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UAL captains made pretty decent money in 1971. Why would Burnsworth throw away a lucrative and very respectable career for a couple of hundred K and life as a fugitive? Seniority meant EVERYTHING if you were an airline pilot in 1971. You wouldn't walk away from it if you had a good number. Was he still on the UAL payroll while flying intermittently for Sail Fish? I REALLY doubt that "gramps" HALO military jump story. It has more holes in it than Swiss cheese does. Divorce records are public, but there is no national database that I know of. You might have to search county records which could be tedious without a solid lead. How would the FBI be onto Burnsworth so quickly (a couple of days after the hijack)? It would be fun to find out that Cooper was a DC 7 pilot. The DC 7C was Douglas's final pre-jet airliner and was a great long haul aircraft. Only a couple of DC 7s are still airworthy, 1 or 2 as fire tankers, one freight dog in FLA and the latest restoration a DC 7B beautifully restored in EAL colors and just approved for passenger flights, see below: http://www.historicalflightfoundation.com 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

what "case"? He walked away from a malfunction. No injuries, no lost wages. I'm pleased no law sharks rose to his bait. Does anyone know what was wrong with the canopy after he untwisted the lines? Glad he is OK even if he is a drama king. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

This account sounds fishy. It is VERY difficult to fly in or jump from an ANG aircraft informally. I've tried. You have two pilots whose retirement depends on no major screwups. I have some PJ friends who really tried to get me tolerated as a ride along jumper on a very low risk training jump but in the end the aircraft commander nixed it as too risky for his carreer if something went wrong. I've another friend who got a contract ferrying C 119s from Florida to Italy. He and his crew lied and said they were experienced in C 119s. In reality they'd never flown them. My friend had a good friend who currently flew C119s in the Air National Guard. He thought it would be easy to get to ride along and get familiar with the aircraft. Nope. All he could do was spend time in the cockpit on the ground. Too risky to have non essential unauthorized people aboard a military plane if something went wrong and reports had to be made. My friend luckily learned enough from manuals and ground familiarization to successfully ferry all the overhauled C119s across the Atlantic. Also, if a jumper on a night military mission disappears, the rest of the load doesn't just shrugg it off. It is a huge deal. A search is mobilized. 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I am pinging a network that focuses on DC 6 and 7 operations, especially outfits that flew them as freight dogs after the passenger airlines retired them. Will let you know the results. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Great photos. I visited DM AFB way back when they gave bus tours through the boneyard. They stopped and let you get out and see the planes up close. A guy started weeping quietly when he saw his plane (a B 52) with the wing spars severed, destined for scrapping under the SALT nuke force reduction treaty. I toyed with idea of buying a Boeing KC 97L Stratofreighter when they put the last retired ANG birds up for govt. auction. They were complete and had low to mid time R 4360-59B radial engines (and two jets too) and very low airframe TT, typically 5000 hours. They all went for under $30,000 each, some for much less ($12,500). I thought it would be cool to put one on a piece of cheap dry desert land as a vacation cabin. It was a dumb idea, but one guy did something similar with a surplus 97. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLrITQ1lbQs Connie, the co-pilot of the C 54G that flew as a WFFC jumpship in 2000 flew right seat in a C 97 that was ferried from the boneyards of AZ to a new home in Oregon where it served as a restaurant called Flight 97. When the restaurant went bust the plane was patched up and flown out to a new assignment as a static display at some airbase. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

It was given only to a very select group of spooks who were secretly trained by Rangers. That glass is a holographic head up display with a self contained mini ring laser gyro inertial nav system (remember, GPS sats werent even launched until the late 70s). Man, I'd sure like to have that in my collection of exotic jump instruments. It would be the crown jewel. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Jo wrote: Jo, It doesn't sound like anything from a 1970s pressurized passenger aircraft (such as a 727) to me. They don't have single layer blue tinted glass in any passenger or cockpit windows. If you are suggesting it is something other than widow glass just come out and say it. Must everything be a riddle or a tease? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

No worries Sluggo. You are a good guy in my book. That old DZ has always intrigued me, but how the hell could Cooper navigate to that airport or even recognize it if he flew near it that night? Did it have a rotating white green tower beacon? I am pretty good at night visual orienting from airliners over urban areas that are dense with well lit location cues, but out in the sticks its just a wild ass guess... unless there is an airport beacon. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

He isn't alone. I really don't mind it at all. I've been called worse things in my time. I don't bruise easily. Sluggo isn't a very abrasive guy, especially by the standards we set here in this forum. I think it was meant in jest. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

7 S/Ls in 1968 at the Cal Club DZ, Livermore CA. Jumpship was the "RAT", an Aeronca Sedan owned and often flown by Perry Stevens. Sometimes he flew with his dog in the plane sitting on his lap. That dog (a small Dachshund) loved to fly and to jump too. If you count dogs, Perry was doing tandem jumps in the 1960s. He made a special carrier for the pooch. Still jumping 42 years later, thanks to my moderately loaded soft landing ram air canopy. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

An old aero chart shows a DZ near the Orchards WA airport circa 1971. Does anyone have info on this DZ, who ran it, etc? Thanks, 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Orange wrote: She got her mom's "jump gene" for sure! Freefall beats any Disney ride for those who are afflicted with this genetic disorder. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Hey Skywhuffo, CONGRATULATIONS to you and you wife on the wonderful news!! Hope mom and daughter are doing well. In three years your baby girl can be tunnel flying. I've seen 3 year olds do some very respectable belly flying in our local machine. When my girl was about 4 she'd love to come to the DZ. I'd drop treats attached to long crepe paper streamer from about 2000 ft and watch her racing across the fields to catch it. Good times. We know your daughter is not a Cooper, but what did you name her? All the best, 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Is this a quote from the Mad Hatter? According to her own words Jo has been consistent in telling less than the whole story "over the years". There is always something crucial that remains undisclosed. What happened to CAVA? Sluggo? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Good one Orange! I cut Jo a lot more slack than I would grant to the FBI. Dunno why. I was starting to think that if Cooper landed alive and made a safe egress to cviilization, then his flight path is irrelevant, but that not the case. His flight path could tell us something about how the Tena Bar money got there. If there is no natural water transport explanation then things get really interesting. I keep thinking about what incredible courage it took to jump into the stormy night not really knowing what was below. I've jumped for 42 years and that would scare the living hell out of me. It also takes incredible courage to jump from the Golden Gate Bridge, yet many ordinary people do it every year. Sometimes I wonder if this kind of "suicide courage' is what was operating with Cooper. I wonder if instead of a courageous ex military special ops type perhaps we should be looking for a very depressed ordinary person. What argues against this is Cooper's alleged instruction on exit speed, altitude, etc. It sounds like he was trying to maximize his chances of surviving the jump. That is inconsistent with a suicidal model... I think. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I'd exercise my 5th Amendment right to remain silent. Without some dumb admission they'd have a tough time getting a search warrant or having cause for arrest. Silence, literally in this case, is golden. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I kinda hope Fournier succeeds and beats Red Bull to the punch. Fournier, formerly a wealthy guy, has literally spent every penny he has to realize the dream of a freefall altitude record. Felix can beat it later but I hope Fournier gets to set the record while he is still young enough (66) to have a reasonable chance. It is a VERY dangerous undertaking. Life support gear has to work perfectly under very demanding conditions. Nick Piantanida paid with his life trying this long ago. A stuck valve, leak, tear, crack etc can kill you in seconds. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I remember seeing my first TBow at Livermore CA, jumped by Roy Starbird who was on the factory Thunderbow team. It just looked cool as hell, with that distinctive delta shape that brought to mind the B 58 bomber and F 106 fighter. It didn't take very long to figure out that what was supposed to be the PC killer was actually an inferior canopy. When squares started getting popular, PC prices just plummeted, even for low time canopies. At the time I was buying my used PC (Mk 1 shortlined) with a Top Secret rig and a round reserve for $125, I was offered a like new TBow for canopy $50. I was tempted but wisely declined. If the Tbows only flew as good as they looked... 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I think you mean CONSOLAN: A long-range low frequency directional navigation system that transmits a slowly rotating keyed radio field pattern; an American version of the German Sonne and British Consol, using two radiators instead of three to minimize night-effect errors. No special equipment other than a receiver is needed to use CONSOLAN. The keyed ID of the CONSOLAN radial can be heard in headphones or loudpeaker and then looked up on a chart. CONSOLAN is no longer used to the best of my knowledge. A marker beacon is a particular type of low frequency radio beacon used in aviation, usually in conjunction with an instrument landing system (ILS), to give pilots a means to determine position along an established route to a destination such as a runway. From the 1930s until the 1950s, markers were used extensively along airways to provide an indication of an aircraft's specific position along the route, but from the 1960s they have become increasingly limited to ILS approach installations. They are now very gradually being phased out of service, especially in more developed parts of the world, as GPS and other technologies have made marker beacons increasingly obsolete. A FAN MARKER beacon can be used along an airway or departure route, or it for a final approach fix on an localizer back course. It is located in a location similar to the outer marker only on the back course or opposite end of the runway served by the primary ILS. The name comes from the fan shape of the horizontal cross-section of the valid signal area. Several other shapes, such as BONE MARKER, were used for airway marker beacons in earlier eras of aviation. These markers transmitted specific single morse code letters to differentiate the several installations along a given airway, but this application has now been virtually abandoned. DOD FLIP: Department of Defense Flight Information Publications used for flight planning, en route, and terminal operations. FLIP is produced by the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) for world-wide use. “A” QUADRANT: The low-frequency radio range (LFR), also known as the four-course radio range, LF/MF four-course radio range, A-N radio range, Adcock radio range, or commonly "the range", was the main navigation system used by aircraft for instrument flying in the 1930s and 1940s, until the advent of the VHF omnidirectional range (VOR), beginning in the late 1940s. It was used for en route navigation as well as instrument approaches and holds. Based on a network of radio towers which transmitted directional radio signals, the LFR defined specific airways in the sky. Pilots navigated the LFR by listening to a stream of automated "A" and "N" Morse codes. For example, they would turn the aircraft to the right when hearing an "N" stream ("dah-dit, dah-dit, ..."), to the left when hearing an "A" stream ("di-dah, di-dah, ..."), and fly straight ahead while hearing a steady tone. The A Quadrant refers to the sector in which the morse code letter "A" (di dah) is heard. 377 (used answer.com and wikipedia for some of above info) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

If you stick to hard evidence Jo your outline will be very short indeed. If you add speculation, implication, unsupported conclusions etc it will be huge. If you really think that Duane Weber was a CIA operative, Ranger trained, a parachutist and was at Bu Dop then I really feel sympathy for you. There is a huge difference between hopes and proof, but to you the line between them is sadly insignificant. If you stick to provable facts, the FBI outline will be very easy to prepare. You won't need any editing asisistance. Sluggo. How about some more CAVA? Anyone? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I love round engines. Even jumped from three WFFC planes that had four of em, a C 54G (DC 4), the ATL 98 Carvair (DC 4 double deck nose door mod) and the mighty B 24 bomber. Also did plenty of DC 3 and Beech 18 jumps and even a few Lodestar jumps. Two weeks ago I rode a King Air 200 jumpship to 18,000 in ten minutes. I miss those 40 minute DC 3 rides... gave a person time to think about things. Glad I lived through those times. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Send my thanks to Mr Nicholson. It is comforting to know there are people outside of the asylum who share the so called delusions of the inmates. How does the door placard find fit in with your thoughts about the corrected flight path Sluggo? Thanks for the graphics post Georger. Have you bagged that Kurdistan station yert? I havent heard them since Friday. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Sluggo, Tell us what you think. Many on the forum dont know how to read sectionals. Who is R Nicholson? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Yes, heard but couldn't work PSE on 20M Friday, cant recall freq, maybe 14.195 USB? Weak, barely readable. PSE Paul is from my area and has been giving preferences at times to "6" call signs. I'll BET just about anything Snow has worked them. Snow has contest grade rigs, amps and several towers, one even has some big gun stacked beams. My 100W and wimpy vertical doesn't stand much chance in those pileups Georger. I worked 30 QSOs on a parachute jump from 18,000 ft on March 20. It was fun being the chased DX, even on 2M simplex FM. I am going to do HF parachute mobile this summer. Have you heard anything from Tom Kaye? What is he working on? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I keep thinking whats the big deal, anyone can just ignore the forum for as long as they wish, but alas, moderators do not have that freedom. Now I understand Quade's "awesome time" comment a bit better. 377 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GEORGER wrote: Can you translate that into English? *** Sure Georger: Nobody but a moderator would see a lull in posts here as an "awesome time". Moderators are like guards, they have to be on watch all the time. The rest of us can ignore the forum for days or weeks if we wish so a lull in posts is no big deal. We wouldnt even notice unless we looked. QSL? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.