I was in Portland yesterday and Columbia was still very high. I would say it had dropped a foot or 2 so at least it's  heading in the right direction. Poll results are interesting as to whether Cooper lived or died. There are good arguments on both side. JMHO

I was in Portland yesterday and Columbia was still very high. I would say it had dropped a foot or 2 so at least it's  heading in the right direction. Poll results are interesting as to whether Cooper lived or died. There are good arguments on both side. JMHO

Results are interesting.  There are 12 responses and mine was the only one in the 75% survived category.

That was a little surprising...I wanted to go more likely alive than dead, but not 100%, so 75% was my only choice for that.  And, the lack of finding a parachute, brief case or body to go along with it seeming like Cooper would be the kind of person who would be missed,  I thought I chose the most logical category.

But, since I was the only one who thought that -- it shows the value of different perspectives.

Cooper had a plan and it included jumping out of a plane in the dark of night. He must have known that visibility would be hard to enable him to pinpoint his exact landing spot. So why would he do all this planing and not have a flashlight, compass and an altimeter. I've hunted in the high country many times and I would never dream of being caught without a compass and altimeter. They are very small and fit easily in your pocket. Like I said before, if he landed in the Columbia river, he died I'm sure whether a no pull or not. I've am very familiar with this huge river on a windy dark November day. I lost one of my best friend and his father who drowned on a goose hunting boat trip upriver from Tina Bar. However as Meyer and i discussed last week when we met in Centralia Wa last week. If he didn't land in the river, he could have easily survived. I will post how easily in another post and as i told Meyer i feel certain I would have had no trouble !

Cooper had a plan and it included jumping out of a plane in the dark of night. He must have known that visibility would be hard to enable him to pinpoint his exact landing spot. So why would he do all this planing and not have a flashlight, compass and an altimeter. I've hunted in the high country many times and I would never dream of being caught without a compass and altimeter. They are very small and fit easily in your pocket. Like I said before, if he landed in the Columbia river, he died I'm sure whether a no pull or not. I've am very familiar with this huge river on a windy dark November day. I lost one of my best friend and his father who drowned on a goose hunting boat trip upriver from Tina Bar. However as Meyer and i discussed last week when we met in Centralia Wa last week. If he didn't land in the river, he could have easily survived. I will post how easily in another post and as i told Meyer i feel certain I would have had no trouble !

I meant to mention our meeting last week  in Centralia.  We had dinner at a 100-year-old restaurant, sat and talked about Cooper and Tina Bar for over 2 hours.  Kermit is a great guy -- very cordial.  I enjoyed our conversation.  Centralia is nice town, I hadn't been there for a while.  It was a lot of fun to sit and visit about a lot of things.  I look forward to working with Kermit on future projects, and I was intrigued by Kermit's thoughts about nobody in the know would ever jump out without an altimeter and compass.  I look forward to his future post about his take on the the survivability of the jump.

Meyer

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

I was in Portland yesterday and Columbia was still very high. I would say it had dropped a foot or 2 so at least it's  heading in the right direction. Poll results are interesting as to whether Cooper lived or died. There are good arguments on both side. JMHO

Results are interesting.  There are 12 responses and mine was the only one in the 75% survived category.

That was a little surprising...I wanted to go more likely alive than dead, but not 100%, so 75% was my only choice for that.  And, the lack of finding a parachute, brief case or body to go along with it seeming like Cooper would be the kind of person who would be missed,  I thought I chose the most logical category.

But, since I was the only one who thought that -- it shows the value of different perspectives.

Mark:

75% .... I would think that either he is 100% alive or 0% alive -- either he made it or he didn't.  Do you mean you think there's a 75% chance that he survived the jump?  That's a proper statement in terms of probability.  I sent you a PM several weeks ago.....never heard back from you.  Will never do it again.

Meyer

Meyer,
Yes, that's what I meant.....75% chance of survival.

Are you referring to the PM about Tina Bar?  I show you sent me the PM on March 25 and I responded a couple of days later.  My inbox only confirms that I responded, but not what day.  Check your inbox between March 26 and March 29.

First I'd like to talk about the factual weather in Portland, Oregon on Nov 24, 1971. I lived there and carried mail outdoors for about 28 years. I recall that day as a typical November day in Portland. I know the FBI wants everyone to think it was a typical day in Antarctica. However just to test my memory, I looked it up in Weather Underground and another weather site on google. Both said temperature was mid 40's and precipitation of .22 inch ! Wind high was 14 MPH ! Maybe i am going senile but that isn't unsurvivable. its a walk in the park. I told Meyer that I took 1st place in my age group over 60 in 2001 in a 5k fun run. My time was nothing special but 3.2 miles in just a tad over 30 minutes equal a 6 miles in an hour pace. Now nobody thinks Cooper was anywhere near 60 with most estimates closer to 40 to 45. My point ? Cooper could travel a lot of miles as he had nobody hot on his trail for many many hours. Actually the main hunt didn't get serious until the following Monday if my recollection is correct. More in a bit as I did want to mention a few other facts that the FBI hasn't mentioned much.

... Actually the main hunt didn't get serious until the following Monday if my recollection is correct. More in a bit as I did want to mention a few other facts that the FBI hasn't mentioned much.

Kerm, the Hunt for DB Cooper went something like this:

1. Himmelsbach flew over Ariel (LZ-A) at 9am-9:30am on Thursday. He stayed airborne for about two hours. Visibility was iffy.
2. LZ-A was definitively confirmed on Thursday afternoon, according to Himms.
3. Himms and Oregon NG helos took to the air Friday morning and searched LZ-A further. Visibility worsened.
4. Ground teams went into the Amboy area woods on Friday afternoon, Nov 26 about 1 pm. Buncombe Rd area.
5. Weather worsened Saturday and Sunday but helos found a few breaks in the weather for a bit of minimal recon.
6. All aerial recon called off on Monday in LZ-A.
7. Ground teams were pulled on Monday, too.
8. All fixed-wing and helos diverted for a full-scale survey of Victor 23 from Seattle to Reno on Monday, Nov. 29. Himms flew the left flank of V-23 from PDX to California border. Another fixed winger had the right flank, and a helo took the center of this eight-mile wide corridor.

As far as I have been able to determine, there was no search of DB Cooper's LZ or for his physical presence on Nov 24, either on foot, by car, or in the air. No road blocks and no check points were established, again as far as I have been able to determine.

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

Cooper had a plan and it included jumping out of a plane in the dark of night. He must have known that visibility would be hard to enable him to pinpoint his exact landing spot. So why would he do all this planing and not have a flashlight, compass and an altimeter. I've hunted in the high country many times and I would never dream of being caught without a compass and altimeter. They are very small and fit easily in your pocket. Like I said before, if he landed in the Columbia river, he died I'm sure whether a no pull or not. I've am very familiar with this huge river on a windy dark November day. I lost one of my best friend and his father who drowned on a goose hunting boat trip upriver from Tina Bar. However as Meyer and i discussed last week when we met in Centralia Wa last week. If he didn't land in the river, he could have easily survived. I will post how easily in another post and as i told Meyer i feel certain I would have had no trouble !

I meant to mention our meeting last week  in Centralia.  We had dinner at a 100-year-old restaurant, sat and talked about Cooper and Tina Bar for over 2 hours.  Kermit is a great guy -- very cordial.  I enjoyed our conversation.  Centralia is nice town, I hadn't been there for a while.  It was a lot of fun to sit and visit about a lot of things.  I look forward to working with Kermit on future projects, and I was intrigued by Kermit's thoughts about nobody in the know would ever jump out without an altimeter and compass.  I look forward to his future post about his take on the the survivability of the jump.

Meyer

Kermit & Meyer,

I don't think an altimeter would have been of much use to Cooper (it wouldn't do him any good at all during the jump) but a compass and flashlight would be highly desirable.

But it can be assumed with absolute certainty that Cooper routinely carried a pocket knife.  He had to have such a knife because there wasn't anything else on the airliner to cut the shroud lines with.  The usual airline cutlery would not be useful in cutting those lines.  Also, I think Tina may have seen him take a knife out of his pocket to cut those lines.