Ralph should have a good grip on the flight path since he's a pilot, and had access to all the known evidence.

The manager at the Troutdale Airport in 1971, told me 305 did NOT cross over the Troutdale airport, or cross the Columbia at Troutdale ... as Jerry Thomas has claimed. The manager was on duty at Troutdale the whole day of 11-24-71. He did not just make remarks based on memory; he looked up the whole schedule for the airport that day in order to bolster his personal memory. He also talked to others who were at the airport that day. He says he was told by FBI agents and other law enforcement personnel later, in addition to others involved on 11-24-71, that 305 crossed at Portland, on the west side of Portland.

He basically says, "we were monitoring that hijacking that day", and if 305 had been anywhere near here, or if the hijacker had supposedly landed anywhere near here, we would have known about that, and "We were never notified of anything and we would have been notified if that happened". Period!   

R2 says a Troutdale crossing "never happened". That fits with TK's position after talking to R2.

Historically, a "20miles east of V23" theory begins with money being found at Tina's Bar and Hydrologist Bradley's report. I would not be surprised to find out that Himmelsbach felt forced to this position, because of the Tina Bar find and the hydrologist's report. Because basically, if he is lacking concrete flight path information but he now has a hydrologist's report possibly connecting Tina's Bar with the Washougal, Himmelsbach may have felt he had no choice but to try and connect the Washougal with the 305 flight path. All it would take would be BR saying: 'Im not sure where we were but I think we were east of V23', and that could result in an east-path theory. The 20miles east theory 'is' a hydrological theory, not an avionics-mechanical theory supported by actual flight data. flight.

In order to get to the Washougal you must travel '20 miles east of' V23! Then the hydrologist's report connections with the 'flight path'! Consistency is important in public matters!

 

How much of this could be true from Carr if everyone agree's the jump was at 8:13?

"the original search area, then the original dropzone was calculated wrong.

Therefore, it stands to reason that the crew felt oscillations at 8:12 and the pressure bump a few minutes later. The second officer stated the last contact they had with Cooper was 8:05 and it was 5 to 10 minutes after that they felt the pressure change. I also don't think a trained air crew would mix up terms, an oscillation would be just that and a pressure change would be called a pressure change or bump.

I think where things went wrong was during the testing. For some reason we were not to re-create oscillations only the pressure bump. At this point the terms must have been combined and believed to be one and the same."

A later entry:

"He jumps and the pressure bump is felt by the crew, but not at 8:11 more around 8:15 to 8:20. The bag of money Cooper tied to him is instantly ripped from his waist as he tumbles. Cooper, not expecting the forces of the jump, desperately tries to pull the handle but he can't find it, panics and no pulls."

What type of FDR did 305 have? Wire or foil?

Where did it go for analysis? Some say Washington.

Where is the transcript summary of the FDR data - who has that?

 

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What type of FDR did 305 have? Wire or foil?

Where did it go for analysis? Some say Washington.

Where is the transcript summary of the FDR data - who has that?

 

This video shows a Model FA-542 flight data recorder which was in an Eastern BOEING 727-100, N8168G,
FLIGHT 9701 that hit the landing lights at the end of the runway. it uses foil to record.

The Eastern incident occurred Dec 21, 1971. the video is an example, and not from Eastern.

They should have taken the cartridge out and kept it.!!

Interview notes -

Any chance the black box could have been changed on 305 without alerting Cooper, during the long delay while re-fueling at SEA, before take off? Wally says it was a wire type, not a foil type.

This might be it....



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Quote

Any chance the black box could have been changed on 305 without alerting Cooper, during the long delay while on the ground at SEA, before take off?

What would be the reason for changing it? I don't know if it can be accessed from the outside.

well the reason would be to insert a type of FDR that is longer duration and has more data inputs for a more detailed calibration of any and all events that may be going to occur during this hijacking, not the least of which is any data that may help calibrate when Cooper jumps  - that is the reason I would have considered this. They stalled the refueling for hours! The opportunity may have existed?

Wally says it was a wire type which conflicts with the Snowmman-377 conclusion that it was probably was a foil type of shorter duration with fewer data inputs. Wally says: "yes" when asked if the 305 black box measured "cabin pressure"! That should identify the bump to the second. With a time-position reference that defines the area where Cooper should be on the ground. Wally is virtually saying: we know exactly where and when Cooper bailed ... as I read his remarks. He is saying part of the information came from the black box in use on the plane.

The interview is of course from WSHM material ..
     
If Wally is correct, the time of Cooper bailing with respect to cabin pressures is known. All that is left is position and that should be available through cross reference to cockpit and ATC voice recording!

It's time vs. position. How you get to that, if Wally is correct, is FDR, radar, and voice cockpit and ATC recording. The three data sets define time vs. position. The cabin pressure data from the FDR is crucial, if Wally is correct.

It sounds to me like they were dead-certain they had Cooper's position. Wally even notes: *That is one of the reasons there was never a reward offered! Wally even adds: "They always picked them up within about ... the longest any of them went was, I believe was 48 hours.  They thought they had Cooper's drop point nailed!

[edit] This also explains why they rushed to do a recreation asap. They wanted or needed a data set for comparison. This is a story of data sets. (reminds me of the movie "Longitude")