Tom and the Flight Path
In light of the fact that my recollections of Tom's pronouncements on the flight path and the availability of the SAGE transcripts might be off, I reviewed what I actually wrote in my book, which follows. It is also ready to go into the 2nd Edition, as I don't see any reason to change anything. It doesn't mention SAGE specifically, only Tom's belief that the "FBI" flight path is the most probable one to consider.
Chapter 10
Analysis of the flight path, clothing, and weather
The flip side of the parachute examination is: where did Cooper land, even if he died upon impact? The key to answering that question is knowing where was Flight 305 when Cooper exited the plane, and for that we need precise information on the flight path and the time of the jump. Surprisingly these issues are not fully resolved, which begs another question why not? Is it due simply to the turgidity of bureaucracy? Or is there a cover-up?
Tom Kaye, the leader of the Citizen Sleuth team, attempted to clarify these issues at the 2011 Symposium using never-before released FBI documents, including radar maps, which he said had provided 100% coverage of the landing zones. Kaye said the maps he consulted were an amalgam of radar transcripts from McChord Air Base in Tacoma and the FAA’s Seattle Center, but he did not display any of the original data. He also stated that these advanced radar systems would have cost about $70 billion in today’s money.
In addition, Kaye accepted the claim that elk hunter Carroll Hicks found Flight 305’s instructional placard for deploying the airstairs near Silver Lake, Washington, and thus places 305 smack dab in V-23. Kaye also acknowledged that the placard most likely drifted about 2.5 miles eastward in the wind, but said it was still within V-23.
Graphically, the flight pathway that Kaye presented appears to be a zig-zag, generally heading southward, but why 305 didn't fly a straight line is unknown. Nonetheless, Kaye said that after Silver Lake, 305 then passed over nearby Toledo, Pigeon Springs, Ariel, Highland and Battleground, Washington, finally crossing the Columbia in the western Portland metro area.
Kaye accepted the general assumption that Cooper jumped somewhere near Battleground and drifted northeast to Ariel, but he challenged the conventional wisdom on the type of landscape within LZ-A. For years most people assumed that Cooper landed in a dense and dangerous forest, but Kaye reviewed topographical maps of the area and found there were very few sections that would be considered heavily forested or “wilderness” at the time of the skyjacking. “There were no ‘death woods’ in 1971,” he declared, characterizing the landing area as a mix of trees, hills and farm fields, and filled with light from homes and developed areas. In fact, Kaye described LZ-A as decent spot to land because it was a benign agricultural area. Kaye added that there would be a lot of ambient light from the houses, stores, and street lights in the area, all of which would have bounced off of the clouds as well.
“There was no snow,” he stated, casting further doubt on the FBI's decision to suspend the initial ground search. Earlier in the symposium, Geoffrey Gray had shown FBI documents claiming the LZ had too much snow and the ground search needed to be postponed until April.
Additionally, Kaye delivered more details on the cloud cover, saying two cloud layers existed—one of “broken clouds” at 3,000 feet, and a second “overcast” condition of at least 85% cloud cover at 5,000 feet. Hence, Kaye said that Cooper could not see the ground from an elevation of 10,000 feet, nor could anyone on the ground see Cooper bail.
As for flying east of Victor 23 over the Washougal, as espoused by Himmelsbach and Rataczak, Kaye said that he had not found any credible evidence to support this assertion. In addition, Kaye rejected the hypothesis that the money floated down to Tina Bar. “There was no natural means to move the money to Tina Bar,” he said, stunning the Portland audience. He also suggested that the money was delivered to the beach by human hands.
Kaye speculated that Cooper had landed successfully and walked out of the LZ. Then, he postulated, Cooper met some guy and paid him for a ride to Portland Airport using a few bundles of ransom money. Afterwards, Kaye posited, the driver buried the money at Tina Bar out of a pique of guilt and fear.
However, few audience members believed Kaye then or now, and the issue of how the money got to Tina Bar remains wide open.
