Posted on 07/27/2016 12:19:14 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
They were certain they knew the identity of the long-missing hijacker known as D.B. Cooper, and now the self-appointed investigators wanted their man to turn himself in to the FBI and sign over his life rights for a book and movie project...
Rackstraw watched the documentary, he said in an interview.
He watched himself being ambushed. He watched the man whose son found the ransom money along the Columbia River deny that it had been planted there. He watched a Northwest Orient flight attendant examine an old photo of him and his decades-old NBC interview and repeatedly say she didn’t think he was the hijacker. He watched Curtis Eng, the FBI’s special agent in charge of the Cooper investigation, say he wasn’t convinced that Colbert’s team had cracked the case.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
When I went to jump school I did one jump from a C-140. We were told 120 mph is the slowest the plane can go and stay in the air. I am telling you that jumping at 120 mph is no picnic, even with the door baffle. My question is, “What speed was the airplane (a commercial airliner) going when DB exited?” I suspect it was greater than 200 mph. I doubt DB survived the exit.
Personally, I never saw any reason to jump out of a perfectly good airplane.
I got suckered into watching the two-part History Channel series on this. Never have I seen so much made of a “case” constructed out of the most slender shreds of non-evidence. The investigators’ theory was not credible at all. Just done to fill four hours of TV (that I’ll never get back).
http://www.crimemuseum.org/crime-library/d-b-cooper/
150 KN is about 175mph. Not a problem for an experienced jumper especially if he flared his body out and slowed down to a terminal velocity of about 120mph
DB Cooper is a few scattered bones in the forest somewhere.
Anderson reflected on the hijacking when he boarded a Boeing 727, the same model that Cooper jumped from, at the World Freefall Convention in Quincy, Illinois, in the mid-1990s. Anderson explained the instructions jumpers received before boarding for the four-minute ride to altitude this way: “We were instructed to be completely geared up before boarding; helmets on and goggles on. We all had to make sure all our gear—closing flaps, riser covers, shoes, shoelaces—were completely secure.”
Jumpers at the convention had a choice of exiting on a slow pass of 134 knots or a fast pass of 182 knots. Anderson says “I went on the slow pass at 155 miles per hour. The aft stairway was removed. I was surprised how small the opening was. You couldn’t get two people to jump together.”
Jumpers were advised to exit with arms and legs in, almost in a fetal position. Nonetheless, the exit was much different from what Anderson expected, and he was caught off guard. “The first thing you noticed after exit was the heat from the jet engines and the smell of jet fuel. There was a dead void, then the blast from jet steam. It felt like I was being tackled from behind.”
Over several years, Anderson made a total of six jet jumps. “During the first jump I had to fight to settle down and get stable after exit. It took me a good 1,000 feet to get stable. [Successive] jumps were no problem once you knew what to expect.”
http://parachutistonline.com/feature/secrets-db-cooper-part-two-evidence-absence
At Perris Valley Skydiving in California, Ted Farnsworth also jumped a jetliner, though it was a DC-9 with the aft stairs intact. He said, “You could stand on the stairs and not be knocked off. While it is turbulent on the stairs, the stairs themselves protect you from the direct windblast.” Even with 30 years of skydiving experience, Farnsworth said, “I was shocked at the force of the exit and surprised how unstable I was. It felt like falling face first 10 feet onto a mattress.”
No disagreement here.
Having exited an aircraft at 120 mph I would not care to do it again. It was like being thrown into a brick wall. I think it would be hard to exit at 175 or even 150 and maintain consciousness.
After the story broke, besides police searches, there were numerous self-proclaimed bounty hunters and other treasure seekers scouring the forests and river areas in S. Washington state where D.B. allegedly jumped.
These hunts went on for years after it happened.
Only thing they ever found were Sasquatch footprints :-)
I could have sworn I saw an article that solved this. Some woman claimed it was her uncle and they had the proof.
I am not! You take that back!
They must be quite common in that era, and of little value?
Perhaps the Sasquatch kidnapped D.B. Cooper, he justed wanted a friend.
It was awful, but I can name a few "cases" constructed out of non-evidence: 1) Duke Lacross 2) Trayvon Martin and 3) Freddie Gray in Baltimore...
Okay, you’re a LOT of scattered bones in the forest somewhere!
After several weeks of abuse by the Black Hats we were pretty happy to get into the aircraft to get away from them.
Well, okay then. That's better.
Interestingly, during that time frame of scouring the countryside for Cooper, the Sasquatch legend gained a lot of popularity.
I watched it, too. Much ado about nothing. Of all the people in the world, that guy is definitely not D.B. Cooper.
In all seriousness I don’t think the guy survived.
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