Orange1

Not zero drift. Yes, a lot less than if under canopy all the way, but certainly not zero - even skydivers drift in freefall. How far depends on the winds. Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Weighing 20lb? Nowhere close to a human. Certainly not a feather though. Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Ya ya ya... this ckret-bashing is getting really irritating. There are guys posting some really valuable stuff and this constant side-tracking in what looks to have become a personal vendetta is adding no value. I have a question for the forum: I would like to know if there are any posters - other than Jo - out there who do not believe that ckret wants to solve the case, and that he is being deliberately obtuse because he somehow doesn't want Duane to be the one. Personally I'm convinced that if he had been shown a shred of EVIDENCE that Duane had anything to do with it he would have followed it up thoroughly. Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Interesting angle considering we are talking about a THIEF when we are talking about DB Cooper. (Possibly when we are talking about Duane as well but I don't have the details behind all those prison sentences you mentioned) Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Oh please ... like he is using someone scared of leaving fingerprints behind as "her" "evidence"? Like it isn't public that there are fingerprints on a glass Cooper used (ckret has posted this)? Why doesn't she track down the judge who allegedly made the comment before accusing Galen Cook of making things up? Oh wait... that would count as a pursuit of the truth, rather than singleminded pursuit of the Duane theory. And, why on earth Galen Cook would go to so much trouble to persuade a few skydivers and a couple of web sleuths is beyond me. That's hardly going to make or break his book sales. A "mole" on this site? Well.. to begin with, hardly the first time we've heard that accusation - against a number of people (Tosaw, for example, apparently also had a "mole" here, and I'm sure there were more). Anyone heard of the little boy who cried wolf? Second.. if there is a "mole", please reveal yourself - we have questions to ask you

Um.. the "New Zealand" in your profile box...? (ckret, does that make me good enough to apply for a job at the FBI?) Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Which they no doubt use as "evidence" to prove their stories... just goes to show how somebody can absolutely believe something is true when to most people, it clearly is just delusion/fantasy. Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Yes, you're right. It would be far better to stick to the facts, like connecting the DB Cooper case to the MLK assassination, and the Bay of Pigs, and .... Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

That's an interesting assertion. Do you have transcripts from the other hijackings to back it up? Personally, if I thought someone had a bomb that could blow me up, I'd probably be pretty deferential too. Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

First, technical "expertise" and technical "genius" are by no means the same thing. Then... you're talking 1971. First, may I remind you that the gold price was only floated in August 1971. Not much time to figure out a trading system and implement it by the time of the hijacking! Second, whether you're talking futures, stocks etc - and I don't know how developed or liquid the futures market was in those days but certainly nowhere near what it is now - very difficult for an individual in those days to really make a killing trading. Not like everyone had a PC with internet access to real time prices, their brokers and their pick of trading programmes to download in those days... Finally, even if he was an aeronautical genius, genius often isn't universal and that doesn't at all mean he could make a fortune in the markets. However, I would wager it certainly means he was less likely to hijack a plane, because such an aeronautical genius would probably have a high ranking, high paying, highly respected position. But just having some "expertise" on the other hand... well that could come about in any number of ways (working for boeing, working for an airline, military, skydiving) and might be useful for someone who wants to make a lot of money quickly. Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Yes, and protests/causes were generally very visible because people wanted to draw attention to the causes. Think the Weathermen, think the SLA, etc etc. How many high profile crimes were later linked to any "cause" without it being obvious at the time? And other than some convoluted theories about a grudge against Boeing or someone else (with absolutely no logical pattern as to how that being carried out should translate into a financial cost for NWA rather than Boeing etc) there do not appear to be any indication of what any other "issue" might be. (Unless it was a grudge against NWA itself in which case Christiansen is the only suspect who fits here.) On the other hand, none of the apprehended skyjackers of the time appears to have had any other motive than money. The 1970s were not all about causes. In fact you'd probably find, as always, 99.99% of financial crimes are motivated by personal financial gain. Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Don't think I agree. It's been posted here a number of times that his dress was very non-descript, very ordinary for the times, and that there is probably nothing to be gleaned from it - other than that he didn't want to stand out from the crowd. Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Or some enterprising fellow might have noticed a seemingly abandoned car and hotwired it, bonus for him and no car left to arouse suspicion? IF he had a car. I'm not sure about the logic from tie bar to car, the tie bar was cheap and it seems like everyone wore one in those days, just like everyone wore ties (I mean... have you seen the contemporary pictures of Woodward and Bernstein? Even they wore ties!!) I'm not at all convinced Cooper died that night, but I strongly believe that if he survived we are almost certainly looking for someone with jumping/survival experience. Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

A perfectly logical explanation! Can we now please lay discussion of "ghosts" to rest?! Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Playing devil's advocate here, but anyone who hasn't jumped doesn't seem to understand how difficult it is to just "fall out" of a plane. The transcript also states "ability to jump out of a 707 with a parachute on is nil" , which it clearly wasn't (I assume they meant 727 not 707?) ... just because opinions are expressed in the transcript doesn't make them fact! In any case there are enough guys who have had experience jumping out of jets, they have stated that the exits are quite wild, but this is not the same as being "sucked out". Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Hmm, indeed, or all those people making a living out of intraday forex trading wouldn't be able to afford their hobbies either. Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

The transcript clearly states that Cooper requested to fly with gear down and flaps at 15 deg. (and, btw, that after underway all lights to be turned out in aircraft - which sounds like someone familiar with a night jump?) Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

I'm not sure what you don't understand about it? Ray got his fingerprints changed at Jefferson, but that was as far as it went. I'd be careful about saying things like the FBI told you it never happened, because we've all seen ckret post on here that changing prints at Jefferson couldn't have affected the integrity of the master prints that the FBI keeps. The story backs that up absolutely, so the reference is not going to help you one iota - in fact, it will prove the opposite of what you want - unless you insist on using it out of context, of course. But it's hardly hidden away anyway - just do a google search. Some people have been, um, less than complimentary. While I do not actually think that you suffer from a mental disorder, I do think the kindest advice anyone could offer you right now is to find a therapist - not because you are mad, but because you need to find out why you have this obsession with proving Duane was Cooper against overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

One of the arguments we have heard is that inmates at Jefferson got their fingerprints changed, because we know that James Earl Ray did, and this argument has been used to propose that the prints that the FBI has on file for Duane are therefore wrong, with the conclusion that the fact that Duane's prints were not on the plane doesn't mean anything. I decided to do a bit of digging on the net on this. James Earl Ray did indeed manage to get his fingerprint card changed at Jefferson. I have found absolutely nothing that indicates any other prisoner did, but no matter - we have to concede that if he could do it then other prisoners, including Duane, could have done the same thing. However... let's look at this story properly. Ray escaped from Jefferson, and one of the reasons he slipped through the net initially was that the erroneous fingerprint card from Jefferson was the one that was initially released. But... the fact is that it was discovered that the prints were erroneous, and in fact it was matching prints (left by Ray while using a false name) to the correct prints that later got the Feds on his trail and led to his arrest. Both these facts mean that the correct prints were on file and not affected by whatever happened at Jefferson. This can only mean that every assertion that ckret has made - that changing prints at Jefferson could not possibly have gone back up to the chain and altered what the FBI had - is backed up 100%. In other words, the James Earl Ray changing prints story, rather than casting doubt on the prints that the FBI has in its database, proves exactly the opposite. If Duane did manage to get his prints changed, it would only have been at Jefferson. There is in fact every reason to believe that the prints that the FBI have are the correct ones. (And as we know, these prints were not matched to any found on the DB Cooper plane.) Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Wow. That sounds... well, exactly like what AggieDave was asking you. I also am a bit tired of these demands for "credentials", especially when people clearly have a very good idea of their subject matter. This is a general forum that we all enjoy (well, most of the time) reading, investigating, finding out and most of us would like all alleys explored. Sure it may have come out of a "book" but that book may well be a textbook or manual for the profession of the person involved. I know Sluggo got irritated at one stage for a particular reason, but I have thought Georger's posts extremely interesting, ditto the interaction between Georger and Snowmman. Snowmman, btw, agree with your "why would Gosset have stayed in the army" bit - the thought had crossed my mind too - only explanation I could think of was if there was any kind of contract term involved, I am pretty clueless on that front. Otherwise, to my mind it mitigates against him being Cooper. (Although maybe he was and the guilt he felt about it was what drove him to the priesthood later on... ?) Still, I can't see the harm in checking the fingerprints - even to eliminate him, especially perhaps in light of the fact that there is a book forthcoming - would be nice to know if its worth reading Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

The Depoe Bay article implied the family had offered the fingerprints to Agent Carr already. As for lack of evidence.. well that hasn't stopped a fingerprint check before has it!! Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Thanks for clarifying that so well! In other words there is no way any shenanigans in 1968, even if they happened, could have affected the prints you (FBI) have on file. So that means... if no matching prints to Duane were found on the plane, it would be for the blindingly obvious and simple reason that there were none of his there. Any idea when the fingerprint match vs Gosset will be done? Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Jo, the last time I mentioned this YOU stated that no-one knew where he was... period. Interesting how the story has changed. YOU stated, in a post on 10 April: The story has changed. You really in this instance cannot bang on about how you "never" change your stories. I also agree with whoever said that it would be incredible that he got arrested all those times and yet somehow escaped arrest for this. In fact I would go further: the fact that he continued to be arrested AFTER the hijacking makes no sense, if you consider that such a stunt - if pulled by someone who was largely convicted of far more minor things till then - would no doubt have been "the big one" to set up for good. Yet we are meant to believe that the spoils of this highly risky caper were buried in a bucket to disintegrate, while the perpetrator then went back to a life of more mundane crime and arrests? How on earth does this make any sense at all? I also agree with snowmman; I too am used to pulling arguments apart based on fact and logic, and it is in no way intended to be a personal attack on the person making those arguments. Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Ckret, just to be absolutely clear here: we can assume that these prints in no way could have been altered by anything that may or may not have happened at Jefferson in 1968? Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

In the 60's and 70's - men of that era including DUANE carried plastic slip overs - they were made of black rubber and came up to the ankle and snapped shut. These should have secured his shoes. Some of these had a strap that came around making it even more secure and helped keep the water out. Duane always had a pair available until we came to FL. Well, no witness mentioned those and there was a loafer found in the zone by a search party. I know you think that if it was Duane then surely he would have worn these, but that's not at all the same thing as "the hijacker was seen by a witness to have put slipovers over his shoes". Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.