Sailshaw wrote: "FBI cover-up of Hillary Clinton..."

FBI hasn't been doing HC any favors of late. 
Even Trump agrees.

Sheridan's alleged lie about birth dates doesn't prove he was DBC. I do not believe a jury would convict Sheridan on the evidence that has been presented so far. His strikingly blue eye color doesn't match the witness descriptions (brown) and there is no evidence that he used colored contacts.
If I represented him I would move for a pretrial dismissal based on the FBI's spoliation of possibly exculpatory evidence (cig butts) and their failure to properly preserve, control custody, and prevent contamination of other evidence (tie) etc. Failing that I'd bet I could get a jury to acquit. The evidentiary standard for a guilty verdict in a criminal trial is proof beyond a reasonable doubt, NOT preponderance of evidence (the civil standard).
No way could that standard be met with regards to Peterson based on the evidence that has been produced so far.

Sheridan sure had ALL the skills needed, but there is a huge difference between a technically qualified DBC candidate and a person who can be convicted of the NORJACK crimes.

377

Nicky, the three of us have assembled a rough chart of former collaborators and crime-partners. Because you've been on Rackstraw longer, we'd love to run it by you, see if you feel we're on the right track.

I don't want to share the details on the blog -- you up for a quick email?

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[ He probably had coated his fingertips with something and wasn't leaving traceable fingerprints.]

What coating? Duralast?  Duralast-Extra Strength ?    ?

Model airplane glue would probably do just fine.  If you built model airplanes as a youngster prior to 1971, you know that glue gets on your fingers and is difficult to get off.

Cooper getting his original note back from the cockpit probably included concerns about his handwriting being identifiable as well as the note paper being evidence and maybe having his finger prints on it also.

 But overall, Cooper was plainly negligent about leaving evidence behind.

More than that, if Cooper was an engineer, formally trained and savvy about technical/forensic things ... say chemistry, basic science, physics, engineering, and the like ... wouldn't he have had some appreciation for the evolving times he himself was living in? By 1960 the whole world was literally set if not involved in, a world-wide technical Revolution! The Cold War. Sputnik. WWII leading to Korea and Vietnam. Most people's lives were knee deep in the technical revolution breaking with all of the social issues that generated including the whole spat over Vietnam. How could Cooper escape that?

A savvy technical person would have left nothing behind! Unless he was reckless or deaf, dumb, and blind. Or didn't care -   his very hijacking is a concomitant part of the Social Revolution he himself is fostering on Flight 305!   
   

Notice that Cooper is very diligent about removing evidence from this crime. 

This is your original contention, Mr. Rollins.  I cited several examples where this statement can't possibly be true.

 wears sunglasses for most of the flight,

There was a brief time where he did NOT wear his sunglasses.  Some people saw him at that time.  Diligent about maintaining his identity?  I'd think he would have never taken off his sunglasses and would have never allowed anyone to see his eyes and eye color.  Again, it begs the question, just how diligent was he?


retrieves an empty book of matches that Tina discards and puts it in his pocket!  He is going the extra mile to leave no trace. 

Be assured he takes the briefcase with him.

Be assured that I am not assured that this actually happened.


I maintain that Cooper planned this caper for at least a month.  He didn't jump unprepared!  He had everything he needed. 

Think of the problems he could solve with just a roll of duct tape (kept in the paper bag). 

If he had duct tape, I would think he would have used it to seal up the money bag, rather than going to all that trouble of cutting parachute chord and using it to secure the bag.

He could tape his shoes to his legs, tape the briefcase to his chest, and seal off his pant legs and sleeves from the cold and rain.  You have to use your imagination and plan like a man who was intelligent and serious to understand the means Cooper may have used.  Yet, since he had 30 minutes alone in the aft section of the 727, no one realizes how well this man has prepared.  This deception is one of the reasons that after 45 years, no one knows what really happened.  (P.S. He escaped with the money).

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Diligent about everything?  How about the tip he offered Tina?  How about the tie he left behind?  How about the 8 cigarette butts he left behind?  How about not having a clue about how to get the aft stairs to deploy in flight?  That doesn't sound all that diligent to me, not to mention the little buzz he must have had from the cocktails he drank.  I don't think he was as careful and thorough as people believe.  There is a distinct possibility that he was just plain lucky in some instances.  Lady Lucky smiled down on him a couple of times for sure.  His genius, his ability to deceive and outsmart everyone, his label as a folk hero -- well, it's all helped to create the urban legend we know as DB Cooper. 

On the DZ Forum long ago, I remember some discussion about the necessity of being centered, having good center of gravity, on a jump and how important that was to preventing spin on a jump (I do not profess expertise on this topic, however).  If he duct taped the briefcase and shoes to his person -- along with the two parachutes and money bag hanging from his waist -- seems like he'd be really bogged down, unbalanced, without the proper center of gravity -- making the jump more challenging and dangerous than it already was.  I think he chucked the briefcase -- it was bulky and awkward, it had already served its purpose.  It's still out there.  In one piece?  Maybe, maybe not.

If Cooper was a highly trained special ops, creme de la creme, kind of guy -- and I think he was -- then he spent much more than a month preparing.  He spent a whole career honing specialized skills.  He was probably the best of the best at what he did.

Meyer Louie
[/quote]
Diligent about everything?  How about the tip he offered Tina?
This to me just shows that Cooper is not really after the money.  His real motivation is his grudge.  He probably had coated his fingertips with something and wasn't leaving traceable fingerprints.

How about the tie he left behind?  How about the 8 cigarette butts he left behind?
I think the tie was a mistake, he meant to take it with him but probably got caught up in all the other preparations and forgot it.  In 1971, there was no such thing as DNA evidence and electron microscopes in law enforcement, so if neither item could produce fingerprints, he wasn't too concerned.

How about not having a clue about how to get the aft stairs to deploy in flight?  That doesn't sound all that diligent to me, not to mention the little buzz he must have had from the cocktails he drank.  I don't think he was as careful and thorough as people believe.
Larry Carr states that Cooper ordered one drink, a bourbon and soda, and spills half of it.  He doesn't consider that to be a lot of alcohol over the 5 hours Cooper was on the plane.  Cooper obviously knew that the aft stairs could be deployed in flight, but somehow believed they were controlled through the cockpit.  A mistake that didn't hinder his objectives.

I will disagree with you though and say that Cooper was extremely thorough (but not perfect), and his knowledge wasn't infinite.  Luck plays a role in most everything in life, and I can't deny that Dan Cooper had luck on his side on that fateful evening.


Again, my contention is that Cooper is an engineer (per the Citizen Sleuths and their analysis of the metal particles on his tie). 

He also holds at least an instrument rating with a private pilot's license (because of his knowledge of flight operations). 


He knew things the pilots didn't even know!  He knew 10,000 feet, 160 knots, flaps at 30 degrees.  I say that puts him at a potentially high level of knowledge and expertise.  Meyer Louie


I believe he had military training, but probably hadn't made a skydiving attempt in years.  Therefore, he seems informed about skydiving, but certainly doesn't appear to be an expert.
[/quote]

It would be funny if one of the agents was the owner of the tie. taking it off while looking under the seats etc., and then not saying anything 

Responses to Meyer Louie above.

Me: Notice that Cooper is very diligent about removing evidence from this crime. 

Mr Louie: This is your original contention, Mr. Rollins.  I cited several examples where this statement can't possibly be true.

Response, Sure, he's not perfect, but after 45 years nobody even knows who he is.  I guess he did something right!

Me: wears sunglasses for most of the flight,

Mr. Louie: There was a brief time where he did NOT wear his sunglasses.  Some people saw him at that time.  Diligent about maintaining his identity?  I'd think he would have never taken off his sunglasses and would have never allowed anyone to see his eyes and eye color.  Again, it begs the question, just how diligent was he?

Response, It might have looked suspicious in 1971 to wear sunglasses on an overcast day with rain showers onto the plane.  So he didn't don the sunglasses until after he gave Florence the note.  Tina never saw his eyes.


Me: retrieves an empty book of matches that Tina discards and puts it in his pocket!  He is going the extra mile to leave no trace. 

Be assured he takes the briefcase with him.

Mr Louie: Be assured that I am not assured that this actually happened.

Response, It's okay to have an opposing opinion, since there is no evidence to support either premise.


Me: I maintain that Cooper planned this caper for at least a month.  He didn't jump unprepared!  He had everything he needed. 

Think of the problems he could solve with just a roll of duct tape (kept in the paper bag). 

Mr Louie: If he had duct tape, I would think he would have used it to seal up the money bag, rather than going to all that trouble of cutting parachute chord and using it to secure the bag.

Response:  And maybe he did!  He had items in his paper bag and briefcase that he didn't want anyone to know he had.  But while the 727 sat on the ground for almost 2 hours being refueled, he made use of that time and the available material on hand, but without revealing the other items that he had with him.

I guess a lot of this comes down to how you view Dan Cooper.  If you consider him to be dumb and careless, then you see all these issues as pertinent to his character.  However, if you consider him to be an intelligent and inventive individual like I do, you see these "mistakes" that he commits as just small oversights in the overall successful big picture.

Sunglasses

It's not exactly clear when he put them on. Bill Mitchell says that he saw Dan Cooper put on his shades as they crossed the tarmac to board the plane, just as Bill did since the sun was coming out in a classic "sun break" so common to the PNW. This scenario refutes what Florence has supposedly said.

Adding more confusion, Mike Cooper, the other "Cooper"  -remember coming in from Montana - says that he was standing with Tina at the top of the stairs during the brief lay-over at Portland, and Cooper was one of the first to approach the plane to board. Mike says Tina turned him around for reasons that are unclear, but in general framework of: "we're not ready to board passengers just yet." I will clarify that with Mike in the near future, and as to whether Dan Cooper was wearing his sunglasses, and when.

Of course, I could clarify that with Tina, too, but as we all know she has said everything that needs to be said about Norjak, as per Allison Berg and the Nice People at LMNO.

As for Florence and what she saw about sunglasses and when, well, it appears that even the nicest niceness from the Nice People is not nice enough.

Yes, I agree that DB Cooper probably wore a thin, black tie during the skyjacking. I also believe that there is a strong probability that he took it off and left it on the plane. For me, the big issue who is making iron-clad statements about it, and why.

Knowing more about Red Campbell might be useful, since he was in charge of the evidence retrieval in Reno. What kind of guy was he? What was his standing in the Bureau? Respected? Tolerated? Hated? Bill Jensen was supposed to be looking into this a bit because he said he wanted to find the 8 missing cigarette butts, which also falls into Campbell's purview. But I haven't heard a word from Billy.