FBI makes new bid to find 1971 skyjacker

[Ret10Echo]

Always fun to discuss this one... The FBI page has some additionals and some photos

http://www.fbi.gov/page2/dec07/dbcooper123107.html

Tue Jan 1, 6:00 PM ET

PORTLAND, Ore. - The FBI is making a new stab at identifying mysterious skyjacker Dan Cooper, who bailed out of an airliner in 1971 and vanished, releasing new details that it hopes will jog someone's memory. The man calling himself Dan Cooper, also known as D.B. Cooper, boarded a Northwest flight in Portland for a flight to Seattle on the night of Nov, 24, 1971, and commandeered the plane, claiming he had dynamite.


In Seattle, he demanded and got $200,000 and four parachutes and demanded to be flown to Mexico. Somewhere over southwestern Washington, he jumped out the plane's tail exit with two of the chutes.

On Monday, the FBI released drawings that it said probably are close to what Cooper looked like, along with a map of areas where Cooper might have landed.

"Who was Cooper? Did he survive the jump? We're providing new information and pictures and asking for your help in solving the case," the FBI said in a statement.

The FBI said that while Cooper was originally thought to have been an experienced jumper, it has since concluded that was wrong and that he almost certainly didn't survive the jump in the dark and rain. He hadn't specified a route for the plane to fly and had no way of knowing where he was when he went out the exit.

"Diving into the wilderness without a plan, without the right equipment, in such terrible conditions, he probably never even got his chute open," Seattle-based agent Larry Carr said.

He also didn't notice that his reserve chute was intended only for training and had been sewn shut.

Several people have claimed to be Cooper over the years but were dismissed on the basis of physical descriptions, parachuting experience and, later, by DNA evidence recovered in 2001 from the cheap tie the skyjacker left on the plane.

In 1980, a boy walking near the Columbia River found $5,800 of the stolen money, in tattered $20 bills.

"Maybe a hydrologist can use the latest technology to trace the $5,800 in ransom money found in 1980 to where Cooper landed upstream," Carr said. "Or maybe someone just remembers that odd uncle."

[Team Sergeant]

Cooper was no expert skydiver. “We originally thought Cooper was an experienced jumper, perhaps even a paratrooper,” says Special Agent Carr. “We concluded after a few years this was simply not true. No experienced parachutist would have jumped in the pitch-black night, in the rain, with a 200-mile-an-hour wind in his face, wearing loafers and a trench coat. It was simply too risky. He also missed that his reserve chute was only for training and had been sewn shut—something a skilled skydiver would have checked.”

http://www.fbi.gov/page2/dec07/dbcooper123107.html

Special Agent Carr even a very experienced jumper could have missed a reserve sewn shut. And on that note a very experienced jumper in Coopers situation would still have jumped with one chute.

My guess would be that Special Agent Carr has never heard of the Army Rangers, Navy SEALS or the Army Special Forces.

After reading what DB Cooper did I've little doubt he was extremely intelligent, an experienced parachutist and planned this hijacking like he was planning a mission, infil, actions on the objective, and exfil.

Sorry Special Agent Carr, I've got over twenty years parachuting doing "risky" jumps just like DB Cooper and if you know what you're doing it ain't that risky.

Special Agent Carr must have talked to "civilian skydivers" to gain his insight into Coopers actions. Big Mistake.

I'm betting Cooper also knew the tactics, techniques and procedures of the local LEO's, & FBI. The bomb idea, crimminal brilliance, Cooper knew no one would attempt to over power him knowing he had a bomb instead of a gun.....

It won't happen again will it now that we have a "Anti DB Cooper" device installed on aircraft...........

A very false sense of security I might add.......


Team Sergeant

[Box]

Chuck Norris could have done it, but thats a different thread

...for someone who wasn't very experienced he knew enough to have the pilots slow to the right speed for him to be able to exit. If he was truly inexperienced he would have simply dropped the ramp and gone for broke, without concern for the airspeed of his chosen vessel.

Now that the facts are out the FBI should have this thing tied up and solved by the end of the week.

[SOGvet]

Obviously a disgruntled VN-vet HALO instructor type.. Oops... did I say that!?..

[Ambush Master]

In the Spring of '72, our Dropzone, between Houston and Galveston, was visited by the Feds and as one of the two SF guys there, we were questioned extensively!!!! The other one held an ATP Rating and the only thing that kept them off of him was that he was SHORT!!!

[Razor]

So what did you spend the money on, AM?

[Ret10Echo]

Originally Posted by Razor

So what did you spend the money on, AM?

Lift tickets...and maybe a new para commander