The story has now changed abruptly at DZ. No sources or attributions given for anything posted. Some of it comes from a Rataczak interview, some from the Anderson interview. If I read this correctly, oscillations are now being 'documented" before Cooper jumped. No definition of the word: oscillations. " Q18: Is there anything else you consider significant to the question of where the hijacker jumped?
A: It was very dark, with virtually no ground reference except when we got in the Portland area. We bounced around the clouds, with occasional breaks. The 727’s slipstream initially overcame the aft stairs hydraulic system. The stairs weren’t opening like Cooper needed. Cooper called me on the interphone while Tina was riding up front with us. Cooper had let Tina come to the front. He yelled, "slow it down!." I stated back to Cooper, "OK." And we did; we slowed the plane.
The oscillations continued, as I remember, but were smoother and we hadn’t heard anything from Cooper.
Bill called back to him (8:05) and he finally answered. He said everything was “OK”.
More time passed.
And then suddenly came that “bump”. After the final "bump" which we felt with our ears, we all discussed it for awhile, waiting for another bump. It never repeated, so we assumed that was his exit. But we discussed this among ourselves before notifying NWA. The truth is, we just didn't know for sure. I just don't recall how much time lapsed between feeling the final "bump" and reporting it to NWA via radio. That’s where the uncertainty has come from. But later we all thought that final bump was his exit.
Oscillations were noticed before 8:05 (last comm with Cooper) and CONTINUED after 8:05.... A: That’s a good question because We all agreed that the gauges were detecting a disruption of airflow, most likely caused by Cooper testing out the aft stairs. But we all felt one physically distinguishable "bump" with our ears which came abruptly after we had been monitoring the gauges. We all felt it almost in unison, surprised, "there he goes!" It was the largest bump by far, an abrupt pressure change. We all thought he had exited the aircraft at that point, because the gauges never detected any further major airflow disruptions after that ‘thud’. The re-test duplicated the oscillations and the pressure bump exactly.
A physically distinguishable bump came abruptly after they had been motoring the gauges (since 8:05)..
Anderson also said they never detected any further major airflow disruptions after the thud,, not NONE.
There were minor oscillations monitored before and after 8:05, the physical "bump" was "the largest by far"...
A: Q5. Not really and it wasn’t exactly as you describe. These were minor oscillations. We detected on the gauges only. We just presumed pretty quickly that it was Cooper fiddling with the aft stairs but we weren’t one hundred percent sure because we were already flying dirty, with throttles up and fighting icing and weather. A lot going on and it wasn’t totally smooth even before the oscillations started. What we noticed was the pattern of the oscillations was continuing and there was a very minor disruption of the slipstream. Scott said at first he wasn’t feeling anything for sure, then a little later he thought there was more drag and the nose was deviating a little. When the final bump happened and the oscillations stopped that sealed it. But even then we weren’t sure and we waited before calling anybody.
The context is the minor oscillations felt well before 8:11.... not at 8:11 At 8:11 the crew reported oscillations and fluctuations in the cabin...
Anderson makes it clear there were minor oscillations well before 8:05 and after,, why report them at 8:11,, because they had increased in frequency and magnitude just like the sled test. At 8:11 it was felt in the cabin.... "
Things now begin to make sense. The whole story is now put together and documented. Congrats!
PS: after my post the editor adds: "and NO, the story hasn't changed."
(where have we heard that before!)
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