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"In April 1914 Charles Broadwick invented the back pack container, his design resembled a sleeveless coat, the canopy and suspension lines were stowed on the back, the apex was attached to a static line on the back with a breakaway tie and a static line that could be hooked anywhere available, it was similar to the design used today." Online Encyclopedia 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

As far as I know smoke jumper main chute rigs did not use ripcords. They were static line rigs. There was no need to pull anything with your hands to open your main. All this stuff about smoke jumpers and spotters is interesting, because I like aviation history, but I don't see any credible evidence linking Duane to ANY aspect of sport, military or fire fighting parachute operations. Put Duane under a chute or in a jumpship of any kind and I will pay attention. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

There may be nothing more than human psychology that ties it all together. I can see why people might want others to think they were Cooper. After all, he was a folk hero of sorts, a Robin Hood, a guy who outsmarted the FBI and who showed great cunning and courage. If you had drifted through life without accomplishing anything substantial (as Clark Kent) you might want your loved ones to think that that you were really Superman. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

As a taxpayer I have to question the utility of commssioning a new Cooper sketch 28 years after the crime. Someone in the bureau probably had a little extra money in the budget and a friend who was an artist. Hey Ckret, it's a new day, Obama is the new big boss. Torture is OK if you were just following orders so nobody is gonna fire you just for posting here. At least put in a guest appearance once in a while. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I still have my French Paraboots. I always though of them as lace up casts. I still jump my Bell 500 helmet once in a while for fun, but the Paraboots? No thanks. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I have often wondered if Cooper survived and saw the sketches whether he breathed a huge sigh of relief knowing that they missed the mark completely and nobody would ever think he was the person depicted. Try to imagine a Cooper who doesnt look anything like the drawings. It is very hard to do. They have become Cooper. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Agree Orange. Perfectly normal behavior becomes significant and unusual AFTER the hijack. Retrospective reconstruction may be at work here. The ticket agent becomes a savvy detective post NORJACK. He knew that guy in black was up to something, etc etc. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Perhaps. The colors (olive drab, sage green, etc) of the military bailout harnesses and containers were designed to blend in with vegetation. If Cooper went in as a no pull. I'd expect there would eventually have been a powerful odor from his decomposing body, but maybe he was eaten quickly before that could happen. Jerry could tell us how long it would take for scavengers to eat his body down to the bone. I do think a packed NB 6 rig would be very hard to spot in green vegetation. I have seen deer and coyote carcasses after scavengers had ripped them up. There isn't a lot left to rot, mostly leathery skin, hair and bone. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Nope... I disagree... It would have opened on the second or third bounce! Dark humor Sluggo. I'd bet a C 9 canopy in an unextended NB6 container would stay closed no matter what you put it through. I wish Nitrochute could find the parts to assemble a Cooper rig and measure pull forces. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Very interesting and thought provoking post Sluggo. I wonder how much "backplotting" the ticket agent might have done, even unconsciously. Did he really pay so much attention to Cooper at the time of the ticket purchase or, after the highjack, did he reconstruct his memory? Everyone wants to appear sharp and it wouldnt have been sharp to have payed no attention to Cooper prior to the hijack. That gives a motive to exaggerate. I'd tend to give more credence to the descriptions given by those who spent the most time in close proximity to Cooper. Psychologists research this stuff (reliability of eyewitness accounts) , but I am unfamiliar with the exact results. I do know that stress affects accuracy big time and that people have prototype "bad guy" descriptions that they revert to when they don't really recall appearances. The first Cooper sketch does not look very sinister, does it? Maybe it was reasonably accurate. I keep thinking Cooper must have either significantly altered his appearance or was not domiciled in the US. If he lived here surely he would have worried about neighbors or aquaintances recognizing the sketch. If you lived far abroad, especially in a remote area, probably nobody local would see the sketches and make the connection. Do we really know what Cooper looked like? What do you think Sluggo? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Yes, I do. I'd like more detail. What DZ? What tandem rig? Where was Barb trained and certified as a tandem master? Tandem jumping is a very specialized subset of skydiving. I have been jumping for over 40 years and I have absolutely no idea how to operate a tandem rig. It takes a lot of training and you have to get certified. You can't just go rent a tandem rig and take a friend as a passenger. Every tandem rig mfr has a different setup. There is no one size fits all tandem certification as I understand it. Tandem jumping is very common now, but it was not in the 70s. Barb or Bobby seems like a yarn spinner to me. Big talk, lots of boasting, claims to have been involved in extraordinary events, etc. It might all be true but it sure triggers my skeptic alarms. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Bruce, I do concede that the CIA has done some VERY weird stuff with my tax money, including absurd research into whether psychics could detect submerged subs as they flew over them in trans Atlantic passenger planes. They covertly dosed people with LSD, hired prostitutes, and undoubtedly caused at least one suicide and more drug induced mental illnesses in MK ULTRA experiments. Still, your idea that NORJACK was a CIA action just doesn't seem plausible to me. Why involve a public airline and passengers? That added tons of risk. How did it add to the value of the "experiment"? MK ULTRA was leaked, discovered, thoroughly exposed, proving my thesis that big government conspiracies cannot stay secret forever. If NORJACK was a CIA action, I think it would have been exposed by now. Nobody died so the personal risk of exposure is a lot less than with MK ULTRA. If Obama is giving torturers a free pass because they were following orders, surely no CIA operatives who were involved in NORJACK would be going to prison in 2009. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I am thinking he might have put gloves on. Cooper would have had to grip some parts of the 727 ventral stair structure tightly as he descended. Much aircraft structure is aluminum and I have even seen prints etched into the surface of aluminum when left by sweaty (acidic) hands. Anodizing and other surface anti corrosion treatments might prevent this, but a lot of aluminum on planes is not coated. If Cooper had gloves and was a novice jumper with a very hard pull, the gloves may have contributed to a no pull. You can feel metal with your fingers but with gloves on a lot of tactile info is lost. Add panic, night, tumbling etc and you may have a packed rig and a skeleton out there somewhere. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

subsequent posts more than adequatley answered jo's questions about why the fingerprints didn't match duane's, etc. Damn. Wasn't that long ago when Ckret was responsive and cordial to Jo. Ckret, however, failed to prove that Duane was not Cooper and saw no point in pursuing such a task. For that sin, he has been effectively exhiled. A real shame... 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Did Cooper have gloves on? Seems to me if he did not, then parts of the the stair structure would have been tightly gripped by sweaty hands and prints would have been found. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Buy a used Altimaster II. They range from about $50-$80 and can be easily mounted on a chest pillow or wrist strap. They hold their resale value well and can be spiffed up with a new lens for $8. DO NOT buy an SSE Altimaster V (five), absolute dangerous junk. They should all be scrapped. They fail in a mode where the pointer moves but is wildly inaccurate. Alti 2, which still supports SSE altimeters, will not even work on an Altimaster V and recommends that they be retired. Before you buy any used altimeter do the zip lock baggie test. Get a ziplock freezer bag (thicker material), put the altimeter in it, blow it up, seal it, squeeze to pressurize and watch the needle go lower with increasing pressure. Make sure it does not stick. This is no substiute for a test in a calibrated vacuum chamber, but it will tell you if the aneroid mechanism works or not. There are two versions of the Altimaster II, the original one mfd by SSE and the later one mfd by Alti 2. The early ones give better high altitude performance but have weaker pointer shafts. The later Alti 2 versions do not work well above 18K, but have stronger pointer shafts. Either one is a fine choice. The fact that hundreds of 40 year old SSE Altimaster IIs are still working fine tells you a lot. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Galen claims to have solid proof for the Ft Lewis connections and serious money problems. He is a lot more level headed and open minded than you might imagine from his association with that wacky AM radio talk show where he first learned about Gossett. I don't think he is blindly dogmatic about Gossett. If he found evidence that ruled Gossett out he'd drop his thesis. I do wonder what the FBI has that rules out Gossett. I get the feeling that they have something not known to the public that is quite useful in checking out self confessed DBCs and other Cooper suspects. I just can't figure out what it might be that can be used by the FBI to rule out deceased suspects. Maybe they have very solid DBC DNA evidence (good sample definitely from the hijacker) that they have not revealed. I don't know if they obtained a Gossett DNA sample. I have a Jerry question. Jerry, if you had made the NORJACK jump could you have made it back to civilization, undetected and with most of the money? Were the conditions so harsh that even someone with your training and experience might not have survived the night even after a decent landing? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Bruce, Your idea that there may be many "Coopers" who were groomed by the CIA to be robotic hitmen is amusing, but it sure dulls Occam's razor. Why go to such lengths and take such risks? Wouldn't it be easier and far more reliable to use military trained assassins? Israel used to do it a lot, even outside their borders, until they hit an innocent incorrectly ID'd person in Scandinavia. Barb Dayton jumped as a tandem master in the 70s??? That is an extraordinary claim indeed. Show me proof. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

"don't even ask"... and you say you are not a tease Jo? You can't stop it. It must be a personality trait. It bothers me. If you have relevant Cooper evidence stop teasing and put it out there. Who cares what your grudge with the FBI is. Are you interested in payback or solving the case? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Welcome to the sport! Ginger has just been proven effective for nausea in a double blind studies. Google it. Scopolamine patches work too but they introduce a psychotropic drug into your bloodstream, not good for skydiving (others may disagree ). I have been jumping since 1968 and it is still as exciting as ever. The thrill just doesnt wear off. It will change your life for the better. Go for AFF. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I know Galen Cook's suspect doesn't get much respect round these parts, but why rule out Gossett? He had military jump experience, special ops training, was in financial trouble, knew the area, and had been stationed at Ft. Lewis. He sure looks a lot like the Cooper drawings. Was there some Gossett fact that didn't line up with Cooper? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Sex change or ATP. Not enough $ for both. Decisions decisions... Barb's Cooper story has more holes in it than Swiss cheese, starting with allegedly not spending a penny of the money. The hijack was purely a self esteem thing. The money didn't matter at all. Right. You bet. Sounds reasonable. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

A BIG thanks to you Roger and to Bill too. Thanks to you an important part of skydiving history will be preserved. Mark 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

The Barb Dayton story seems devoid of serious pre publication fact checking. I wrote the authors questioning Barb's skydiving credentials and they claimed to have verified them by talking to one person. Has any NW skydiver reading this forum ever jumped with Barb Dayton or even heard of her? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

The pressure bumps casued by jumpers exiting the DC 9 were so unusual that I took immediate notice and never will forget them. As I have said before with my eyes closed I could have given you an accurate count of every jumper leaving, it was that distinct. It was a "swoosh thunk" kind of acoustic event. Never felt anything like it on any tailgate plane. The stair rebound pressure bump on the 727 must have been more pronouced and would have been a real anomaly for a 727 aircrew, something they'd remember (as Georger points out) and obviously associate with something significant happening back there. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.