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W2 vet possible suspect...
DB Cooper revealed? New suspect emerges years after infamous hijacking
DB Cooper revealed? New suspect emerges years after infamous hijacking
DB Cooper
- Thread starter DC
- Start date
Every couple of years a "new suspect emerges" so this report doesn't set me on fire. It's still a mystery and it's still speculative.
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Of course but the idea he got away with it...intriguing
Retired SF SGM who opened a brothel/bar in Thailand.
Just seems right.
Just seems right.
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Yep
Walter Reca, Kenneth Christiansen, Robert Rackstraw, Richard McCoy Jr.
Will the REAL DB Cooper please stand up?
Will the REAL DB Cooper please stand up?
I think I've posted about this before, but I there's a strong case thta he went in.
Either the dropzone owner who supplied the parachutes or someone close to him described the rigs over on dropzone.com. IIRC, one reserve was a training rig and the other was unique. Back then a lot of rigs were made from surplus military gear modifed for civilian use. Skydiving specific gear was kind of in its infancy and deaths in general were quite high for the number of participants.
The rig given Cooper was known to have a hard pull and a few jumpers had died as a result with many others taking reserve rides. Again, if memory serves, Cooper took the training reserve and the rig known to have a hard pull. I think it is very likely he died in the jump.
Let's assume he didn't. He had no way of knowing where he was at. Even with a stopwatch he could only guess his direction and had no way of knowing the airspeed regardless of what he told the pilots. He had to trust they did whatever he told them. Given the navigation system back then, his best case scenario out him in the ballpark of wherever he wanted to exit. From the article:
Yeah, no. He used the "Air stair" from the back of the 727. You aren't spotting much unless you're all the way down the ramp hanging over the edge like a JM on a -130. In the freezing night air. With no winter clothes.
The best he could hope for was to get his bearings, open, and steer for a clearing. Landing a round from that period in dress shoes is a great way to break a bone or two. I want to believe he made it out and lived his life, but I don't think that happened. I think he cratered.
BSBD
Either the dropzone owner who supplied the parachutes or someone close to him described the rigs over on dropzone.com. IIRC, one reserve was a training rig and the other was unique. Back then a lot of rigs were made from surplus military gear modifed for civilian use. Skydiving specific gear was kind of in its infancy and deaths in general were quite high for the number of participants.
The rig given Cooper was known to have a hard pull and a few jumpers had died as a result with many others taking reserve rides. Again, if memory serves, Cooper took the training reserve and the rig known to have a hard pull. I think it is very likely he died in the jump.
Let's assume he didn't. He had no way of knowing where he was at. Even with a stopwatch he could only guess his direction and had no way of knowing the airspeed regardless of what he told the pilots. He had to trust they did whatever he told them. Given the navigation system back then, his best case scenario out him in the ballpark of wherever he wanted to exit. From the article:
Yeah, no. He used the "Air stair" from the back of the 727. You aren't spotting much unless you're all the way down the ramp hanging over the edge like a JM on a -130. In the freezing night air. With no winter clothes.
The best he could hope for was to get his bearings, open, and steer for a clearing. Landing a round from that period in dress shoes is a great way to break a bone or two. I want to believe he made it out and lived his life, but I don't think that happened. I think he cratered.
BSBD
He also cannibalized one of the rigs to make his own custom parachute which I think lends weight to your view.
And I also think he bought the farm. A kid found a wad of the ransom money near the Columbia River back in the 80's. That put the lid on it for me. It meant he and the loot had separated at some point. And there'd be no reason for him to bury part of the money in the wilderness.
Not only that, the odds just aren't there. So risky, not just the jump, but the landing...trees, rocks, rivers, ravines. And a body is going to be scavenged and strewn around and decompose so it doesn't surprise me that remains were never found.
And by the way, @DC , he bought his ticket under the name "Dan Cooper." The middle initial was just a media reporting fuck-up.
So watch out.
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They lost me at: "The anonymous analyst found Smith had served in the U.S. Navy, and the experience Smith and Clair gained working on the railroads would have helped either man find railroad tracks and possibly hop a train back east after parachuting from the plane."
Seems pretty thin...
Seems pretty thin...
I'm pretty sure Stevie Wonder could find two parallel steel lines 1000s of km long somehow. It doesn't seem to need specialist knowledge.
