Placard update .I have done 3 tests so far. I first let the placard just drift and the next card I put a spin on it. The spin always goes straight down. Why wouldn't there be a chance of this happening 5 miles west?
Just remember that the entire air mass was moving to the northeast even if your tests suggest that the placard was descending straight down with respect to that air mass.
I'm going on record again as stating that this (the placard find location) is a very critical clue regarding the flight path. Frankly, I am amazed at how the placard find has been completely overlooked for decades. I can only attribute this to the fact that a year later the money was found and the Palmer Report was issued which got everyone thinking Washougal. Essentially the placard find got left in the dust.
Well no more.
The placard was found 0.8 statute miles SW of the FBI's flight path. In other words, into the wind. This inconvenient fact makes the FBI's flight path impossible.
I discussed this with 377 yesterday and he stated there is no possible way for the placard to fall into the wind. He stated that with a steerable parachute the most a parachutist can overcome is a 5 knot breeze. Anything beyond that you will always land downwind. Something like a placard, which possesses no rudder or controls, will always land downwind. Again this is according to 377.
377 added, if the placard find location is accurate, this establishes that the flight path is off by several miles. My extrapolation of R99's very conservative numbers and estimates, per Tom Kaye's request, puts the drift at 7-8 NM to the NE. I do not think that it is a coincidence that this flight path would put the jet slightly west of Tena Bar.
