Bruce, contrary to your story, there is an FBI document in DZ post #63140 which states that the Hayden parachutes went by taxicab to Boeing Field and not to SEATAC.  Hayden apparently did not have anything further to do with the chutes until the FBI returned one some time after the hijacking.... 

The abovementioned FBI's documentation is at odds with information provided directly from the principals, especially Norman Hayden, but also Coss and Barry Halstad. I'll have to check out the docu.

Dudeman17, I don't think the chute was returned open. the packing card has three repacks. one in 1971 prior to the hijacking and two after Hayden got the chutes back. according to the 302 he got the chute back in 1975.

the only option would be Hayden kept the chute for 7 years open and repacked it in 1982...or someone repacked it and never documented the repack while the FBI had the chute..

Quote

I would like to know if Hayden's rig was open when he got it back. I asked Blevins, but he didn't respond to that part. Is Hayden still alive?

I doubt Robert asked him.

I don't see anything about Hayden in obits. Bruce said he's in his 90's so who knows how his health is today. the clock is ticking...

Norman is a strange dude. I liked him immensely, but he lives alone, and has a small bedroom in his very spacious machine shop.

I'll follow up with Hayden Manufacturing, Norman said his son was still involved with him; years ago I got a strange email from a woman claiming to be Norman's sister and declaring Norman could not be trusted. But she disappeared after that. Norman told me that his son had expressed an interest in setting up a DB Cooper museum, with the chute as a center piece. Clearly, they took a different turn and gave it to the WSHM.

As for the WHSM folks, Shut, I'll await your signal that they are up and running, and receptive to this project. After 50 years and one pandemic, what's another few months....

Parachute Recap

This is where we appear to be on the parachutes:

1. The "unused" main parachute inspected by the National Guard in Reno, as revealed in recently released FBI docs, was ID'd as serial # 60-9707.

2. The parachute returned to Norman Hayden in 1975 - although he says 1984 or so - and viewed by Bruce Thun and myself in 2011, sported the serial # 226, as displayed on the rigging card. The number was written on the line for "type" however.

3. The actual serial number may be stamped on the parachute somewhere, and we might find it when we can open the rig, pending approval from WSHM, which now owns Norman's parachute.

4. The issues surrounding the "used" back chute are many and maddening, as are the mysteries of the used reserve chute, ie: dummy chute, red "x's," and daisy-chained shroud lines, etc.

5. The Feds have the unused reserve, and we have lots of pix of it, along with Robbie Burroughs leaning over it like a very contented federal employee. (Not).

6. The so-called Amboy chute is somewhere in federal custody and came from somewhere in Amboy, WA, but anyone who knows the exact where of either ain't talking.

Is that about it?

The document I posted earlier is from 2001. another chute was found near Reed Island. the pages not posted surrounds the chute found and ends with "the parachutes utilized during this event are described as follows" that's sounds a lot like the one's that were used by Cooper.

They describe what appears to be what was missing on the plane in Reno. I was focused on #2 chute being described nothing like the chute in evidence. that leaves the dummy chute or was it?

If this is the right sub-forum:

Quote from testimony of crew member Schaffner to FBI, 11.24.1971: "She said that the hijacker talked about how heavy the money was and asked her to lift it. She said that he picked up the bag of money and remarked as to how heavy it was. She said that at this point, she felt as though the hijacker was acting very childish. She said that she felt as though she was humoring him."

Having searched the forum for the keywords "childish" and "childlike", I did not find any discussion of this incident. It seems potentially to cast light on the hijacker's personality.

Has anyone learned more precisely what the hijacker said or did in the course of this exchange?

Dfs: You had some luck contacting some passengers.  Did you ever try to contact Alice Hancock?  Tina has been in the news, Flo has talked to Unsolved Mysteries, Bill Mitchell has talked, etc, but I have never seen an interview with Alice outside of the 302s. I remember doing some research a while back and seeing that she is still alive. 

Alice is hale and hearty as far as I know. I spoke with her a few years ago, briefly. She said she didn't want to discuss the case because it would take too long to get me up to speed. Afterwards, I sent her a copy of my book, but I never heard back from her.

Galen has had extensive conversations with her, but not recently. Circa 2012.

She was in Minnie-soda when I spoke with her.

Well, you are hardly a neutral person! The girls were hijacked once - no point in hijacking them twice.    Neither of these people want to have another 'ordeal' and both have indicated that to you. 

Flo and Tina may be polar opposites with significantly different family backgrounds. Each reacted very differently to the hijacking. Flo was far more confrontational after the initial shock (Dropped the note on the floor and couldnt even speak according to Tina. Tina had to move in to intervene). Who was the more objective in evaluating the hijacker? That's an important question. I think each contributed valuable insights about the hijacker. It's my understanding the backgrounds of these two stews is significantly different so each brought a different set of filters (sensitivities) to the experience. That amounts to a valuable set of insights/reactions from each. Each may have been equally objective from two different backgrounds. Hancock was older and more objective; stood her ground with Cooper and restricted her conversation to essentials. She did ask Cooper why he was tearing apart one of the chutes.   

Cooper chose Tina over Hancock or Flo. That helps define Cooper and the situation he presented-constructed. 

The key people to speak with is the crew. the passengers hardly seen Cooper and so much time has passed I can't see them recalling anything very well. Mitchell has mentioned the exact problem. a lot of time has passed even for the crew.

I want to know how accurate Flo's assessment was that Cooper was Latin ? What was Flo's background or experience for making that evaluation, vs Tina's assessment?