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read this! http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1201494;page=unread#unread 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Deland tower being built. This really sucks...for $12/year its a steal...I'd pay double that easy. Me too. I'd gladly pay $25 a year or a bit more if that would bring it back. The USPA rag will never have the editorial guts that SKYDIVING did. SKYDIVING would publish articles that dissed their major advertisers. How is that for integrity? What a shame. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Snow, If your explosives tutorial post didnt trigger alerts in the homeland security webcrawlers, they need to revise their filters. Hey, remember eletromechanical vibrators, the pre-transistor way to boost DC voltages? They turned DC into chopped DC or square wave AC depending on the type of vibrator, which could then be boosted by an xfmr then rectified. In many ways they were easier to set up than solid state inverters. They might have been before your time. I had some of the details wrong but that Harvey's extortion caper was quite something. Hard to believe they could plan something so complex yet fail to have strobe batteries, strobe backups, good diagrams, etc. The money was ready to hand over but the money carriers couldnt find the drop point. Concerning Cooper's bomb, I wonder how the FBI decided that he would probably not detonate it if his demands were met? If they figured he would blow up the plane after he exited they would have stormed it on the ground before takeoff don't you think? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Even though 99% of so called "bombs" used by robbers/hijackers are non existent or fake, better to err on the side of caution. Many years ago a disgrunteld gambler called Harrahs Club Casino in Reno NV (as I recall) trying to extort money with a bomb threat. The building was evacuated but everyone thought it was just another fake. He didn't get the money and KABOOM!!! A HUGE bomb was detonated. The culprit, a former WW2 Luftwaffe pilot, had disguised the bomb as an IBM mainfame unit and had it delivered and positioned for installation in the Casino's IT center. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Thanks Joe. When did the training switch from using chest reserves w/o pilot chutes that had to be tossed out and later using chest reserves with pilot chutes? I learned both but I do not recall the transition date. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

The dummy reserves I trained on were filled with a big piece of foam. This made it look like a real reserve and it held the pins realistically due to the expansion forces from the compressed packed foam... but it was MUCH lighter in weight compared to a real reserve. My club and loft went to great lengths to distinctively mark non jumpable training gear so that nobody would jump it by mistake. If Coosey's dummy was mistaken for a real reserve, it highlights the danger. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

what FOAM! ? Thats brand new. Ckret says Coosey claimed that the dummy reserve contained a white canopy. I may have been remembering something SkydiveJack posted about dummy reserves containing soft material that could be quickly restuffed after practice pulls in training. I guess I was mistaken about the foam, sorry. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

A reserve container does need to be "stuffed full" to keep the pins securely retained in the cones. A loose pack might still retain the pins and stay closed, you'd have to ask a rigger. I'd think a loosely packed reserve container would pop open in the buffet of a jet jump, but the pins might stay in from the force of the ripcord keeping them seated as long as the ripcord handle stays in its pocket. As far as chutes being in private general aviation non jumpship planes... I have never seen them unless it was a glider or acro plane. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

What if someone here who could have been Cooper but wasn't, made a guess and unknowingly revealed something the FBI had held back? Wouldn't that be a hoot? Lets say there was foam in the reserve and it was spray painted red, but that detail was never released to the public Let's say someone here, an old jumper posted that detail. I am not Cooper and neither is Guru, but it would be funny if such a thing happened? I am thinking the FBI must be holding back a few things they can use to flush out a real Cooper and distinguish him from a wannabe. I wonder what it is? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I though I read somehwere that Cossey had packed that dummy reserve with foam. Am I mistaken? Wouldn't be the first time. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

That is odd, don't know what to make of it. You'd have thought he'd want to keep a sharp eye out for an FBI plane invasion. His total dependence on chutes being supplied had to mean he knew that they could be obtained close enough to the airport to reach him in a reasonable amt of time. He was likely thinking McChord. The idea of requesting extra chutes was pure genius IF he intended it to imply that he was taking a crew member with him. It greatly enhanced the chances of getting good chutes. Couldn't he have removed the foam from the dummy reserve, packed a lot of money in it, closed it up and reinserted the pins and ripcord to keep it secure? You could probbaly tie the reserve container to the main harness with lengths of suspension line. Was the dummy reserve's ripcord handle found on the plane? He may have tossed the bomb, foam and other unnecessary baggage out the door before his jump. I am somehwat surprised none of it was ever found. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I thought the height was due to less gravity near the poles, just kidding. Funny to think a short inarticlulate Cooper might have literally been axed. I think with a "bomb" and his proximity to a flight attendant, Cooper had little worry that the cockpit crerw would abandon the plane or attempt to subdue him with force. They are seasoned pros, they are macho, they wouldnt run and leave the stews alone to face death nor would they do something likely to trigger the "bomb." They did make the right call after all. Nobody got hurt except perhaps Cooper. You can say Cooper was incredibly lucky or that he planned incredibly well. I am not sure which it is, obviously a mix, but which predominates? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I think AmeriJet might be the same company that flew skydivers in their 727 at WFFC. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I wonder if this adds US AID workers in Nam/SE Asia as ones who might also have knowledge of the 727 airdrops? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Looks like a 727 not an MD 88 Snow as you can see the center engine exhaust nozzle. The winglets initially puzzled me as no 727s were made with them, but there are aftermarket FAA approved winglet mods. Not sure about the apparent lack of a folding or lower section on the stairs. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

How would Cooper know about partial stair extension? Would this be more indicative of a Boeing rather than Air America connection? Rat thought Cooper's orders indicated that he knew a lot about the 727 and flying. I'd put more credence in Rat's real time on site conclusion of 727 competence than Ckret's conclusion of the opposite. This partial stair thing is potentially significant. Leave it to Snow to extract signal from the noise. Were the stairs removed in the Air America S/L drops? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

There is a term I havent heard in YEARS! How they used to scare us kids with threats of being sent off to Reform School. Teachers, cops, scoutmasters even parents all used the threat. I never really knew what it was but imagined something like a brutal kids jail where you were fed gruel and beat up by bullies. The threats didn't deter me from adventures though, but it kept me wary of cops because I figured they could just throw me in a car and drop me off at Reform School. I had no concept of due process. I have always wondered if Norjack was Cooper's first major crime. The fact that they didnt match his description or prints? to any criminal records makes me think it might have been. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Georger, You must have had better flares than I did. I messed up on my choice of a spouse, but show me a long time skydiver who doesnt have an ex. It's part of the sport. Nowdays kids are so isolated from danger, too much so. Part of maturing is learning how to recognize and manage risk. I tried to let my kids have some exposure to danger, nothing that would kill them but enough that would give them some common sense and street smarts. We all fell out of trees, jumped from roofs, played with fire, explored storm drains, rode homemade wood rafts down rain swollen creeks, played around trains and we survived. We all gained from those experiences that are now denied to kids. Too bad. If Cooper were military he'd have known the high value of radio comms if jumping into an unknown area. Adding an accomplice would add risk of betrayal, but it would greatly enhance his chances of a succesful escape if he could communicate with the accomplice after landing. What are your thoughts on Cooper's possible use of radio? CB gear was common, easy to use and really cheap back then. I know it is speculative, but Cooper appears to have been a planner and what were his plans for getting from his LZ to a safe refuge? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Very interesting stuff Orange. I am seeing some refs linking these Air America air ops to US AID work as well as CIA. What a wild scene over there. The one that takes the cake so far is the Air America helicopter pursuing two AN 2s (BIG slow Russian/Chinese made biplanes, I have jumped from one) used as bombers and shooting them down with hand held weapons. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I keep thinking of accomplice too - if he survived. Perhaps back to the flares? How far can you see flares like that (and how useful would they actually be in that area at night) - just wondering out loud here about things that i (clearly) know very little about! The "fusee" sulphur type road flares would not have been much use at a great distance on the ground unless Cooper was elevated and had a line of sight to his accomplice. http://www.emergencyresponderproducts.com/roadflares.html I lived near a railroad yard as a kid and there were lots of flares just lying around near the tracks. The RR workers used them all the time and just had stashes of them all over the place. We would pick a couple up, take them far away and ignite them. They were nothing special as a long distance signalling device. They didnt light up the sky or anything like that. We did get 10 miles between two $29 Lafayette CB walkie talkies that only had a tenth of a watt of transmitter power when one person was on a hilltop that had a line of sight to the other person. If Cooper had a cheap walkie talkie and his accomplice went to a high mountain peak, 10 or 15 miles would be no problem. Basically if Cooper could see the peak or even a point on the slope, he could talk to someone who was located at the location he could see. There are a lot of folks on this forum (like G) who know FAR more about radio communications than I do and they can chime in on this subject. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Weathering DEFINITELY makes one look older. I knew some commercial fishermen in their late 30s who shunned caps and sunscreen. Honestly, they looked close to 50! No deep wrinkles, just dark skin and a weathered look that instantly makes you think old. No double chins or drooping eyelids, but you'd just look at them and think they were far older than they really were. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Reminds me of a bad movie called Ice Station Zebra. I was up for any movie with parachuting back then but the Arctic jump scenes looked soooo fake that I felt I had wasted my dollar spent on the movie ticket. If I had known that smoke jumping could lead you into the CIA which had their own LSD stash and hookers on contract and that you could get first Arctic jump bragging rights, I might have taken a leave of absence from my grueling electrical engineeering studies and headed for Missoula... but Berkeley in the 60s had its own fun distractions so the regrets are not so deep. How could Cooper have returned to civilization without somebody giving him a ride? He HAD to get into hiding quick. Any guy wandering around in the wilderness the next day would be an instant suspect. I think there is a strong possibility that someone did give him a ride and has remained silent for years. If he had jumped earlier, as appears to have been planned, he might possibly have had a vehicle stashed or an accomplice to pick him up, but it looks like he exited far past where he had hoped to. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

To Georger's point, I have always thought Cooper looked quite a bit younger than the FBI estimate, but I assume Flo and Tina had ample opportunity to judge his age. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

You are on a roll indeed, and look at the last name of the author . 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Absolutely fascinating stuff Orange. What first appeared to be a very tangential connection between the CIA and smoke jumpers has become major direct linkage. I had no idea that Arctic intelligence gathering jumps were made with Fulton Skyhook recoveries. It is possible that Air America recruited smoke jumpers to work on the 727 airdrop tests. Sometimes I take a big step back and think about Cooper from a macro view. The fact that no likely Cooper was reported missing after the hijack makes me think he survived the jump. The jump itself wasnt that hard to survive. The landing might have been very dangerous, or not dangerous at all, depending on where he came down. A night landing in a plowed field near a road would not have been such a big deal. Getting to civilization undetected does pose a problem though. Before the news got widely circulated someone might have picked up a wet hitchiker without much thought, but the next day they'd put two and two together. Maybe he hitched a ride with a hippie who didnt like cops, slipped him a few hundred and asked him to be cool. When there was a big reward out for the SLA Patty Hearst kidnappers, they were living in the LA ghetto and nobody ratted them out. Some neighbors must have suspected that this large group of young white people and one black guy sharing a house in a black neighborhood just might have been the SLA. Not one tip was received. Until Patty Hearst shot up the front of Mels Sporting Goods store with a machine gun from a VW bus that was recovered and had a parking ticket linked to the hideout address, they were invisible to the zillions of cops and FBI searching for them. Folk heroes are often protected from the cops by those who identify with or sympathize with them. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.