FD-350 clipping (duplicate copy): 'Alive or dead, skyjack pioneer came but loser' (The Sunday Oregonian Forum)
Document date 14 November 1976
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Id: Cooper-Part-54:182-185
Subject: Cooper Files: Cooper-Part-54:182-185 Document: FD-350 clipping (duplicate copy): 'Alive or dead, skyjack pioneer came but loser' (The Sunday Oregonian Forum) Id: Cooper-Part-54:182-185 Page: https://cooper.theunsolved.net/documents/Cooper-Part-54%3A182-185 What is wrong (title, date, type, which pages belong together, copies)? What does the scan show?
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FBI 164-81, Vault Part 54 pp. 182–185 (DB Cooper-23111–23113), News clipping, dated 14 Nov 1976 — cooper.theunsolved.net/documents/Cooper-Part-54%3A182-185
(Indicate page, [guess: name] of newspaper, city and [guess: state].)
p.E1 The Sunday Oregon[illegible] [guess: ian] Forum Portland, Or
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Date: 11/14/76 Edition: Author: Leverett Richards Editor: Title:
Character: 164-81 or Classification: Submitting Office
☐ Being Investigated
164-81 Sub B
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164-81 Sub B SEARCHED [illegible] INDEXED [illegible] SERIALIZED [illegible] FILED [illegible] NOV 1 9 1976
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[illegible]
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DB Cooper-23111
FD-350 (Rev. 7-16-63)
(Mount Clipping in Space Below)
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Alive or dead, skyjack 'pioneer' ca
By LEVERETT RICHARDS of The Oregonian staff
ON THANKSGIVING EVE five years ago, a man who said his name was Dan Cooper boarded Northwest Airline's flight 305 at Portland bound for Seattle. He displayed a "bomb," demanded and got $200,000 in $20 bills, then bailed out through the rear stair door of the Boeing 727 at 8:10 p.m. near La Center, Wash., with the money.
Cooper, erroneously described in the press and radio at the time as "D.B. Cooper," was hailed in some quarters as a folk hero who "beat the system" and got away with a small fortune. Some acclaimed him as a Robin Hood who had committed the perfect crime. Part of the folk lore is that Cooper will be "home safe" Nov. 24, 1976 when the five-year statute of limitations expires.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation doesn't see it that way at all.
The FBI agents believe Cooper was a bungling amateur; they think he is almost certainly dead.
And if he or any accomplices have survived, they are still wanted men. There is no statute of limitations for them — ever, says Ralph Himmelsbach, veteran FBI agent who has lived with the Cooper case for the past five years, literally day and night.
"We are continuing our investigation unabated," said Himmelsbach. "We don't intend to give up. I still give a substantial portion of my time to checking out leads. We still get several tips every week. We pledged at the outset to investigate any information we received from the public...
"We have checked more than 1,000, maybe several thousand, reports altogether. We have checked a long list of missing persons. And after five years we still don't know if there ever was a Dan Cooper. We have no more information on his identity today than we had five years ago."
The FBI bases its rejection of the statute of limitations on three major assumptions: There is no statute of limitations in capital crimes and air piracy or aerial hijacking was a crime punishable by death in November 1971 and still is.
There is no statute of limitations protecting fugitives from justice, according to a recent ruling of the Ninth Circuit Court in a similar case. Since Cooper has not turned himself in he is assumed to be a fugitive, if he is still alive. The same rule applies to his accomplices, if any. Himmelsbach explained.
Seizure of the aircraft with its 35 passengers and crew of six could be considered kidnapping, a crime also exempt from the statute of limitations [text cut off]
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and Oxford type street shoes. He had no hat or goggles.
"Parachute experts tell us his shoes would have been snapped off his feet when he stepped out into a 196-mile-an-hour slipstream; his eyes would have been blasted by the force of the wind and he probably would have tumbled out of control. He would have landed in his stocking feet, blinded by the slipstream, and the raging storm.
"With that 28-foot canopy he would have descended 28 miles an hour vertically. Add a 30 to 55 mile-an-hour wind and he would have hit at a speed of 50 to 70 miles an hour. The experts say it is inconceivable that he could have escaped serious injury or instant death — even assuming his parachute opened."
How does the FBI know Cooper bailed out near La Center and landed somewhere along the Lewis River? The two Air Defense Command F106 jet interceptors which followed the 727 through the overcast that dark, stormy night, saw nothing. There was no radio transmitter on the parachutes delivered to the hijacker, which would have permitted pursuers to follow his trajectory as he bailed out.
But the FBI, with the aid of Northwest Airlines reconstructed the whole hijacking six weeks after the crime.
"The first week in January, 1972, we flew a Northwest 727 exactly like flight 305 over the same route with the same load, the same power settings, the same flap settings, same use of landing gear, from Seattle south. We had William Rataczak, first officer on the hijacked plane, at the controls," Himmelsbach said.
"Over the Lewis River, 35 miles north of Portland, the rear stairway was lowered and a 235-pound sled [guess: dropped] off while a chase plane photographed its trajectory as it parachuted to the ground.
"As the load left the stairway it retracted to within eight inches of closing, then dropped back down. The result was a marked fluctuation in the cabin air pressure which caused the crews' ears to pop and registered a rapid change in the rate of pressurization on instruments in the cockpit.
"Rataczak said: 'That's just the way it was at 8:10 p.m. Nov. 24.' Only the crew didn't know what it meant then. They didn't know he had bailed out until they landed at Reno and found the plane empty."
The same rapid fluctuations in air pressure were noted in three bailouts from 727 airliners in the next few months, before the FAA ordered all rear doors rigged so they could not be opened in flight.
"There has not been a successful hijacking in the US since," Himmelsbach emphasized. "And none of the hijackers who succeeded in bailing out got away with the money. All were quickly caught and the money recovered."
DB Cooper-23112
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EDITORIALS - LETTERS - SPECIAL ARTICLES - BOOKS
The Sunday Oregonian
FORUM
PORTLAND, OREGON, NOVEMBER 14, 1976 - PAGE 1, SECTION E
The re-enactment of the hijacking was conducted in fair weather. But engineers fed into their computers estimated delays in opening the parachute, known speed of descent, wind velocity and direction and came up with an area 6 ½ miles long and 4 miles wide. The FBI assumes Cooper landed somewhere within this "target area," which barely includes Lake Merwin [guess: and] its northeast corner.
Cooper couldn't have chose[n] [text cut off]
"investigate any information we re- ceived from the people....[illegible]... "We have checked more than 1,000, maybe several thousand, reports alto- gether. We have checked a long list of missing persons. And after five years we still don't know if there ever was a Dan Cooper. We have no more informa- tion on his identity today than we had five years ago."
The FBI bases its rejection of the statute of limitations on three major assumptions: There is no statute of limi- tations in capital crimes and air piracy or aerial hijacking was a crime punish- able by death in November 1971 and still is.
There is no statute of limitations protecting fugitives from justice, ac- cording to a recent ruling of the Ninth Circuit Court in a similar case. Since Cooper has not turned himself in he is assumed to be a fugitive, if he is still alive. The same rule applies to his ac- complices, if any, Himmelsbach ex- plained.
Seizure of the aircraft with its 36 passengers and crew of six could be considered kidnaping, a crime also ex- empt from the statute of limitations where injury or death is involved.
"Personally, after five years of in- tensive investigation I lean to the con- clusion that Cooper was killed when he jumped from the plane or died soon af- ter landing. That makes it a capital crime. If he had any accomplices, which is not indicated by any evidence so far, they would be equally guilty."
To back up his conclusions, Him- melsbach for the first time, told the detailed story of the hijacking:
"Cooper was given four para- chutes," Himmelsbach said. "He cut the shroud lines on one of the best para- chutes and used them to tie the 10,000 $20 bills to his belt in a bag before he bailed out.
"He left behind the two best para- chutes — a sky diver parachute with a 32-foot canopy and a chest pack de- signed primarily for use as a second parachute.
"He wore a pilot's seat pack para- chute with a 28-foot canopy. He also took with him a chest pack parachute used for training. It was unusable. The panels were sewn together. If it had been usable he could not have attached it to his parachute harness, which had no D rings for use with a chest pack. No one who knew anything about para- chutes would have made this many mis- takes.
"He also either took with him or threw out the bag in which he claimed to be carrying a bomb."
Himmelsbach declined to describe the device in detail, for security rea- sons. But it was earlier described as a crude, unsophisticated device apparent- ly consisting of highway flares and a battery.
He left no fingerprints in the plane, but did leave a couple of items which the FBI is not revealing because they could help identify the hijacker or con- found any of the expected phony fame seekers who may claim to be Cooper when they think the statute of limita- tions has expired.
"Cooper could not have known where he was when he jumped," Him- melsbach said. "He did not know the exact route of flight or the altitude. The plane was on instruments in the higher of two layers of clouds all the way from Seattle to the vicinity of La Center.
"There was a radio marker beacon in the general area, but it was out of service. The hijacker could not have seen the ground and could not have de- termined his position by any kind of radio receiver, if he had one, which we don't know for sure. There was no way he could have known within miles of where he was.
"It was a stormy night, with freez- ing rain at his altitude and winds gust- ing from 25 to 45 knots at Portland International Airport, maybe stronger along the Lewis River where he bailed out. He was dressed in a business suit
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dropped off while a chase plane photo- graphed its trajectory as it parachuted to the ground.
"As the load left the stairway it re- tracted to within eight inches of clos- ing, then dropped back down. The re- suit was a marked fluctuation in the cabin air pressure which caused the crews' ears to pop and registered a rap- id change in the rate of pressurization on instruments in the cockpit.
"Rataczak said: That's just the way it was at 8:10 p.m. Nov. 24.' Only the crew didn't know what it meant then. They didn't know he had bailed out until they landed at Reno and found the plane empty."
The same rapid fluctuations in air pressure were noted in three bailouts from 727 airliners in the next few months, before the FAA ordered all rear doors rigged so they could not be opened in flight.
"There has not been a successful hijacking in the U.S since," Himmels- bach emphasized. "And none of the hi- jackers who succeeded in bailing out got away with the money. All were quickly caught and the money recov- ered."
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EDITORIALS - LETTERS - SPECIAL ARTICLES - BOOKS
The Sunday Oregonian
FORUM
PORTLAND, OREGON, NOVEMBER 14, 1976 - PAGE 1, SECTION E
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The re-enactment of the hijacking was conducted in fair weather. But en- gineers fed into their computers es- timated delays in opening the para- chute, known speed of descent, wind velocity and direction and came up with
an area 6 1/2 miles long and 4 mile wide. The FBI assumes Cooper landed somewhere within this "target area," which barely includes Lake Merwin in its northeast corner.
Cooper couldn't have chosen
[guess: some] [illegible] to [guess: ease] the use of [illegible] out than [illegible] form for those in the lowest income [illegible] [guess: senior] change in 1976 tax for[illegible]
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DB Cooper-23113
[...partially cut off] worse night for a bailout clouds covered Oregon [...]ton, one with bases at [...]other from 3,300 feet u[p] and more over Portlan[d] gusting from 25 to 45 k[nots] [I]nternational Airport.
Lelooska, Indian art[ist] Ariel, Wash., was driv[ing] the Lewis River about [re]ported the wind and rai[n] the car so hard that he [...]road to wait for a break [in the weather].
Himmelsbach, an ex[pert] took off from Portlan[d] Airport in a National G[uard] as the hijacked plane pas[sed].
"We were going to the 727," Himmelsbach [said]. [The] air was so rough and th[e] that we were called bac[k] past downtown Portland[.]
The next day, Himm[elsbach] holds a commercial pil[ot's license] almost the entire route [of] plane in his own airplan[e] by an experienced Civil [Air Patrol] server.
"We flew directly where we later estimate[d] ed, but there is hardly a [land]ing even a parachute dense woods and brush t[hat covers most] of the area."
About 200 officers a[nd] 3d Armored Cavalry fr[om Fort Lewis] equipped with five searched the target area in mid-March, poking and blackberry patches farm buildings.
They found the body [of a] girl. They found some p[ur-] ples, orange and green weather balloons — bo[th] valid clue to the missing [hijack]er's parachute was all white.
"It is impossible to per cent effective search area," Himmelsbach sa[id]. [...]acres and acres of blackberries so unique as to be impenetrable and some of the terrain is too steep to be searched on foot. A man could fall into one of those blackberry patches and just disappear. We would have to burn out the under- brush or cut it out by hand to conduct a thorough search."
"I have never thought Cooper went into the lake. From all I've seen I lean to the hypothesis that he landed in the dense woods either dead or mortally hurt. It could be years before he is found. Planes have disappeared in that kind of terrain and been missing for 10 years or more."
When Capt. William Scott, Flight Engineer K. E. Anderson, and First Offi- cer Rataczak landed the 727 at Reno with the rear stair door still dragging, [...]oy and Tina Mucklow, stewardess, found the cabin empty except for one [...]
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[...] of other criminals, Himmelsbach points out.
The Federal Aviation Administra- tion reports five possible hijackings or other crimes against civil aviation were prevented by the security system in the first six months of 1976 and 2,840 fire- arms and seven explosive or incendiary devices were seized and 422 persons arrested.
P.S. If by some miracle Cooper should escape the FBI, he would still be wanted by the IRS. The Portland office of the Internal Revenue Service esti- mates Cooper would owe $217,523 on his $200,000 loot in taxes and penalties for failure to file and failure to pay. A possible civil penalty could raise that figure another $60,000 — all of which goes to show that crime doesn't pay, the IRS says.
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[...]of Atlantic City and Ocean City acres of vegetable gardens in rural counties. 372. It went 2-to-1 for Richard [...]nd by a similar margin for its [...]ative Re- [...]harles W. [...] Jr. 974, Nixon a and Char- man — one tiehard de- during the Judiciary [...]ee's im- [...]at proceed- [...]ad lost his [...]at to a 42- [...]Democrat- r named William J. Hughes. It
ly Republican district was described by the Almanac of American Politics as "one of the two biggest upsets in House races" in the entire country.
The Almanac forecast that Evans' district "will be one of the toughest seats in the country for the Democrats to hold," noting that "numerous ambi- tious young Indianapolis-area Republi- cans undoubtedly see this as the district that could elect them to Congress for years."
The winner of the Republican nomi- nation in that district turned out to be David G. Crane, with credentials as a lawyer and a physician, and a polished speaker besides. As might be expected of the younger brother of Rep. Philip M. Crane, R-Ill., one of the favorite speak- ers of the conservative circuit, David Crane was generously favored with campaign funds. He also had [...]
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BRODER
Serials: SE 164-81