Robert99 and 377, thank you for your feedback.

I am a ME and while as a pilot understand how to use avionics, I am not that skilled in their design.  DME was used by the 727, as they report their position via a DME distance in the transcripts.  When I first started flying in the early '70's, a local pilot had DME in his single engine plane.  It was quite the talking point, as it was expensive and not many small planes had it at the time.

But as I state, make no mistake, Cooper had something to tell him where to jump.  If he jumped out at Pigeon Springs, I would agree that he jumped blindly, but if you look at the FBI Landing Zone Map, Cooper used the winds aloft data and his drift time to pre-calculate his jump point, so that he drifted towards Merwin Dam and the open fields south and west of the dam.  This is not a blind-luck jump.  Even Ted Mayfield said the man knew what he was doing.

And it's true, hand held NAV/COM's have been available for almost 30 years.  How do they differ from the devices of 1971?  Surely they are smaller, but is there any other basic difference?  How come cell phones work on a plane at the gate or during taxi?  You are still in a metal plane?

I will leave it to you gentlemen to decide how Cooper knew his position, but you will need to be creative and ingenious like Dan Cooper.  As I stated in a previous post, Cooper knows he can't jump on a clear night, as it is a sure recipe for capture.  He has planned for a jump that evades visual contact by the chase planes.  Now tell me how he precisely determines his jump point.  You've got a month or two to devise a system and do trial runs between PDX and SEA.

I believe you are thinking about CB radios in the early 70s and 60s.

Skydiving skyjackers Rob Heady and Richard McCoy landed pretty close to their desired LZ and neither was aided by electronic nav devices. I see absolutely nothing that indicates Cooper had electronic nav assistance. You cant assume it from where you think he landed. That could be pure chance or he might have recognized features on the ground though broken overcast.

NOBODY wants Cooper to have used radios more than I do. I have made dozens of radio jumps using radios near CB frequencies (28 MHz) and VHF and UHF frequencies 144, 440 and 1200 MHz) proving that Cooper could have easily made contact with a ground assistant 60 or more miles away. It's just a bias I have and I see it as such. I admit that there is zero evidence that Cooper used radios for nav or comm. If Cooper had a cheap analog tunable VHF AM receiver (I owned one in 1971 that was pocket sized, cost under $30) he could have listened to comms between the plane and the tower which would have been useful to see if the FBI agents were planning to storm the acft on the ground. As helpful as that wold have been, there is no evidence that Cooper had any means of listening to acft comms.

Cell phone signals are much higher frequency (800 and 1900 MHz) than VOR (approx 112 MHz) and have superior fuselage penetration characteristics. Airliners and military acft would love to get rid of those draggy ext VHF UHF NAV/COM antennas and would take them off if they didn't need them.

Workable DME in a briefcase in 1971? Not a chance.

377

Forget LORAN A or LORAN C. Not practical for briefcase use in 1971. LORAN A operated at about 1800 KHz and LORAN C operated at 100 KHz. Both needed external antennas to be effective.

An ordinary AM transistor radio with a ferrite bar antenna can be used as a crude DF to get bearings on AM radio stations. Since these simple radios lack a DF sense antenna, there is a 180 degree bearing ambiguity but that's not a big deal if you know generally which way the station lies from you. Ordinary Japanese transistor radios were used by MAC SOG jumpers in Vietnam to rendezvous on the ground. A low power beacon operating in the AM broadcast band was carried by one jumper and the others shot bearings on this beacon. Still unsure how they resolved the 180 degree bearing ambiguity. Perhaps if they trekked in the wrong direction they noted a reduction in beacon signal strength and reversed their course.

But why assume Cooper had ANY electronic nav devices? There is zero evidence that he did.

377

How about a shoe phone? it's possible, right?

Don Adams even looks like the sketch.......

Now you're thinking.  Is that a slip-on shoe?

Would you believe....I think it is 

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But don't give us this B.S. that Harold or the Ingrams realised quickly what they had - they didn't! By all accounts they had barely even heard about the Cooper case being new to the State.     

Please publish your interviews with the Ingrams so we may all share in your news?

 

I don't think I'm reaching here on this one.  I'm just looking at a calendar.

Ingram says they found the money in the afternoon on Sunday and the FBI showed up at the site on Tuesday.   Are my dates wrong?  The time between them finding the money and them contacting the FBI -- less than 24 hours -- would seem to qualify as pretty quickly.

You've expressed some skepticism with Dwayne's story.  Now, if you're suggesting he actually found the money sometime before February 10, then I might agree with you.   I know they tried bleaching the money and tried to figure out what to do with it before calling authorities, but unless my dates are wrong, I see that as "hours" not "days".

right - have it your way - YOU WILL ANYWAY.  Let the FBI know! They will amend their files to accommodate your theory of the day -

Uhhhhh ... have you considered your "theory" has implications? But what the hell. Who gives a shit at this point?
I dont..... radios .... gag me with a silver bucket!

Sorry, Georger.  I don't get where you're going with this.  But, I don't have anything to add, so I'm going to drop it.

Again, the actions of the Ingrams during and after the money find do not support the notion that they had fore-knowledge that they were looking for or even knew they had found, Cooper money. Basically all they knew was they had found some old money, perhaps lost at Tina Bar by somebody. Had they not contacted local law enforcement on Monday they might never have even called the FBI, but gone straight to a bank with the money, trying to redeem it, and this money might have been taken and passed through the system without ever being identified as belonging to the Cooper hijacking. In fact, one of the Ingrams has stated that it was the intercession of someone at Harold's workplace that advised Harold to call local law enforcement, that changed everything.. One speculation voiced was that the money might be connected to some area burglary or bank robbery in the past (and there might be a reward). Once Harold called local law enforcement things changed rather quickly, in everyone's understanding. Harold was apparently told that local law enforcement ( The Sheriff's office etc) did not keep serial number lists from area bank robberies and the like - that only the FBI kept such lists! As far as I know, having interviewed some of these people and the Ingrams, the name "Cooper" or "Cooper Hijacking" never came up. The reason for calling the FBI was because only the FBI kept lists of serial numbers et-cetera related to old bank robberies and the like. That was the reason for calling the FBI. So far as I know, nobody had mentioned the Cooper hijacking yet ...

Harold called the FBI straightaway and told them what he had found and where, and gave them several serial numbers off his found bills. The FBI advised Harold they would look into it and was told to call back later. The FBI did not call Harold back. Hearing nothing Harold finally called the FBI back later in the day and I believe it was Himmelsbach who came on the phone with Harold. After some conversation RH asked Harold if he would be willing to bring his findings in in the morning and Harold agreed. (Of course the FBI could have gone to find Harold immediately had they chosen to do that). Instead the FBI waited and Pat and Harold called the FBI back the next morning and confirmed a time to come in at the Federal Building in Portland. One of the Ingrams told me that it was during that conversation on the morning of the day the Ingrams came to the Federal Bldg that Harold was told his money might have some relationship to the Cooper Hijacking. According to a number of people Harold was shocked! The FBI had run the serial numbers Harold provided and a match with ransom money from the Cooper hijacking was certain. Then later that morning a news conference was held at the Federal Building.

Harold was never in a position to know what his found money meant, until he was informed by the FBI. Harold was also advised that the reward in the Cooper case had expired.



       

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But don't give us this B.S. that Harold or the Ingrams realised quickly what they had - they didn't! By all accounts they had barely even heard about the Cooper case being new to the State.     

Please publish your interviews with the Ingrams so we may all share in your news?

 

I don't think I'm reaching here on this one.  I'm just looking at a calendar.

Ingram says they found the money in the afternoon on Sunday and the FBI showed up at the site on Tuesday.   Are my dates wrong?  The time between them finding the money and them contacting the FBI -- less than 24 hours -- would seem to qualify as pretty quickly.

You've expressed some skepticism with Dwayne's story.  Now, if you're suggesting he actually found the money sometime before February 10, then I might agree with you.   I know they tried bleaching the money and tried to figure out what to do with it before calling authorities, but unless my dates are wrong, I see that as "hours" not "days".

right - have it your way - YOU WILL ANYWAY.  Let the FBI know! They will amend their files to accommodate your theory of the day -

Uhhhhh ... have you considered your "theory" has implications? But what the hell. Who gives a shit at this point?
I dont..... radios .... gag me with a silver bucket!

Sorry, Georger.  I don't get where you're going with this.  But, I don't have anything to add, so I'm going to drop it.

Again, the actions of the Ingrams during and after the money find do not support the notion that they had fore-knowledge that they were looking for or even knew they had found, Cooper money. Basically all they knew was they had found some old money, perhaps lost at Tina Bar by somebody. Had they not contacted local law enforcement on Monday they might never have even called the FBI, but gone straight to a bank with the money, trying to redeem it, and this money might have been taken and passed through the system without ever being identified as belonging to the Cooper hijacking. In fact, one of the Ingrams has stated that it was the intercession of someone at Harold's workplace that advised Harold to call local law enforcement, that changed everything.. One speculation voiced was that the money might be connected to some area burglary or bank robbery in the past (and there might be a reward). Once Harold called local law enforcement things changed rather quickly, in everyone's understanding. Harold was apparently told that local law enforcement ( The Sheriff's office etc) did not keep serial number lists from area bank robberies and the like - that only the FBI kept such lists! As far as I know, having interviewed some of these people and the Ingrams, the name "Cooper" or "Cooper Hijacking" never came up. The reason for calling the FBI was because only the FBI kept lists of serial numbers et-cetera related to old bank robberies and the like. That was the reason for calling the FBI. So far as I know, nobody had mentioned the Cooper hijacking yet ...

Harold called the FBI straightaway and told them what he had found and where, and gave them several serial numbers off his found bills. The FBI advised Harold they would look into it and was told to call back later. The FBI did not call Harold back. Hearing nothing Harold finally called the FBI back later in the day and I believe it was Himmelsbach who came on the phone with Harold. After some conversation RH asked Harold if he would be willing to bring his findings in in the morning and Harold agreed. (Of course the FBI could have gone to find Harold immediately had they chosen to do that). Instead the FBI waited and Pat and Harold called the FBI back the next morning and confirmed a time to come in at the Federal Building in Portland. One of the Ingrams told me that it was during that conversation on the morning of the day the Ingrams came to the Federal Bldg that Harold was told his money might have some relationship to the Cooper Hijacking. According to a number of people Harold was shocked! The FBI had run the serial numbers Harold provided and a match with ransom money from the Cooper hijacking was certain. Then later that morning a news conference was held at the Federal Building.

Harold was never in a position to know what his found money meant, until he was informed by the FBI. Harold was also advised that the reward in the Cooper case had expired.
       

Thanks, Georger.

Let's just assume for a moment that Harold's drug dealer did know DB Cooper and a plan was hatched to send the dumb and expendable Ingrams out to Tina Bar, knowingly or unknowingly, to find Cooper money ... that's risky and inevitably somebody gets thrown under the bus ... all to convince the FBI Cooper is dead and get the Feds off Cooper's back forever! ?  A scheme like this could easily have backed up and thrown a drug dealer, his user clients, and Cooper himself into jail on Federal crimes. And in such a scheme Cooper himself wants to remain unknown and untouchable ?

A scheme like that is almost handing DB Cooper to the FBI, inevitably. For one thing, a scheme like that implies that Cooper is still alive directing matters and somewhere in the chain of players. Very likely the FBI would have been all over this convincing various people to give others up. I mean we are talking about a fairly small tightly knit group of conspirators here. It wouldn't take 2 minutes to have all of these people in jail spilling the beans on each other and willing to make deals ... all of which includes the players Pat Ingram, Crystal Ingram, Harold's brother, all of the kids, and all of Ingram's friends! All hatched by DB Cooper in order to convince the FBI he is dead?

And if Cooper is Radkstraw this puts Rackstraw at the level of a moron! 

My five year old grandson could come up with a better plan than that!

Colbert has just painted Cooper as a moron !  What a scheme like that lacks is a "comfort dog" explaining reality to all of the players?  So, where's the dog and what was it's name?