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Just got an email from a Steve Elliott, a filmmaker in NYC, who says he wants to write a screenplay on McCoy. He and I will be meeting for beers at McSorleys in September when I get into town for my sister's wedding.

Updates to follow.

   
Richard McCoy's is one fascinating story. I hope it doesn't get me thrown in the dungeon for suggesting it, but IMO McCoy's story would make a better screenplay than would D.B. Cooper's.

Why? Firstly, McCoy's story is known pretty much from go to whoa. So there's no need for guess work in joining the dots. Secondly, how many offer such an amazing, yet tragic, story? War hero. Sunday school teacher. Skyjacker. Twice an escapee. Bank robber. Shot dead by the F.B.I. The McCoy story is one with the lot including the fries.

Without a doubt, McCoy's story is compelling. I always wondered if Cooper has stolen the idea for a 727 hijacking from McCoy, and conducted it first! McCoy was quite a talker (blabber-mouth). Maybe Cooper was someone in the background listening to McCoy talking? Several Agents thought McCoy was Cooper. Lastly, many people believe Weber's story has its roots in the fact Jo and Duane lived at Virginia Beach where McCoy was killed and Jo admits they actually used to drive by McCoy's house! Jo claims she didn't know what Duane was talking about when he would drive her by McCoy's house and blabber about "hijackings" ? That sounds a little far-fetched. Agent Calme says McCoy refused to talk about the Cooper hijacking? Agent Carr thought McCoy was the 'model' for what a real hijacker 'would do' ?       
Richard McCoy's is one fascinating story. I hope it doesn't get me thrown in the dungeon for suggesting it, but IMO McCoy's story would make a better screenplay than would D.B. Cooper's.

Why? Firstly, McCoy's story is known pretty much from go to whoa. So there's no need for guess work in joining the dots. Secondly, how many offer such an amazing, yet tragic, story? War hero. Sunday school teacher. Skyjacker. Twice an escapee. Bank robber. Shot dead by the F.B.I. The McCoy story is one with the lot including the fries.

The "Flight From Justice" is suppose to be about Cooper, but 98% of it seems to be about McCoy. I also follow what Carr says about McCoy. he was almost a co-pilot asking for updates frequently. we obviously know McCoy was experienced above average. he also pin pointed his DZ with accuracy. can we say the two are similar? Cooper had a bomb. McCoy had an empty gun, and a fake grenade. he also jumped from a higher altitude. Cooper just said fly to Mexico, giving no specific directions.

It appears Cooper wanted to jump early. this tells me he had no real plan other than getting out of the plane quickly, but it appears the stairs fouled up his first attempt of escape. McCoy had his plan well in advance prior to getting on the plane. can we say that about Cooper? perhaps if he did indeed want out just prior to taking off. personally the only thing in common I see is the plane.

"Some scenario connects the flight path, the bailout, and the money at Tina Bar. Frankly, I don't think this is rocket science. That is the premise R99 is operating on and I think R99 is fundamentally 100% correct."

With my simulator basically showing the path could be flown in the way it's presented. are we going on the assumption of the plane being further west than the map shows. I agree the timing will not change much if the path is moved further west. proving it is another thing. I agree with a lot of Robert99 theories. how do we prove this? in the same sense I believe the timing could be off, and Cooper jumped somewhere near the Columbia possibly entering it, or getting away without the money and only his life. these are the problems that halt everything IMO.

First, thanks to Georger for those remarks.  It should be remembered that Georger and I spent about a year looking over and discussing some beautiful photographs that he generated for the Tina Bar area.  Those photographs could be and were greatly enlarged and they continue to influence my thinking about Tina Bar.

Shutter is correct that the times between the two flight paths is very small.  Less than two minutes if I remember correctly.

Maybe the stars will eventually align and we will have some more accurate information.

Robert99

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I've never understood why the F.B.I. reason the money find at Tena Bar supports what appears to be their long held theory that D.B. Cooper didn't survive his jump.

From what I've read there's just no way possible Bill Rataczak swerved far enough off course for Cooper to have dropped the money directly onto Tena Bar, and all the explanations for it having got there "naturally" seem to be far fetched.

For what it's worth I see the most logical ways for the money to have got to Tena bar as:

1/ Somebody put it there. Whether it was Cooper, an accomplice or someone who just plain found the money elsewhere.

2/ Dr. Leonard Palmer got it wrong regarding the layers in the sand, and a dredge actually deposited the money from somewhere else far closer to the Flight 305 flight path onto Tena Bar.

keep in mind this is if the flight path is correct. we must assume that everything said is correct. we have found out many time this is not always true. lots of different theories, and discussions about the money. I'm currently working on the flight path with a simulator. are you aware the jump time is now considered further south which puts him closer to the columbia, and other surrounding waters?

Rataczak, with the assistance of Scott, and the F.B.I on the radio, were no doubt conducting a chess match with Cooper from different ends of the aircraft, and I'm sure they weren't looking for a nice soft landing spot for him.

Most maps I've seen have the flight path running south, virtually parallel to the Route 5 roadway. It appears Route 5 is about 5 miles across from Tena Bar, and the flight path about another 6 miles across again - but that down near the Columbia River Rataczak vears to his right. But the original jump point was thought to be right up near Green Mountain / Bald Mountain, was it not?

What I'm getting at in all that is it doesn't sound like Flight 305 ever got close enough to Tena Bar for Cooper to have dropped the money directly onto it, or even close to it.

Those are some of the problems for sure. I don't think the drop has to be right on top of Tena Bar. many have believed the money was close by protected over the years, and released once the bag weathered. we have many theories and options here. pin pointing the right one seems to be the hardest. no positive proof of the finding seems to exist if not mistaken. once you fly around the area, you begin to take a different perspective on possible options. I certainly don't have an answer, but I don't believe the money was planted. it doesn't serve a purpose. it doesn't throw the trail off. I just don't know....

Let me see if this works. this is from Sluggo's website....


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Robert99, does he have both transcripts on his site? I don't see the other....

I found them....

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I've never understood why the F.B.I. reason the money find at Tena Bar supports what appears to be their long held theory that D.B. Cooper didn't survive his jump.

From what I've read there's just no way possible Bill Rataczak swerved far enough off course for Cooper to have dropped the money directly onto Tena Bar, and all the explanations for it having got there "naturally" seem to be far fetched.

For what it's worth I see the most logical ways for the money to have got to Tena bar as:

1/ Somebody put it there. Whether it was Cooper, an accomplice or someone who just plain found the money elsewhere.

2/ Dr. Leonard Palmer got it wrong regarding the layers in the sand, and a dredge actually deposited the money from somewhere else far closer to the Flight 305 flight path onto Tena Bar.

keep in mind this is if the flight path is correct. we must assume that everything said is correct. we have found out many time this is not always true. lots of different theories, and discussions about the money. I'm currently working on the flight path with a simulator. are you aware the jump time is now considered further south which puts him closer to the columbia, and other surrounding waters?

Rataczak, with the assistance of Scott, and the F.B.I on the radio, were no doubt conducting a chess match with Cooper from different ends of the aircraft, and I'm sure they weren't looking for a nice soft landing spot for him.

Most maps I've seen have the flight path running south, virtually parallel to the Route 5 roadway. It appears Route 5 is about 5 miles across from Tena Bar, and the flight path about another 6 miles across again - but that down near the Columbia River Rataczak vears to his right. But the original jump point was thought to be right up near Green Mountain / Bald Mountain, was it not?

What I'm getting at in all that is it doesn't sound like Flight 305 ever got close enough to Tena Bar for Cooper to have dropped the money directly onto it, or even close to it.

Take a look at the radio transcript for the time the airliner was in the area controlled by the Seattle Air Traffic Control Center.  There are 19 (repeat 19) redactions indicated in that transcript.  Ever single thing in that transcript that would help to accurately determine the airliner' position at a given time has been removed.  Until those redactions have been made available, the airliner's flight path is debatable.

These transcripts are available online at a number of sites, including Sluggo's web page.

Robert99

Why all the redactions/edits? Is this something the F.B.I. did?

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I've never understood why the F.B.I. reason the money find at Tena Bar supports what appears to be their long held theory that D.B. Cooper didn't survive his jump.

From what I've read there's just no way possible Bill Rataczak swerved far enough off course for Cooper to have dropped the money directly onto Tena Bar, and all the explanations for it having got there "naturally" seem to be far fetched.

For what it's worth I see the most logical ways for the money to have got to Tena bar as:

1/ Somebody put it there. Whether it was Cooper, an accomplice or someone who just plain found the money elsewhere.

2/ Dr. Leonard Palmer got it wrong regarding the layers in the sand, and a dredge actually deposited the money from somewhere else far closer to the Flight 305 flight path onto Tena Bar.

keep in mind this is if the flight path is correct. we must assume that everything said is correct. we have found out many time this is not always true. lots of different theories, and discussions about the money. I'm currently working on the flight path with a simulator. are you aware the jump time is now considered further south which puts him closer to the columbia, and other surrounding waters?

Rataczak, with the assistance of Scott, and the F.B.I on the radio, were no doubt conducting a chess match with Cooper from different ends of the aircraft, and I'm sure they weren't looking for a nice soft landing spot for him.

Most maps I've seen have the flight path running south, virtually parallel to the Route 5 roadway. It appears Route 5 is about 5 miles across from Tena Bar, and the flight path about another 6 miles across again - but that down near the Columbia River Rataczak vears to his right. But the original jump point was thought to be right up near Green Mountain / Bald Mountain, was it not?

What I'm getting at in all that is it doesn't sound like Flight 305 ever got close enough to Tena Bar for Cooper to have dropped the money directly onto it, or even close to it.

Those are some of the problems for sure. I don't think the drop has to be right on top of Tena Bar. many have believed the money was close by protected over the years, and released once the bag weathered. we have many theories and options here. pin pointing the right one seems to be the hardest. no positive proof of the finding seems to exist if not mistaken. once you fly around the area, you begin to take a different perspective on possible options. I certainly don't have an answer, but I don't believe the money was planted. it doesn't serve a purpose. it doesn't throw the trail off. I just don't know....

There is indeed plenty of water down there. Personally, and take into account I've never done a jump in my life, I'd be happier with a chute I could steer. Particularly when all that water is darn cold in late November.

"There is indeed plenty of water down there. Personally, and take into account I've never done a jump in my life, I'd be happier with a chute I could steer. Particularly when all that water is darn cold in late November."

I did a bungee jump from 270 feet for a radio station. does that count 

The video shows a lot of water around there area more likely he jumped from, perhaps even further south. back at the original jump area the odds were drastically lower. if the flight path is off just a couple miles, it's very possible to explain the money. I'm not stating anything as fact, but it certainly opens doors doesn't it? times, and technology were a lot different than today, but then again planes are vanishing without a trace even with advanced technology. human error is also another factor to look at while they were calculating things. then you have missing parts on the transcripts. it's a WTF is really going on here moment. 

I also believe if Cooper wanted to be known to make it the best way to do that is what others have done in the past. that's sending something to the FBI taunting them. why put it in an area where it could have never been found, or taken, and never seen again? a whole different story surrounds what happened once the money was found. it wasn't just turned over to the FBI.

When I first heard about this case my initial thought was Cooper had dropped the money bag during his descent and the money had spilled loose from the bag on its way to the ground. It makes a certain amount of sense when you consider how he jerry-rigged things together with the strings from the surplus parachute - far from ideal.

But the mainstream view has been that Cooper didn't jump anywhere near Tena Bar, and even if he had, how could the 3 bundles of money have been buried so close to each other? Not to mention the absence of Cooper himself, his parachute, briefcase and the lion-share of the remainder of the loot.

The Ingrams said once they'd found the money they kept digging for more - as you would - so it makes me a little wary of the accuracy of their account of exactly where they found the money and how it was arranged. I realize Brian was included in some of the follow-up work decades later, but how much would an 8 year old remember?

I'm aware the Ingrams tried to salvage the money with an obvious view for personal use.