Interview of Skylark Airport witness re man asking about jet parachute jumps (copy)
Interviewed 1 December 1971Transcribed 3 December 1971
Also filed at: Part 17 pp. 282–284 · Part 55 pp. 96–98 · Part 55 pp. 125–127 · Part 64 pp. 389–391
Copies may differ in what was redacted.
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Id: Cooper-Part-17:300-302
Subject: Cooper Files: Cooper-Part-17:300-302 Document: FD-302 interview of Skylark Airport witness re man asking about jet parachute jumps (copy) Id: Cooper-Part-17:300-302 Page: https://cooper.theunsolved.net/documents/Cooper-Part-17%3A300-302 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 17 pp. 300–302 (DB Cooper-5130–5132), FD-302 interview, interviewed 1 Dec 1971 — cooper.theunsolved.net/documents/Cooper-Part-17%3A300-302
FD-302 (Rev. 21-27-70)
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
Date of transcription 12/3/71
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[REDACTED] California, was interviewed at the Skylark Airport at Elsinore, California, and furnished the following information:
Upon hearing the newscasts and reading the papers concerning the skyjacking of a commercial aircraft in Seattle, Washington, on November 24, 1971, and upon seeing an artists conception of the individual who perpetrated this crime. [REDACTED] advised he believes he talked to a man who closely resembles the subject during July or August 1971. Based upon his conversation with this individual he strongly suspects the man may be the person connected with this crime.
[REDACTED] recalled that he talked to this man for approximately ten to fifteen minutes concerning different aspects of parachute jumping and during this conversation the man asked several unusual questions, such as how would one go about jumping out of jets. [REDACTED] specifically recalls telling the man it could be done if the door of the aircraft opened inward or if it had a rear stairwell that could be raised and lowered. The man appeared interested and they discussed this further, to the point where air speed and drag was talked about. The fact was brought up that full flaps and lowered landing gear would supply the drag needed to exit from a jet.
The man also asked [REDACTED] where jump centers were located in the northwest. [REDACTED] told him about three locations in the State of Washington, one by the Boeing Air Field in Seattle, one on the Washington side of the Columbia River, just north of Portland, Oregon, and the other center inbetween. The man was apparently interested, but did not right down the names or locations of those centers mentioned by [REDACTED].
[REDACTED] stated it was his opinion that a person contemplating a skyjacking of a commercial aircraft would ask questions such as those purposed. He recalled at the time these questions were asked he thought it was strange as nobody else has ever purposed such questions to him.
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Interviewed on 12/1/71 at Elsinore, California File # Los Angeles 164-497
SA EDWARD A. ROMANOFF/clp 12/2/71 by Date dictated
This document contains neither recommendations nor conclusions of the FBI. It is the property of the FBI and is loaned to your agency; it and its contents are not to be distributed outside your agency.
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DB Cooper-5130
2 LA 164-497
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In addition, they discussed altitude of jumps, but [REDACTED] who was thinking in terms of altitude records, answered in terms, implying world record altitudes, oxygen supply, time and distance of free fall.
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[REDACTED] also recalled the individual rather vividly in his mind because he wore "Cochrane" boots. He explained that Cochrane boots are peculiar to military jumpers and are not worn by teams, clubs, sport or novice. He stated that serious jumpers wear a French boot and first time jumpers have gone with street shoes, tennis shoes, sandals and even barefooted, but the Cochrane boots were noticable because they are not used by too many people.
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He also stated he believed the man may have jumped on several occasions at the Elsinore center. If he did, there would be a registration card on file with [REDACTED] Elsinore Paricenter, Inc. He advised that each person that jumps must fill out a registration card before jumping, regardless of how much prior experience the person has had elsewhere. These cards are maintained at Elsinore Paricenter. On succeeding jumps, the cards are referred to if the individual is not known, and a receipt for jump tickets is given to the jumper with no name or further recording of the jump being made. An individual with prior experience and a license issued by the United States Parachute Association (USPA) would have the USPA license number written on the registration card.
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[REDACTED] advised that USPA records are maintained at USPA Headquarters, care of Post Office Box 109, Monterey, California. The USPA Headquarters are on Canary Row, Monterey. He pointed out that licenses issued by the USPA necessitate that the applicant furnish a photograph of himself to USPA Headquarters before the license is issued He was not sure if a copy of the photograph was maintained in USPA files. He noted that licenses must be renewed each year.
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[REDACTED] was unable to recall the name of the man he talked to and was not sure if the man mentioned his name. He estimates that there have been some 8,000 to 10,000 jumpers at Elsinore since June 1971, the majority repeat jumpers who
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DB Cooper-5131
3 LA 164-497
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have made as many as six to eight jumps in a day.
[REDACTED] furnished the following as the description of the person who he talked to during July or August 1971:
Race White Sex Male Complexion Light Age 40 to 42 Height 6' to 6' 1" in boots Weight 165 to 175 Build Slim Hair Dark brown, thin on top, reseding both sides, front combed back, parted on left.
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b6 b7c
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3
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DB Cooper-5132
Serials: LA 164-497