'Hijacker Hunt Near Woodland' by Dick Clever

FD-350 (Rev. 7-16-63)

(Mount Clipping in Space Below)

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Hijacker Hunt Near Woodland

BY DICK CLEVER

The search for the skydiving hijacker of a Northwest Airlines 727 jetliner was narrowed yesterday to a five-mile corridor in upper Clark County, sources said.

Meanwhile, The Post-Intelligencer learned that one of the two parachutes apparently used by the hijacker who escaped with $200,000 ransom was a non-functional training chute.

Linn Emrick, of Sky Sports, Inc., said he supplied the two chest pack parachutes that were put onto the plane Wednesday at Seattle-Tacoma Airport.

The hijacker, known as "D. B. Cooper" to the FBI, had demanded the money and parachutes before releasing the 36 passengers and two stewardesses. He commandeered the plane on a flight from Portland to Seattle.

Passengers and crewmen described the hijacker as in his mid-forties, with dark hair, about 6-feet-1, 175 pounds, wearing a black business suit and dark glasses. They said he was "very cool."

Along with the two chestpack chutes from Sky Sports, located in Issaquah, the hijacker was provided with two backpack chutes by Norman Hayden, of Renton Aviation.

The parachutes were obtained by Northwest Airlines officials, who also got $200,000 in cash from several Seattle banks Wednesday afternoon.

Clark County Undersheriff Tom McDowell said the FBI was searching a five-mile corridor a few miles southeast of Woodland, where a command post has been established.

McDowell said the area pinpointed for the search was based on information given the FBI by Northwest Airlines. Another source was more specific. He said authorities believe the hijacker bailed out of the low-flying 727 at 8:13 p.m., a little over a half an hour after taking off from Sea-Tac.

The area outlined for a full-scale ground and air search, which begins this morning, is described as "wooded and rugged."

The hijacker boarded the plane in Portland. When the jetliner was airborne, he showed a stewardess a briefcase containing two red cylinders and wires and said he would blow up the plane unless his demands were met.

Departing from Sea-Tac Wednesday night after a tense, two-hour fueling operation, the airliner flew south along what aviation authorities describe as a standard "Victor 23" route over Portland, the Willamette Valley, Eugene, Klamath Falls and finally turned southeast toward Reno, Nev.

When the plane taxied to a stop in Reno, the hijacker, the money, the briefcase, and two parachutes were gone.

Emrick said the missing chestpack chute would not have functioned had the hijacker been forced to use it.

"I didn't know that when I went over and picked it out," he said.

Emrick said the canopy of the chute had been sewn shut and the parachute was

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(Indicate page, name of newspaper, city and state.)

p. Al Seattle Post- Intelligencer Seattle, Wash.

Date: 11/26/71 Edition: Final Author: Dick Clever Editor: Dick Lyall Title: UNSUB;Northwest Airlines, Flight 305, Portland to Seattle Character: 11/24/71 or CAA-HIJACKING;EXT Classification: 164-ol Submitting Office: Seattle

☐ Being Investigated

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COPY SENT TO BUREAU

SEARCHED ......... FILED ......... [illegible] 1971 FBI—SEATTLE

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DB Cooper-22462

—P-I Photo by Tom Brownell LINN EMRICK OF SEATTLE SKY SPORTS, INC. Held front-pack parachute of type given hijacker

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gency use in aerobatic flying. They do not have at- tachments for chestpacks. Authorities were unable to explain the absence of the unusable chestpack. But Seattle area parachutists said it was unlikely the hi- jacker would have needed it. Cossey also said the back- pack chutes he made six months ago had never been unpacked and the hijacker was the first to use them. He said he was confident his chute "worked fine." Northwest Airlines and Federal Aviation Adminis- tration officials maintained silence on developments in the hijack case, saying only that the FBI has ordered the lid on all sources of in- formation but itself. But the FBI was doing little talking. Captain Bill Scott, the pi- lot of the airliner, and the remainder of his crew were flown to Minneapolis yester- day for a late, but no doubt meaningful, Thanksgiving with their families. A Northwest Airlines spokesman in Minneapolis, headquarters for the line, said the crew would be in- terviewed by FBI investiga- tors sometime today. Nei- ther the airline nor the crew would make any pub- lic statements until cleared by the FBI, the spokesman said. Law enforcement authori- ties believe the hijacker was a man with a thorough knowledge of aviation, and parachuting and that he had plotted his daring scheme carefully in advance. The hijacker's choice of a 727 was a wise one, Boeing officials said, since the rear exit is behind and under the engines. It was also reasoned by some authorities that the hijacker asked for more than one parachute in order to create the impression he would force a stewardess to jump with him. Thus, au- thorities would provide properly packed—and un-

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for ground practice only. However, it was also learned by The P-I that the type of backpack chute sup- plied to the hijacker would not accommodate a chest- pack parachute. Emrick explained that in order to be able to use his chestpacks, the jumper must have two "D-rings" on the backpack harness to which the chestpack can be attached. The backpacks, obtained from Renton Aviation did not have these "D-rings." Earl Cossey, 30, of Seattle, who made the backpack chutes, confirmed this. Cossey said he made the special chutes for emer-

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DB Cooper-22463

tampered-with chutes. The hijacker knew enough to order the plane down with lowered flaps and land- ing gear with the rear door open. The effect of this was to hold the plane to its low- est possible cruising speed —about 200 m.p.h. The hi- jacker also ordered the pilot to remain below 10,000 feet, a height at which a man is still able to breath fairly easily. Seattle-parachutists, dis- cussing the hijacker's feat,

are agreed that it is entire- ly feasible. Cossey, who made the chute upon which the hi- jacker's life would depend, expressed in fact, some ad- miration for the skydiving robber. But he and other chutists expressed doubts that the hijacker could have held anything in his hands dur- ing the jump. "He would have had to tuck the money someplace or he would lose it," Cossey said. The chutist also said the hijacker could "free-fall" for as long as 40 seconds if he had jumped from an alti- tude of 10,000 feet. "But it's awfully hard to judge altitude at night," he said, adding, "I would think he would want to open the chute soon after he jumps." FBI agents last night still were unable to identify the hijacker. An agent in Port- land said "D. B. Cooper" was the name the man used when he bought his ticket, "but he's probably no more D. B. Cooper than I am." (A Michael Cooper from Missoula was one of the 36 passengers interviewed briefly by the FBI at Seat- tle-Tacoma Airport after the plane landed.) Several Portland area persons active in parachut- ing activities there were questioned by FBI agents but were unable to offer clues to the hijacker's iden- tity. The area of Clark County now being searched by the FBI with the aid of deputies from Clark and Cowlitz counties is the area where the pilot last talked with the hijacker. "If he's in the area, we'll dig him out of the wood- work somehow," an FBI spokesman said. Or, as Undersheriff Mc- Dowell put it: "We're either looking for a parachute or a hole in the ground."

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DB Cooper-22464