Sure enough...

I tell you, it seldom ever fails...

When I woke up this morning, I turned the radio on and rolled over to snooze for a few more hours. I'm up at three most mornings, and the radio comes on automatically at two thirty so I can get a 'soft start' instead of being jolted awake by a shrieking alarm. Today I could sleep in, so I did. I woke up shortly after seven thirty, turned on the radio, and planned to stay put until about nine or so.

I don't think twenty minutes had passed before the news came on at the top of the hour and I snapped to when they mentioned the FBI's announcement that that parachute found in Washington state couldn't have been that used by 'D.B. Cooper' in late November of 1971.

Sure enough, I write about it, and the very next day...

Surprisingly, USA Today didn't seem to have anything about it, but the Globe Gazette and the Des Moines Register did.

One of the first things that raised my eyebrow was reading that this man gave his name as 'Dan Cooper' when he bought the one way ticket from Portland, Oregon, to Seattle, Washington. At no point did he say anything about his middle initial being 'B'. Apparently, this was a typographical error along the line on someone's part and it's 'stuck' ever since. Oh, the stuff of 'urban legend'!

The airline was identified as Northwest Orient. All these years, in my passing familiarity with the case, I had presumed that it was a Northwest plane. I could research it - I could research all of this if I want to, and at some point I probably will since it's so darn fascinating - but until I do take some time to study this, I will just have to wonder if Northwest Orient was a division or a subsidiary of the Northwest I know based up in Minneapolis.

Apparently the cash he requested from the airline, delivered under the 'auspices' of the FBI along with the two 'front' and two 'back' parachutes that he asked for, amounted to $200,000, not quite the quarter million I thought I recalled that he'd demanded. It seems to me that the amount found along a river in the approximate area below where this happened was about five thousand dollars. I don't know if it had been buried, or lying on the surface, but I know it was roughly 1980 when a boy found it and the condition of the currency was described as 'decaying'.

My suspicion was confirmed that the airliner did indeed land at Sea-Tac, not some other airport along the way.

I'm not a pilot. I always wanted to be, and I may just still do that someday if I can ever reach the point where a physician would clear me on a third class medical. You wouldn't know it looking at me, and everyone compliments me on my physical fitness, but my Air Force and VA medical records are rife with tentative 'diagnoses' contributed by one MD after another who was trying to figure out what the heck was wrong with me. There's some scary sounding stuff in there, none of which has panned out. Still, once it's in there, it's generally there to stay. (sigh!) Twenty years ago I knew quite a bit about aviation for someone of my age, much of which I haven't thought about since. If I'm not mistaken, I think any of the 727 series jets can use a 5000' runway. Mason City's airport, MCW, is a smaller regional one with very limited but regular airline connecting flights to MSP, or Minneapolis-St.Paul. Runway 12/30 is 5,500 feet, and 17/35 is 6,500 feet. Both are 150' wide and asphalt. There's a definite weight restriction there, but we've had a C-141 in and out of here, so I'd imagine a 727 could land and take off at a similar airport if it had to. Bellingham's airport would be more than capable, as would Spokane's. Walla Walla or Yakima would probably be ample, too. The story is somewhat more straightforward now that I know the flight landed at it's intended destination first instead of being diverted like so many other skyjackings of that era had been!

Earl Cossey was the man who provided the parachutes at the behest of the FBI on 24 November 71. According to this article, he ran a skydiving 'operation' in that neck of the woods in the early '70's. 'Ol Earl's still with us, and he's had a number of recovered parachutes brought to him by the FBI through the years. Mr. Cossey is reputed to be rather annoyed by this, as he says, 'they keep bringing me garbage!'. It would seem he does enjoy some perverse delight in jerking news reporters around every now and then, much to the chagrin of those in that industry. He insists the chutes he gave to the FBI that night were nylon, as they almost certainly would've been at that date.

Interestingly, in the article, it is said one of the reasons they knew this chute couldn't have been one used by 'Cooper' is that it was made of silk. With a date of 1945/46 as shown in the photograph I described in the previous post, I'm surprised that it would be silk that late in the game. If the date had been '42, I might believe it. Up to that time, there really weren't that many parachutes in use. Mostly they were an emergency escape tool, and certainly not everyone who flew had them. Today, a new one will set you back about two grand; I'm sure they weren't exactly cheap back then, either. Nylon was developed in the late '30's (I'm thinking it was 1937), and I believe that pretty much all parachutes bought by the government would've been nylon after about 1943 or so. Airborne divisions being dropped into north Africa and later into France could 'burn up' a lot of 'chutes. There's only so much silk waiting to be harvested out there, and parachutes would consume yards and yards of it. Nylon would be a very attractive alternative for equipping paratroopers, bomber crewmen, and fighter pilots.

After ruminating on it a bit further, I do have to wonder about bailing from a 727. Cruising speed on one of those is about 650 knots, and the cruising altitude would be somewhere in the 25,000' range. In my opinion, without really good equipment, training, and experience, a jump from a jet flying at 570 mph five miles up isn't going to be successful. I'd imagine that altitude and airspeed simply hadn't been reached yet at the time 'Dan Cooper' stepped away.

He directed the plane to be refueled and then flown to Mexico. I don't believe he ever specified any particular location beyond that, just 'Mexico'. Presumably, he was wanting to parachute into northern or northwestern Mexico, which would've been a pretty fair bet, though always still risky at night unless there was a full moon so one can see where the ground and it's features are. And, yet, he jumped while the jet was still over Washington. I wonder what gives with that. Was he from the area and figuring he'd just be closer to home, despite the very adverse terrain, or did he finally run out of courage to keep with his game?

I also have to wonder about how he left. My understanding was that he opened and jumped from the 'back door'. On a 727, the 'back door' would be either the starboard or port service doors, either of which is immediately in front of the engine intakes! I sure as hell wouldn't want to do that! The front doors, maybe. However...

Again, memory may fail me here. I think that 727's may have ultimately been phased out some years back...after this long, I'd almost be surprised if any airline still operates any, though I could certainly see cargo carriers still using them as DC-8's are still in use. Heck, even a few DC-6's are still carrying the goods up in Alaska. But, assuming that I recall this correctly, the 727 might have had a unique feature of a ramp-like ladder at the aft of the cargo bay. Now, THAT could be jumped from. It'd still be a wilder ride than I'd ever want to take, and unless this guy somehow ordered the pilots to keep 'er low and slow, I wouldn't want to see anyone attempt it without a helmet, jump suit, and an oxygen supply, such as special warfare 'operators' use in High Altitude/Low Opening, or HALO jumping, in which case those guys usually are also in diving gear and are being dropped offshore somewhere.

If I'm right about this, I'd imagine whoever the guy was - remember, the FBI determined that 'Dan Cooper' was a bogus alias almost immediately - knew about this. Now, if this was the case, perhaps because he'd had some experience in or around 727's, which had been in service for about ten years at that point, how did he know that the flight he was buying a ticket for would be a 727? He was in a dark suit and thin tie, and had been wearing a dark raincoat. I can't help but picture Robert Vaugh as Napoleon Solo in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. when I contemplate the description and composite drawing of 'Cooper', who is still known to the FBI as 'Norjack'. This man had a briefcase with him, and he passed a note to the stewardess stating that he had a bomb near the end of the half-hour flight. I don't know if he ever displayed it or merely told her that it was in the briefcase. I do have to wonder if he had the idea during the flight and actually had the gumption to pull it off on the drop of a hat like that.

If that was the case, that he was actually traveling to Seattle and had the proverbial 'wild hare' strike from within, that would have to be about the ultimate example of my immortal mantra, people are fascinating creatures, they do strange things!

Endlessly fascinated,

the TiGor