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As you know, I completely reject the idea of the airliner passing on the east side of Portland.  It just doesn't make any sense for the aircraft to deviate so far from the route to Reno.

Also, the flight crew would NOT, repeat NOT, wait until they were past the Portland VORTAC to determine what they would do next.  There were three pilots in the cockpit that evening.  Anderson may have been acting as the Flight Engineer on that flight, but he was also a pilot.  They probably would have been planning their route at least 30 minutes ahead.  And simplicity itself would be to just fly a straight line from the area of the Mayfield/Malay Intersection to a point south of Portland where they would rejoin V-23.  Pilots who are interested in staying alive plan ahead.

The only "clearance" given to the airliner that evening by ATC was to "do whatever you have to and we will keep people out of your way".  Basically, the airliner had the right of way over all other aircraft that evening with the exception of aircraft experiencing real emergencies (such as fires, running out of fuel, etc.).

Yes, as I expected.  As usual, you give no consideration to the idea that they were placing great importance on getting the guy out of the plane.   That's what he said he wanted.  He was in charge.  What we have available says they were preoccupied/focused on helping him get out.  Had they been able to get him out and be sure of it, they might even have been able to land at PDX.  They didn't want to go to Reno.  Whatever they did near Portland may even have been so because of the possibility of landing there.

R99 should have that. I would have to look it up, but the rendezvous was very near to Lake Oswego south of Portland in the ___?___ time slot.

Talking to and instructing the T33 is the whole reason R2 said: "That is reason I wasn't watching 305 on my screen when it crossed the Columbia to know exactly where it was (east, over, or west of Portland) but my impression is it was right on the center-line of V23 when it crossed the Columbia at Portland". I think, am fairly sure, R99 got the same story from R2 when he talked to him...

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R99 should have that. I would have to look it up, but the rendezvous was very near to Lake Oswego south of Portland in the ___?___ time slot.

It seems likely that 305 might have sped up a bit from Scholl to V23 in order to get in front of the T33, and maybe slowed down a bit near Oswego to facilitate a rendezvous.  The "FBI" plot indicates both of these.

Really gotta go!

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R99 should have that. I would have to look it up, but the rendezvous was very near to Lake Oswego south of Portland in the ___?___ time slot.

It seems likely that 305 might have sped up a bit from Scholl to V23 in order to get in front of the T33, and maybe slowed down a bit near Oswego to facilitate a rendezvous.  The "FBI" plot indicates both of these.

Really gotta go!

Keep in mind that if the airliner had speeded up, Cooper could have noticed.  And he specifically told them to maintain a constant speed.

First, let me point out that I agree that the crew was extremely interested in getting Cooper to jump.  And they were also extremely interested in keeping him calmed down.  So they were doing precisely as he told them to do.  None of this would result in the aircraft making a detour to the east side of Portland.

Himmelsbach states that the T-33 took off to the west and this is supported by the fact that the relatively light ground wind was generally from the southwest.  This means the T-33 would have used runway 28 for the takeoff.  And the T-33 was probably heading to a military practice area which, in view of the terrain, would probably be somewhere west of Portland and maybe over the Pacific.

Refer to Hominid's map in his recent post. Take a look at the four red "x" marks on the west and southwest side of Portland.  There may be more than four of these marks but it is difficult to identify them because of the magenta colors that are on that map.  Someone was plotting points of interest over a distance of more than 10 miles.  Note that there are two sets of two marks each that form a straight line with the Mayfield/Malay Intersection.  Also note that Tina Bar is only about 1000 feet horizontally from these straight lines.  Assuming that the airliner is represented by one of these straight lines, it would rejoin the centerline of V-23 at or very near to the Canby Intersection.

Further, there is a teletypewriter printout in the "FBI notes" that indicates the airliner reported it was "23 DME miles south of Portland", or something like that, and the teletypewriter printout was time stamped (which is the time someone pressed the send button) at 8:22 PM.  While the airliner probably didn't have its tail pointed directly to the Portland VORTAC, it was still traveling away from there at the rate of about 3 DME miles per minute.  This means that the DME counter would only display "23" for about a 20 to 25 second period.

Other information in the "George Harrison Papers" gives various times for that message.  Those times range from 8:18 to 8:22.  The 8:22 time was the time the message was sent by ARINC and it is not known if that was the initial time the message was sent or if this was a redirection of the message to NWA at Portland from somewhere else.

Based on recent discussions with highly knowledgeable people in the communications business, it would probably take some minutes for the people who received the airliner's message on the ground (ARINC) to formulate the message, type it, and then send it.  By contrast, the 8:18 time could be the time someone heard the pilot's radio message on the phone patch from ARINC.  Based on Shutter's simulations and my own analyses, the 8:18 time fits the situation much, much better.

Keep in mind that if the airliner had speeded up, Cooper could have noticed.  And he specifically told them to maintain a constant speed.

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Looking at Hominid's map again, and assuming that the eastern two large red "x"s are points on the airliner's path, and that it flew directly from the Mayfield/Malay Intersection to the Canby Intersection, then the western two large red "x"s are probably points on the T-33's flight path.

In addition to the two eastern red "x"s, there appears to be a third red "x" on that same line and just west of the words "Williamette" and "Caution".  I think I can see both a vertical line and a horizontal line with both of them being partially obscured by the large black line that is supposed to be the airliner's flight path.  Also, I think I can see a sixth red "x" which would be the third red "x" on the western lines and it is located just slightly below the east end of the word "Wilsonville".

Indeed there is that 3rd red "+" on that same longitude.  It's one of the larger ones of the plotted points.  There's another almost as large down by the Willamette River just east of the Wilsonville circle.  A small one mostly hidden by the dark line east of the word "Tualatin."  Another mostly hidden by the dark line just west of where I added "V23" under the thin radial I added.  Another just to the left of the "Control Area" I added in white.  These are all plotted points.  The four you are referencing are mistakes that were crossed out.

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Looking at Hominid's map again, and assuming that the eastern two large red "x"s are points on the airliner's path, and that it flew directly from the Mayfield/Malay Intersection to the Canby Intersection, then the western two large red "x"s are probably points on the T-33's flight path.

In addition to the two eastern red "x"s, there appears to be a third red "x" on that same line and just west of the words "Williamette" and "Caution".  I think I can see both a vertical line and a horizontal line with both of them being partially obscured by the large black line that is supposed to be the airliner's flight path.  Also, I think I can see a sixth red "x" which would be the third red "x" on the western lines and it is located just slightly below the east end of the word "Wilsonville".

Indeed there is that 3rd red "+" on that same longitude.  It's one of the larger ones of the plotted points.  There's another almost as large down by the Willamette River just east of the Wilsonville circle.  A small one mostly hidden by the dark line east of the word "Tualatin."  Another mostly hidden by the dark line just west of where I added "V23" under the thin radial I added.  Another just to the left of the "Control Area" I added in white.  These are all plotted points.  The four you are referencing are mistakes that were crossed out.

The great circle course between the Mayfield/Malay Intersection and the Canby Intersection is 180.14 degrees True, which means with respect to the grid lines or, in this case, the longitude lines.  I don't see anything relevant in your comments above.

Try reading them.  The 4 plot points you're trying to make into T33 flight path WERE PLOTTING MISTAKES that were crossed out.  They were each crossed out with three to four slashes like "///" in the same color as the plot crosses, but lighter.  It appears that there are numerous plot points you're unable to see.   You need to use some kind of software that will enable you to see the detail.