377

Cossey's penchant for pranks may make it impossible to get reliable info from him. How can you tell when he is telling the truth? He is the Merry Prankster of Parachuting. Someone who knows chutes can sort out some of the technical misinformation, but as to things like chute ownership, types of canopies that were in packed containers, you have to take him at his word and that's a crap shoot. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

From Snow: I wonder if the sled was just dropped into the ocean with no chute? Looks like it is rigged with something but cant be sure. Any jumpers with military S/L expereince care to comment on the canopy extraction seen in the 727 video? Normal? Special? The photo chase plane shooting the 727 drops is a Beech 18. I'd say that we can be pretty sure it wasn't going faster than 195 knots and its speed is probably more like 150. I don't think it was a Volpar or Hamilton Westwind turboprop conversion. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

+1 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Bruce, The part about Cossey using one of the back packs for "recreational jumping" won't work. If it was used in that manner it would need a reserve and neither backpack had the D-rings for mounting a reserve. . Sounds like Cossey fed Bruce a bunch of BS. It's really cruel for an expert to do that to a reporter. Sounds like neither main chute/rig was Cossey's. Robert 99 is right. Cossey sure as hell wasn't making sport jumps with a bailout rig with no D rings, no sleeve and no reserve. What was the point in misleading Bruce and others? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Way to go Bruce!!! 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Al, Cooper requested that a knapsack be delivered with the cash, but the FBI did not deliver a knapsack. Did SOG jumpers get a lot of training on securing external gear payloads? Circumstantial evidence says Cooper fashioned something to hold the money sack to his harness using suspension lines cut from a reserve chute that was left on the plane. I am trying to reconcile Ted driving truck in 73 if he got a lot of Norjack loot in 71. If Ted were Cooper he must have lost a lot or all of the money during the jump. Otherwise why would he be driving truck so soon after the heist? It must have been a thrill being one of the Golden Arrows. I love hearing about skydiving history from those who were part of it. If you have time and can tell us about the team's exploits I'd sure be appreciative. How skilled was Ted compared to others on the team? Did he get along well with the others? Did he take unnecessary risks? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

In 15 minutes of trying don't you Duane could have got his point across to you? Why was it futile? All he'd have to say is I hijacked an airliner, got $200,000 in ransom and parachuted out of the plane Exactly what did he say about jumping out of a plane? 15 minutes of talking is a long time. Give us your best recollection of what was said. 377 Come on Jo, tell us about what Duane said for 15 minutes about jumping out of a plane. I think this is new stuff. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Hangdiver asked Yes, I was nervous. Conditions were ideal too, hot sunny day, Chanute AFB below with a zillion places to land safely, two chutes and a sweet girlfriend waiting for her jet jump superhero to alight. I had heard that some jumpers tumbled wildly on exit and I didnt want to be one of them. I was nervous about looking bad. BTW, there is a big difference between nervous and terrified. On my first ever jump in 1968 I was truly terrified. Hangdiver wrote Well, I am biased. I want Cooper to have been in SE Asia during the war and in the know about the Air America 727 jumps. A guy who will jump into the wilds at night sure fits an SOG profile, possibly smoke jumper too even though they just do day jumps as far as I know. Hangdiver wrote I think the FBI wants to solve the case, even at this late date. If an SA solved it today, he'd be an FBI hero. I dont buy FBI coverup theories. Hangdiver wrote: Yes, especially when driving truck for a living. Especially after seeing McCoy do it and (for a short while) keeping all the loot. I am very aware of my bias. Cooper could turn out to be a man with no jumps and no knowledge that a 727 could be jumped. I prefer to have him be far cooler than that and so do most others. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Safe wrote: Worst on the net????!!!???? Safe, you really need to get out more. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Can someone enhance the bottom instrument image? http://huntfordbcooper.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/testflightairstairs.jpg I kinda looks like the altimeter is reading between 8000 and 9000 ft, but that's a guess. Georger, can you do it? I think you can PM even if you are banned from posting. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

From the ever helpful Snowmman: 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Hangdiver, If you were the FBI SAC on the case, what criteria would you use? I am not being sarcastic, I'd really like to know? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Hominid wrote The instruments (3) appear to be a clock, altimeter and rate of climb indicator. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

In my early experience as a criminal defense lawyer, I did see cases where witnesses incorrectly described a suspect's eye color, hair color, skin tone, height, weight etc. If the prosecution only had their physical descriptions to rely on for a conviction, the case would have been very weak In most cases they caught the right guy and obtained physical evidence postively tieing the arrestee to the crime. That evidence usually made the witness mis-descriptions irrelevant. When people are stressed they make mistakes. Getting eye color wrong isn't out of the question. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Hmmm, just thought of something. I think speedy drugs, like Benzedrine, produce a prolonged dilation of the subject's pupils. There has been speculation that Cooper had some of these pills with him. Just a thought... 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Quade, Another request to let Snow back. He is adding value and should be given a chance to participate directly rather than by proxy. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I think Gray was given access to some FBI files that had not been made public before. Hominid is right, a cabin rate of climb instrument is extremely sensitive to blips in pressure. It responds to rate of change, not steady pressure. I have one and I can make it jump like crazy by slamming the door in a bedroom with the windows closed. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

From Sluggo's website: 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

From Snow: 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

This is apparently an FBI file. P 1 just has a title on it saying Parachutes and is not copied, no relevant content. Pgs 2 and 3 provide some more detail on the parachutes. Interestingly, it doesn't say Cossey owned the parachutes, it says that Hayden did and Cossey assembled them. It also says the "civilian" rig had a military parachute in it (26') it id's both chutes as white. It also says Hayden can identify the rigs. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

From Snow 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Coming in from the cold... See photo below. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Orange wrote I thought so too, but wasn't 100 pct certain. Snow has done some further research on the chutes. It's looking like neither "back parachute" rig had D rings to attach a chest reserve and that both were bailout rigs, one military and one commercial/civilian. There was no Paracommander canopy, just a 28 foot C9 and a 26 foot emergency canopy. Both "back parachutes" had Cossey's lead rigger seal indicating that the canopy inside was TSOd for emergency use. If all that is correct, then Coopers choice was optimal. A C9 can take a high speed (over 150 mph) deployment and that's what you'd expect to find in a military rig. A civilian bailout rig could contain a chute that was not designed for use at speeds exceeding 150 mph. He has also found some new photos of the sled test flight. One shows a military jumper riding far down on the stairs. The photo, to me, confirms hominid's model regarding stair angle and relatively calm wind force conditions. If all the above is true, the rig choices were not as different as commonly thought. There was no sport rig, no Paracommander, no rig that could hold a chest reserve. Didn't Cossey tell someone (Bruce?) that one canopy was a "Paradise" which I interpretted as a misunderstood voicing of Paracommander or Cossey spoofing. If there were no D rings then the reserves were useless, even the one with a good canopy. No way to jump them. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Jumped Saturday. Fantastic weather and gorgeous scenery. There is no better ride on the planet for $20. Got the sad news that skydive pioneer Ted Strong died test jumping some military ATV airdrop gear. I met Ted a few years ago at a boogie. He kindly and patiently answered a ton of question about skydiving history. Nice guy and a gold mine of historical info. He was one of the few old timers (born in 1936) who was still a very active jumper. http://blueskiesmag.com/2011/10/15/bsbd-ted-strong/ 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Jo wrote In 15 minutes of trying don't you Duane could have got his point across to you? Why was it futile? All he'd have to say is I hijacked an airliner, got $200,000 in ransom and parachuted out of the plane Exactly what did he say about jumping out of a plane? 15 minutes of talking is a long time. Give us your best recollection of what was said. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.