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I've always liked Roy Orbison, ever since I was a little kid listening to "Only The Lonely." Didn't he lose part of his family in a house fire? That might have lead to a "nothing to live for" attitude. So it was either Roy or Rod Serling. Remember Snowmman's case for Rod? Farflung, $40 for a fun jump? NOT. That will buy you two 14K jumps and beer change round these parts. Skydivers are the cheapest people in the world of aeronautics. DZO's everywhere who live in mobile homes so they can make the payments on our turbine jumpships can attest to that. Jumps (inflation adjusted) are far cheaper now than they were when I started in 1968. I feel a twinge of guilt every time I buy a $17 jump ticket knowing that if we paid $30 the DZO's kids could probably get those new shoes they need. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Farflung wrote: Hold on, we never went so far as saying he jumped chuteless. DBC beat the law, but not the ones Newton studied. Occam likes V 23. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Jerry wrote: Anyone who thinks the Internet in the US is free from government monitoring and intervention needs to read this. http://www.google.com/search?q=eff+FBI+social+networks&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari Some folks who need total security in their data comms have used obsolete spread spectrum radio modems originally used for the Ricochet wireless Internet service. They can easily be configured to ping each other and automatically form ad hoc networks. Range between modems can be several miles if you have line of sight. Ever wonder why these modems still sell on eBay even though the Ricochet ISP is defunct? Now you know. Censorship is often exercised in moderation because it indicates that surveillance exists. C4, dirty nuke, secret service radio frequencies, municipal water supply, shaped charge, GPS spoofing, UAV satellite control uplinks, isotope separation, breeder reactor. Test 123. Exercise complete. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Quade wrote: Finding the crash site is a long shot indeed, but you are underestimating how far side scan sonar has advanced. Digital signal processing, multifrequency transmitting and image enhancement has done wonders. Even consumer grade side scan sonar these days has incredible resolution. The high end commercial and military stuff is beyond awesome. They can use accelerometers and computers to take out all motion artifacts too. The US Navy in the early 1990s found and recovered a single pax door that blew out of a UAL 747 (unfortunately a few pax were also ejected by the explosive decompression) about 100 miles out of Honolulu. It was in very deep water, and was a tiny target with only a rough idea of location from radar tracking. Now deciding where to look for Amelia's Lockheed, thats the hard part. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Farflung wrote: I think two major aviation mysteries will be solved in my lifetime (I am hoping for another 20 years on the planet): The Cooper skyjack and Amelia Earhart's crash location. This is all speculative, of course. This forum is unlikley to contribute to the solving of the Norjack case, but there will be the usual Monday morning quarterbacking where a few of the zillion things aired here will turn out to be related to the case and coincidence will be blurred with causation. For example, it may turn out that Cooper knew about the Air America 727 jumps in Thailand, but that doesnt mean that this forum helped solve the case. Amelia's Lockheed will be found with good old hard work (months at sea in tedious pattern searching), towed side scanning sonar and a bit of luck. There are mega rich folks out there who want to be associated with an event of historical significance. Solving the Earhart mystery affords a perfect opportunity. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.