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Blevins writes: Why ignore Cossey's self interest in calling the Amboy chute as DBCs jump canopy or dummy reserve canopy? He said it wasnt his canopy and in doing so walked away from thousands of dollars worth of crime relic. One thing you can normally depend on is people acting in their own interest. I've owned about 15 different canopies in my 42 years as a skydiver. I'd bet I could recognize any one of them today or at least be able to reject one which I never owned. I think Cossey would have recognized the Amboy chute as his if it was his. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Farflung wrote: That's pretty funny Farflung. If you fish from a public pier in California, a license is not required. Thank goodness. I don't understand how Jefferson and the boys remembered the right to bear arms but completely forgot about the right to fish. The rich prefer hunting to fishing, perhaps that explains it. You can't have a bunch of horses, hounds, horns and ridiculous costumes around fishing. The Balloon Boy parents came close to losing custody as unfit parents. I think the court made the right call though. 377 As soon as I saw some news copter video I knew there was no kid in that balloon. I bet the pilots knew it too but why kill a good story? 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Jo, All I know is the Amboy chute wasn't jumped in 1945 because it was manufactured in 1946. If it was Cosseys canopy he'd say so. It would be worth a lot of money if it was a DBC chute and it wold still belong to Cossey unless the FBI compensated him for its loss. Look on eBay and see how much a fragment of a chute used in the manned space flight program sells for. A DBC chute would be quite valuable. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Blevins wrote: Robert, The Amboy chute was manufactured in 1946. Look at the data panel (a portion of the canopy upon which mfr data is printed) in the FBI photo. The mfr date is inked clear as day on the canopy: 1946. It could not have been used in 1945. Do you agree? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Are you saying you believe you were abducted by aliens at some point in your life? Oh, brother. And people say I'm full of it. Perhaps that's what happened to Tina and why you were unable to locate her. She was an abductee and didn't come home with the rest of them on that ship from Close Encounters. To Everyone Else: Do you see now there is a subculture related to the Cooper hijacking? And that sometimes it can get a bit strange? Kind of like Twilight Zone, but without the reassuring voice of Rod Serling to ease you into the show and allay your fears. Robert, I think you misread Bruces post. He isn't claiming to be an actual alien abductee. Bruce does have a point that studying common hallucinations can be informative about how the human mind works. I agree. I just think John Mack was initially a bit gullible and biased. His first book, which I read cover to cover, is hardly a chronicle of a well designed and executed psych research study. Still, notice how civil Bruce is? I take a mild swipe at him and he doesn't respond with any venom at all. I'd like to be as kind, but it's too hard. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Farflung wrote: Ignore those lies Vicki. He has only a stock AM FM radio that on a good day puts out 3 watts RMS at 10% THD. And the alleged monster truck is a little Toyota pickup that has never crossed a state line, parked at a drive in movie or broken a speed limit. The only big thing is the license plate frame which says BUFF DRIVER. It refers to a plane not his clothing or erotic preferences. Funny you never ever hear classical music being played on those monster car audio systems. I'd like to hear Beethoven duke it out with Fifty Cent. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Farflung wrote So you think it was Barb Dayton? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

****************************** John Mack is an OK guy, smart and highly educated, but he failed miserably as an impartial researcher of alleged alien abductions, sexual assaults and impregnation of Earth women. Now he gets all wishy washy and basically says that whether these events actually happened is the wrong question to be asking. When Harvard Medical school tried to fire him I was on his side, even though I thought his research was incredibly sloppy and biased. He embarrassed Harvard and those blue bloods don't like messy scandals that hit the press. The alien abductions didn't happen. You can bet your life on it. What he is chasing is sexual psychopathology. These abductees or experiencers hallucinated, dreamed or fabricated these incredible stories. Thank goodness their false claims were directed at aliens. Had Earthlings been the alleged perpetrators some might be rotting in jail on false sexual assault charges. Janet may have been suffering from something that altered her ability to accurately perceive and recall factual events. Alcohol, drugs sleep derivation and organic mental impairment can all cause these distortions. I don't think she could see the plane and if she could she couldn't resolve such details as extended stairs. Perhaps John Mack should interview Janet. He wouldn't care if she saw the 727. That's the wrong question. Don't take it personally Bruce. I like you and admire your hard work and unvarying civility. We just have orthogonal views on UFOs, human levitation and paranormal physics. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Jerry wrote It takes a gold mine to feed an airplane. Good thing you have one Jerry. What kind of plane did you get? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Georger, General relativity sounds too common. I prefer special relativity because I like to feel special. The Laurentzian contractions might be put to good use on a relativistic trip. You'd have to get the spin orientation just right but skydivers are good at that. Janet did not lie. She saw a holographic projection. The misty cloud layer provided a perfect medium. Duane did a CIA sponsored post doc in electro optics at the University of Rochester. He had it all figured out. So who was Bulldog really? Definitely not Sheridan. Jo saw the ruse before I did. Snow could do it but he is normally more nuanced and subtle. Bulldog was kinda gross. Any guesses? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Farflung wrote The Mayans predicted Farnsworth's invention of scanned television and also his lesser known Fusor. Its in their hierogliphics plain as day. If you view the Mayan pyramids from space they form a perfect video test pattern, remember those? The FBI and CIA have massive files on Mayan predictions. Look at Duane's sloping forehead and tell me he isn't a Mayan time traveller. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

OK Jo, I see AOL has enslaved you. Surely there must be a way to download all your stored AOL file cabinet emails into Gmail which has superior search capabilities. Once you get upgraded from dialup you'll be amazed at how much easier it is to do your online work. Please give up expecting the FBI to prove any negatives about Duane or berating them for refusing. It's just not what they do. They are not singling you out for bad treatment. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Farflung wrote I can't argue with your logic or intellect Farflung. It's just that it's so much more visceral and emotionally satisfying to be walking the Washougal Death Woods looking for NB6 hardware or knocking on convent doors to cross examine Mother Superior than it is to execute well designed keyboard research that never gets physical. It's more fun to ponder alien abductions than victim-witness psychopathology. Surely you can see why. Even a Harvard Med School professor, John Mack MD fell prey to the abductee Sirens. The lure of the fantastic always trumps the barely measurable attraction of a well designed research thesis. I revere logic and I obey the laws of physics religiously. Still, I want Jerry to blow statistical predictions out the window with a lucky find on one of his DBC treks. I'm just that way. There may be a 12 step program that could help but I can't get past the one step skydiving program... one step out the door. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Jo wrote: Jo, You can switch to cable or DSL and remain on AOL. Many former AOL dial up account subscribers have switched. AOL is FREE when you buy your Internet access service from another provider. You needn't keep living in the stone age of Internet service with dial up. In my area you can get budget DSL for $29 a month and it is waaaay faster than dial up. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Jo wrote Jo, fill those pain pill Rxs and head to your nearest DZ. There are many in Florida. Let it be known that you got the prescriptions filled but have no use for the pills. You will find a lot of new friends. ;) 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Sailshaw, It is nice to know that you have many knowledgeable friends. Now let's discuss some numbers. I was unable to find any information on the Internet from the 1960s about the original Paracommander. I should note that I didn't go to Ask.com. However, in "The Complete Book of Sky Sports", 1970 edition, by Linn Emrich, page 4, it states that the Paracommander was introduced in 1964 and with "a 170 pound jumper will sink at about 15 feet per second, and glide forward at about 10 miles per hour". In addition, in "The Skydiver's Handbook", 2007 edition, by Dan Poynter and Mike Turoff, pages 270-271, states that a "PC Class Canopy" has a forward speed of 14 miles per hour. This statement apparently applies to equipment manufactured today. Also, the book states that "The Mark I PC, the first to be marketed in 1964, was far more popular than any of its successors or competitors". As a peace loving individual as I am sure you are, would you be willing to agree that a 1960s era commerically developed "sports parachute" (not a modified military surplus one) would have a forward speed of "about 10 miles per hour"? If not, where is your proof that Cooper even had access to a "sports parachute" during the hijacking? He certainly didn't jump with one so arguing about it is meaningless in any event. For your information, my parachuting experience in the early 1960s was limited to military surplus equipment with a 5-TU modification. I have never jumped a modern design, a square canopy, or even a lo-po canopy. So my parachuting experience used about the same technology as Cooper had access to. While the equipment I used had a slight forward speed, the vertical speed was considerably faster. Why don't you make a tandem jump to see what it is all about? Perhaps one of your skydiving friends could arrange it. Robert Nicholson I've jumped modified surplus rounds and MK 1 PCs (Paracommanders). The forward speed of a PC depends on loading. They seemed to go about 12 mph when I jumped them. How do we know Cooper even knew what kind of canopy was in the sport rig? I'd have chosen the surplus bailout rig for one very simple reason. Back then most sport chutes were placarded with warnings not to exceed 150 mph. Military bailout chutes (eg C9 canopy) were tough as hell and had no such low deployment speed limits. It would be smart to deploy right off the steps and avoid a potentially fatal uncontrollable tumble. Your speed might be well over 150 mph. The videos of the Thailand AIr America 727 jumps show that you can deploy immediately (these were static line jumps) and a C9 could handle it fine. Who knows why Cooper chose the rig he jumped? We are all just speculating. Sailshaw says Sheridan Peterson lived with him for a short time and asked questions about the 727 stairs which he couldn't answer since he was working on the 737 stairs. Peterson later joins Boeing and goes to work in tech documentation. It may prove nothing but it's interesting. Bulldog Pete may be an imposter. I naively figured it was Pete with a short memory due to age. Who knows? I thought whoever posted it did a pretty decent Pete impersonation. The detail about wanting to jump at Cloverdale (nearest DZ to Windsor) was clever. I only know one person who might do this impersonation and I'm not naming names. Sheridan Peterson sure has the all the jump qualifications to be DBC. The one thing lacking is prior criminal behavior. Pete seems me a principled person. I have a hard time imagining him threatening to blow up a plane. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Leaving for a two week vacation in a few hours, but so glad to see Pete posting. So much I'd like to chat with him about ranging from his civil rights work to his bat wing jumps. To Pete: The guys at Cloverdale are great, but it's not an ideal DZ for someone just getting current again. Landing area is kinda small compared to wide open DZs such as Lodi and Byron. There are rotors off the hanger building which must be avoided if it's windy. Not a dangerous DZ at all, just not the best for someone in your current status. Let us know if and when will be jumping. I'd drive to any N. CA DZ to jump with you. It would be an honor. On your China jump picture it looked like you had no cutaway hardware on your main. Is that correct? 377 first jump 1968, Livermore CA 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Farfllung, your annotated review had me LOL, really. Keep up the good work. ... and speaking of Dr. Stranglove, you are a lot closer to being Slim Pickens than I will ever be. Did bomber pilots have nicknames stenciled on their helmets like fighter pilots do? What was yours? Don't tell me it was Farflung, that isn't manly enough and I will know you are lieing. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

You nailed me Farflung. I like Coast to Coast AM and although I absolutely do not believe ETs have ever visited Earth I have a lot of UFO books and am one of the few people who has read the USAF's Condon Report cover to cover. I have books about alien abductions, Lee Harvey Oswald, crop circles and the like. Its just a fetsih I guess because I am a dyed in the wool skeptic who believes that the laws of physics have no criminals. The difference between DBC and UFOs is that DBC was a real person and the skyjacking was a real event. The event was not the product of hallucinations, misperceptions or faked evidence. There is a big diff bewteen looking for ET and looking for DBC. Stirring the pot does have value in unsolved cold case crimes. Doesn't it sound really unlikely that Cooper and McCoy would use FAA flight plan stationary to relay messages to the cockpit? I am not a pilot. What are these forms and how are they obtained? I thought flight plans for general aviation planes were mostly submitted by phone or radio in 71. Has it been verified that both Cooper and McCoy used these unique forms for their notes? If so maybe we ought to be reexamining the DBC=McCoy theory. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I give Blevins more slack than Georger, Farflung and Jo do because he has always said KC=DBC is a theory and admits that he has not proved it. I disagree with a lot of his conclusions but he did do a lot of feet on the ground investigation of a DBC suspect and that has some merit. His book and TV work keeps public interest in DBC alive and that's a good thing. Somewhere sometime someone might be watching that TV rerun and remember a critical fact that could lead to IDing DBC. Perhaps a car was abandoned, a tenant never returned, a relative went missing right after NORJACK or something similar. Keeping the DBC pot stirred up has value of it's own and Blevins has done some serious stirring. Meanwhile, while we squabble and speculate, Bruce connects with some TV journalists from Japan and gives a decent interview. Bruce Smith, Robert Blevins, Sluggo, Galen Cook and a few others have actually travelled, investigated, interviewed etc. That distinguishes them from me and others who don't go beyond a keyboard. How about giving Blevins some slack? I don't think he deserves all the hostility and sarcasm he receives here. I've taken some shots at him but they haven't been character assassinations. His $2.99 book pricing tells me that he isn't being driven by money here. He responds civilly to uncivil attacks. He admits that he can't absolutely prove his theory. He admits errors when they are brought to his attention. So why slam him so hard? No, I am not his publicist or handler. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I was unaware of this Bruce. If true it would sure be relevant to the question of whether DBC and McCoy were the same person. Your source? Is it from the Real McCoy book? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Georger, Here is a little attribution and sourcing so rarely used on this thread. Pretty good job Farflung, you nailed Blevins squarely... but to be fair to him, there were some initial FBI photos that made the canopy appear to be in good shape, e.g. the one showing the data panel with a 1946 manufacture date. Blevins seems to attract vitriol and spite here in a quantity and intensity disproportional to whatever imagined or real transgressions he makes. He only has a theory, not a solved case, by his own words. To me, that makes him a benign presence. I don't get all worked up about him or KC. His book makes a good case that KC was up to something, and that something made him more money than could be accounted for from an NWA salary, but the ties to Norjack are entirely circumstantial and don't convince me. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I remember one weekend where we had two DC 3s and a Lodestar at Pope Valley. What a great DZ. I am sure glad I had the pleasure of jumping there in the 70s. I also saw the lowest opening I've ever witnessed, a Canadian girl trying to do a 2 way with her boyfriend. She couldnt find him and lost track of altitude. No AAD. Seemed like she had at most a five second main canopy ride. I didn't think she was going to make it when I saw her sleeve come out. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Georger, The lack of "loft" is consistent with both silk and nylon twill canopy fabrics. Before the advent of ripstop weaves, canopies were made from "twill" nylon and it was often mistaken by surplus dealers and others for silk. The Amboy canopy looks shredded in portions which could be consistent with rot and physical damge during its extraction, especially if something like a backhoe was used. It's hard to tell but it also looks like some suspension lines are broken. Cossey has a demonstarted history of "playing" with the press, but if this really were a DBC canopy it would be worth a lot and he'd still own it. He makes zero if it's of some other origin. I believe him when he says it wasn't his canopy. Still, where did it originate? Why was it buried? Wish Snowmman were here, he'd have some ideas. Think Quade still reads this forum? It was heating up a while back but no sign of the Quade Fire Truck. Fortunately the embers self extingusihed. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

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