Insert re 727 testing personnel on rear airstair operation in flight
Title revised to match the document’s own text.
Original title: Insert re Boeing 727 testing personnel on rear airstair operation in flight
Document date 2 December 1971
Also filed separately as sections:
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Id: Cooper-Part-110:272-273
Subject: Cooper Files: Cooper-Part-110:272-273 Document: Insert re 727 testing personnel on rear airstair operation in flight Id: Cooper-Part-110:272-273 Page: https://cooper.theunsolved.net/documents/Cooper-Part-110%3A272-273 What is wrong (title, date, type, which pages belong together, copies)? What does the scan show?
A person reads every report. Corrections are made by hand, to the data — titles, dates, names, which pages belong together — never to the scans, and they can take a while to appear.
FBI 164-81, Vault Part 110 pp. 272–273 (DB Cooper-572–573), Report, dated 2 Dec 1971 — cooper.theunsolved.net/documents/Cooper-Part-110%3A272-273
SE 164-81
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On 12/2/71, [REDACTED] [REDACTED], Seattle, Washington, furnished the following information:
He was [REDACTED] testing of this aircraft.
It is physically impossible to make a take-off in the 727 with the rear stairs extended. He explained that if this were attempted the stairs would strike the runway at the point of rotation just prior to liftoff.
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On the 727, the rear stairs cannot be lowered from the pilot's compartment. They can be lowered only from the passenger compartment in the rear of the plane or externally if the plane is on the ground.
[REDACTED] advised that once the operation of the rear stairs has started, there is no way to stop them until they have extended to the full position. On the ground when the rear stairs are extended, the weight of the stairs actually carries them to the full open position. If the stairs are extended in flight, the pressure of the wind keeps them from opening to the full position.
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DB Cooper-572
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- 278 -
SE 164-81
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On several occasions [REDACTED] extended the rear stairs while in flight. This was done at speeds of approximately 150 knots. Opening the rear stairs in flight at speeds at 150 to 170 knots would not suck any items from the passenger cabin. There would be a slight change in pressurization, but this would not remove any papers or cushions from the passenger cabin.
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b6 b7C
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DB Cooper-573
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Serials: SE 164-81