Military vets were everywhere in the 1960s and 70s, plenty of guys who were comfortable with a harness and rip cord.

The big question is the 727 knowledge, and considering the FBI probably investigated Boeing employees and past employees during the original investigation, I would guess Cooper just got lucky with the aft stairs not having a lock.  I know we've had good discussions on it, and at first I thought Cooper had to have intimate knowledge of the 727, now I think otherwise.

So, remove the 727 requisite, and you are left with someone who worked in the chemical industry who had served in the military somewhere between WWII and Vietnam. In WWII, there were 16 million US veterans, of whom at least 20,000 were paratroopers (I can't find exact figures, but 13000 men dropped on d-day, and tens of thousands more dropped in Operation Market Garden. Between the Canadians and the Americans, I would wager you have at least 50k paratroopers. Add in the hundreds of thousands of Army Air Corps vets, and suddenly it doesn't look so unlikely.)

I think the 727 knowledge is more important than generally realized.  The NWA 727 flight between Portland and Seattle had only been started 2 or three months previously.  In 1971, the airline flights and equipment used on those flights between various cities were listed in one big book which was reissued periodically.  Cooper could have checked that book and determined the flights between Portland and Seattle that used 727s.  In some instances, different types of aircraft were used on different days of the week and that would be listed in that information.

When Cooper purchased his ticket in Portland just before boarding, he specifically asked the ticket agent if the aircraft, which had not landed at that moment, was a 727 and was informed that it was.  So Cooper was specifically looking for a 727 aircraft.

And just before take off from Seattle, Cooper and the co-pilot had an argument about taking off with the rear stairs unlocked.  The co-pilot claimed that the aircraft could not take off with the stairs unlocked.  Finally, Cooper told the flight crew to take off with the stairs up and locked and they did.  But immediately after the argument, Cooper told Tina that he knew the aircraft could take off with the stairs unlocked.

While Cooper did have some problems lowering the rear stairs in flight, that does not mean that he was not knowledgeable about the ability of the aircraft to take off with the stairs unlocked.  It only means that he was not familiar with the specifics of lowering the stairs on NWA 727s.

To repeat, Cooper was specifically interested in a 727 for the hijacking and had some very uncommon knowledge about the aircraft's rear stairs.  And there were only a limited number of places to obtain that knowledge in 1971 and earlier.

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Military vets were everywhere in the 1960s and 70s, plenty of guys who were comfortable with a harness and rip cord.

The big question is the 727 knowledge, and considering the FBI probably investigated Boeing employees and past employees during the original investigation, I would guess Cooper just got lucky with the aft stairs not having a lock.  I know we've had good discussions on it, and at first I thought Cooper had to have intimate knowledge of the 727, now I think otherwise.

So, remove the 727 requisite, and you are left with someone who worked in the chemical industry who had served in the military somewhere between WWII and Vietnam. In WWII, there were 16 million US veterans, of whom at least 20,000 were paratroopers (I can't find exact figures, but 13000 men dropped on d-day, and tens of thousands more dropped in Operation Market Garden. Between the Canadians and the Americans, I would wager you have at least 50k paratroopers. Add in the hundreds of thousands of Army Air Corps vets, and suddenly it doesn't look so unlikely.)

I think the 727 knowledge is more important than generally realized.  The NWA 727 flight between Portland and Seattle had only been started 2 or three months previously.  In 1971, the airline flights and equipment used on those flights between various cities were listed in one big book which was reissued periodically.  Cooper could have checked that book and determined the flights between Portland and Seattle that used 727s.  In some instances, different types of aircraft were used on different days of the week and that would be listed in that information.

When Cooper purchased his ticket in Portland just before boarding, he specifically asked the ticket agent if the aircraft, which had not landed at that moment, was a 727 and was informed that it was.  So Cooper was specifically looking for a 727 aircraft.

And just before take off from Seattle, Cooper and the co-pilot had an argument about taking off with the rear stairs unlocked.  The co-pilot claimed that the aircraft could not take off with the stairs unlocked.  Finally, Cooper told the flight crew to take off with the stairs up and locked and they did.  But immediately after the argument, Cooper told Tina that he knew the aircraft could take off with the stairs unlocked.

While Cooper did have some problems lowering the rear stairs in flight, that does not mean that he was not knowledgeable about the ability of the aircraft to take off with the stairs unlocked.  It only means that he was not familiar with the specifics of lowering the stairs on NWA 727s.

To repeat, Cooper was specifically interested in a 727 for the hijacking and had some very uncommon knowledge about the aircraft's rear stairs.  And there were only a limited number of places to obtain that knowledge in 1971 and earlier.

And there were only a limited number of places to obtain that knowledge in 1971 and earlier.

Yes, that's the assumption. An assumption is an assumption.

 

While Cooper did have some problems lowering the rear stairs in flight, that does not mean that he was not knowledgeable about the ability of the aircraft to take off with the stairs unlocked.  It only means that he was not familiar with the specifics of lowering the stairs on NWA 727s.

To repeat, Cooper was specifically interested in a 727 for the hijacking and had some very uncommon knowledge about the aircraft's rear stairs.  And there were only a limited number of places to obtain that knowledge in 1971 and earlier.

"Book smart", but not "Street smart"?  The Cooper suspect may, or may not have had intimate knowledge of the 727's flight characteristics with the aft stairs deployed.  That point is debatable.  The fact that he wasn't familiar with the simple controls to deploy the stairs tells volumes.  He may have read and heard some things about the 727, but not being able to "pull the lever" shows he had very little knowledge and experience in the actual day to day operations of the aircraft.

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While Cooper did have some problems lowering the rear stairs in flight, that does not mean that he was not knowledgeable about the ability of the aircraft to take off with the stairs unlocked.  It only means that he was not familiar with the specifics of lowering the stairs on NWA 727s.

To repeat, Cooper was specifically interested in a 727 for the hijacking and had some very uncommon knowledge about the aircraft's rear stairs.  And there were only a limited number of places to obtain that knowledge in 1971 and earlier.

"Book smart", but not "Street smart"?  The Cooper suspect may, or may not have had intimate knowledge of the 727's flight characteristics with the aft stairs deployed.  That point is debatable.  The fact that he wasn't familiar with the simple controls to deploy the stairs tells volumes.  He may have read and heard some things about the 727, but not being able to "pull the lever" shows he had very little knowledge and experience in the actual day to day operations of the aircraft.

True.  In addition, the 727s that were designed to have the rear stairs lowered in flight may have had a different control panel for those stairs than the one used on NWA 727s.  In fact, that control panel may have differed between the various airlines themselves. 

Robert99   You say: "While Cooper did have some problems lowering the rear stairs in flight, that does not mean that he was not knowledgeable about the ability of the aircraft to take off with the stairs unlocked.  It only means that he was not familiar with the specifics of lowering the stairs on NWA 727s.
To repeat, Cooper was specifically interested in a 727 for the hijacking and had some very uncommon knowledge about the aircraft's rear stairs.  And there were only a limited number of places to obtain that knowledge in 1971 and earlier."

I say:  " Sheridan took a job at Boeing in the "Manuals and Handbooks Group" just to find out all he needed to know about the 727 aftairstairs. He knew that Boeing had demonstrated to the Government that the 727 could take-off and land with the stairs deployed at Moses Lake airport. That information was available to him in the Group he worked in and is why he disagreed with the pilot that it could be done. It did not matter as he knew the stairs could also be deployed while up in the air. A differential pressure across the door probably caused Sheridan to get the assistance of the Flight Attendant and the extra time let the pressure equalize so the Flight Attendant had no problem opening the door."

Bob Sailshaw

Blevins tells a similar story for his suspect! But, Blevins is not Kenny and you are not Sheridan! ?     You have no firsthand data on what these people did or did not do, knew or did not know, et cetera!   

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Robert99   You say: "While Cooper did have some problems lowering the rear stairs in flight, that does not mean that he was not knowledgeable about the ability of the aircraft to take off with the stairs unlocked.  It only means that he was not familiar with the specifics of lowering the stairs on NWA 727s.
To repeat, Cooper was specifically interested in a 727 for the hijacking and had some very uncommon knowledge about the aircraft's rear stairs.  And there were only a limited number of places to obtain that knowledge in 1971 and earlier."

I say:  " Sheridan took a job at Boeing in the "Manuals and Handbooks Group" just to find out all he needed to know about the 727 aftairstairs. He knew that Boeing had demonstrated to the Government that the 727 could take-off and land with the stairs deployed at Moses Lake airport. That information was available to him in the Group he worked in and is why he disagreed with the pilot that it could be done. It did not matter as he knew the stairs could also be deployed while up in the air. A differential pressure across the door probably caused Sheridan to get the assistance of the Flight Attendant and the extra time let the pressure equalize so the Flight Attendant had no problem opening the door."

Bob Sailshaw

If Sheridan was Cooper (and I don't believe he was) and had access to all the Boeing information on the commercial airlines version of the rear stairs, plus the redesign and tests results for the Southeast Asia 727 aircraft, then he should not have had any difficulty lowering the stairs.

The NWA 727 was not pressurized following its take off from Seattle and the rear door of  the pressure hull was open.  The unlocking and opening of the rear stairs would not have any adverse effect on the pressure in the passenger compartment.  In fact, I believe that FBI agents, who were in the last row of seats of the 727 during the FBI drop tests, stated that opening, lowering, and retracting the rear stairs had almost no effect on the air flow in the rear of the cabin.

Perhaps 377 could explain again his experiences in jumping from the rear of DC-9s.

According to Carr who read the files & posted at Dropzone years ago, the agents had papers in their laps and the papers were not affected by air flow in the least.

At no time did the hijacker give explicit instructions to anyone on flight 305 regarding the operation of the stairs and in fact 'his instruction was to have Tina open the stairs for him'! If he's some kind of technical expert on the 727 why is he demanding a crew member who knew how to open the stairs based on her having opened the stairs before do it (anything) for him?

I think we have Rataczak and Scott to some extent to blame for some of this 'miss-reporting'? But their frustration over being hijacked should not be confused with attributions of technical expertise to the hijacker. Then it turns out Tina can't get the stairs open, Cooper starts trying himself, and finally gets it done after minutes of trial and error work?. The record of what actually happened is clear.

Frankly, you are the technical people who seem to be the root of this whole Paradox - not Cooper? Technical experts seem to want Cooper to have been a technical expert too! When in fact he may not have been at all.

   

Okay!  Frankly right back to you, would you label Cooper a skydiving expert if he knew that he had to pull the ripcord in order for the parachute to open?   

Georger:  You say:  " You have no firsthand data on what these people did or did not do, knew or did not know, et cetera!"

I say:   "Georger you are overlooking my month of talking with Sheridan when he lived at my home in Seattle. I do have first hand information about Sheridan from talking with him. He expressed a desire to jump from a 727 aft airstair plane and wanted to know all about the operation of the airstairs from me. I told him to get a job at Boeing in the Manual and Handbooks Group where he could get all the answers he wanted. There was a freeze on hiring at Boeing so I mentioned he could go through a "Manpower Overload Company" and get hired on as a temporary employee. This is what he did and even started the Boeing Skydiving Club (two years before it officially started). Did I know he was planning the Norjak Caper at that time? No and it did not dawn on me until the FBI stopped at my house following Norjak. Then it hit me that he had been planning the caper when at my house (ten years in advance of Norjak). I told the FBI at the time that I knew why they were asking about Sheridan. They admitted that he was one of their suspects in the Norjak case.

Bob Sailshaw