377
-
Content
6,424 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
1 -
Feedback
0%
Everything posted by 377
-
Snow, are we the lucky ones or what? The most popular forum and the best women... right here. After the BASE jumpers killed the appeal of ordinary skydiving I have had to rely increasingly on literary means to impress women. Smart women are always the best, and they are always interested in a clever quote and commentary about Conrad, Faulkner or Heller. I let Oprah handle Joan Dideon and Truman Capote. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.
-
Jo, Felons do all sorts of things prohibited by law including possessing firearms. Is it any surprise that a felon would figure out how to skirt the law? Some state licensing boards do thorough background checks, others obviously do not. Many rely on self reporting in the license application. In some states, in the past, you could bribe officials to turn a blind eye towards something that might disqualify you. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.
-
Georger, No, I do not know Mr Tosaw. He is the retired lawyer/ex FBI agent who is certain Cooper drowned and has financed a few attempts to locate his body or gear, right? Assuming there is only one CA lawyer with that name, he is well known professionally for his specialty in tracing missing heirs. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.
-
I really didn't know much about the backgrounds or first jump dates of the older more experienced jumpers at the CPC. I knew Doug Hansmann was from WA but didn't know about any of the others. Thom Lyons has written a lot about early jumping on the west coast and has posted it on his website. He might be able to answer those questions better than I can. The Cooper story created a huge buzz in the skydiving community. The consensus was that he HAD to be a jumper and it was just a matter of figuring out which one. Speculation ran wild and many names were thrown around. There was almost a hope that Cooper was a skydiver as it would be humiliating for something so wild and cool to have been successfully executed by a mere whuffo. As far as I know none of my cohorts were contacted by the FBI. I am not sure whether they were doing much investigation in CA. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.
-
That Paper Paratrooper story is amazing. Goes to show that you can jump with zero training and zero experience, if you are brave and lucky. On a few occasions DZs have seen possible skydiver posers try to rent gear and make a jump. The last one I recall was a young woman who claimed a lot of jumps and knew all the right lingo but used it wrong. She claimed most of her jumps were on PCs but she wasn't nearly old enough for that to be credible. She was very vague when answering questions about gear or experience or who she knew. We politely declined her request fearing that she might be one of those intending a no pull suicide. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.
-
There were some 24 ft chest reserves still in use in the 60s. I recall something about the twill ones being disfavored or perhaps even non FAA approved and only ripstop ones being used. I avoided them like the plague when I rented reserves as they had a reputation for very hard landings. The 28 ft chest reserves looked bigger and bulkier but assured you of a better descent rate than the 24s. I jumped a USN 26 ft conical chest reserve packed in an army container. It was a sweet canopy and gave me a soft landing on my one use of it. I never trusted what anyone told me about a rental rig so I always inspected the packing cards. I do remember what a tight fit the 28 ft C9s were when packed in a chest container. They felt more like bricks than packed chutes, very little give if you punched one. I marveled at how the riggers could get all that fabric in the small chest container and be able to close it up. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.
-
Hey Georger, I appreciate what you have done. It has taken the forum beyond just keyboard research. Tom's transparency is blinding me. Can't he add just a bit of posing or teasing? You could sew some chevrons on your lab coat sleeve Tom ;-). Sure wish we knew whether Cooper did or did not inspect the packing cards. If he did, the likelihood of him being a skydiver increases. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.
-
I wonder if the Hasenfus mentioned on page 10 is the Iran Contra C 123 shootdown survivor? Has to be the same guy don't you think? As I recall he disobeyed orders and wore a chute. He jumped as the plane was going down. Hasenfus is surely the world's best known airdrop kicker. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.
-
Is the part about Cooper inspecting the rigger packing cards fact or fiction? Rataczak sure was a vindictive guy, hoping to drop Cooper over the ocean. Once Cooper has left the plane he is no longer a threat to the crew, so killing him after exit is hardly self defense. And Snow, thanks for promoting me to all the good looking women you run into at the local bars. I am not sure Georger even notices them. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.
-
'I think he banged my first wife, but he was good at RW and I consider him a close friend.' You just gotta love jumpers!!!! 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.
-
Amazing how you find this obscure stuff Snow. Potts wrote a very eloquent letter I thought. Amazingly, the CPC still exists even though they have no DZ. I saw a few of the CPC old timers in the 1999-2006 WFFC meets. It was pretty cool to get to jump in 2005 with several of my old jumpmasters from the late 60s. When Cooper did his hijack in 71 thats all jumpers were talking about for weeks. It was HUGE. Everyone had a theory, but none of them led to anything useful in the investigation. Some skydivers basked in the glory that was linked to suspicion that they might have been Cooper. Nobody suspected me, darn. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.
-
Makes sense Snow, but I keep wondering if there is some weird scenario that we haven't considered? The money find is suspicious to me, but like you, I cannot figure why it would be a setup deal rather than an incredibly unlikely and lucky event. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.
-
2) 1970 roster for California Parachute Club is at http://www.crocuta.com/...ters/1970/Roster.jpg Club rosters are not complete records of who was jumping at the DZ. I jumped at Livermore (Calif. Parachute Club's DZ) in the late 60s and early 70s. They didn't require membership to jump there. I was a student in 70 and spent my spare cash on jumps rather than CPC membership. Sad to see Eric Anderson's name at the top. He walked into a spinning prop and was killed. Eric was partially deaf which may have contributed to the accident. Doug Hansmann is still around. He was from the Seattle area and a hard core aviation enthusiast. Got his PhD in engineering from UC Berkeley and now lives on an island in Puget Sound. He no longer jumps but is an acro pilot and flight instructor. No, he isn't Cooper. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.
-
Jo, You seem to jump to some pretty big conclusions besides the Duane is Cooper one. You have posted several times that you think Georger has FBI ties. I see nothing at all that supports that conclusion. As far as I can tell we have never had more than one FBI affiliated person posting here and now we have none. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.
-
Jo, That's a pretty bold statement. Is it a hope or a fact in your view? If you have no idea who this person is or why Duane had you take his photo, how can you know that his ID holds the key to the Cooper mystery? Duane was involved in lots of shady stuff. Couldn't this person with the Chevron be just as easily linked to a non Cooper crime? Also, it sounds like Duane told you to take a picture of a person exiting an office building, but gave you the instructions before the person actually exited. I assume others besides his intended target could also have exited. How are you sure you shot the guy Duane intended? I hope you have a merry Christmas Jo. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.
-
Oh Snowmman, you humanitarian. Beneath that gruff exterior there is some tenderness. I wonder if Jo appreciates it? Tis the season! 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.
-
Snow, Damn, you are GOOD! Now do something with Duane. Come on, give it a try. Have him explain everything to Georger. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.
-
Good catch TK! I totally missed that even after you dropped the clue about knowing something about Duane's vision. Lets load the ray tracing back plot program and figure out the lens, just kidding. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.
-
Georger You refer to the Ingram "fiasco". What is your opinion of the money find by the kid? As reported or? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.
-
Thanks for some expert eyesight info! Jo, what was Duanes vision Rx? Surely that can be released without holdback, editing or fear of it being misused by Sluggo or others. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.
-
Thanks for the useful and interesting info Orange. Hope you got caught up on your sleep. I wonder if there is some widely read Internet site in Viet Nam or SE Asia in general on which one could advertise a reward for a previously undiscovered (to rule out a resale of an Ingram twenty) Cooper note? You could post a link to the serial numbers. If the reward were say $5000 you might get some folks looking (or some Photoshop forgery efforts). If a beat up Cooper note pulls about $3K on eBay a fully intact one ought to easily be worth $5K. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.
-
The movie is sooooo bad that you will be amazed anyone financed its production. You must see it. Few can go the entire distance to the end. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.
-
Remember that one FBI agent who gave an urgent pre 911 warning about a suspected plot to hijack airliners and crash them into NY bldgs? He was completely igonored. Wonder if there were FBI agents in 71 who had some good ideas about Cooper and who were ignored? If you were not assigned to the case I wonder what the FBI culture says about butting in or even expressing your opinions through official channels? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.
-
Interesting! Are there any studies about dwell time of US currency abroad, especially in SE Asia? Does it just recirculate endlessly in country or does it come back to the US? Just ONE undamaged Cooper bill in SE Asia or anywhere would sure get my blood pressure up. Bet the serial numbers were not widely published in SE Asia. The bills probably could have been spent without much fear of detection. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.
-
All good points Snow, but if word got out to skydivers in SE Asia they'd drill down for more info. Jumpers contemplating newly jumped acft want to know exit speed, door situation (removed? openable in flight? potential snag points? etc.). Maybe the details were not forthcoming but the questions would definitely be asked. The basic issue to a jumper encountering a new acft is what do I have to pass through until I am free of the aircraft structure (e.g. stairs) and is there a risk of hitting something after exit (like a horizontal stabilizer). Doesn't "food drop" imply Air America drops? If they were just referring to inhouse Boeing tests they wouldn't likely be called food drops would they? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.