Citizen letter to FBI Portland enclosing personal theory on D.B. Cooper's hijacking and jump

[guess: 7D] - 1 - 1857 SEARCHED _____ IN SERIALIZED _____ FI

DEC 0 2 1981

[guess: FBI PORTLAND]

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DB Cooper-43370

The Successful episode of D.B.Cooper.

How he pulled off the job and why the F.B.I. Haven,t Found him.

To Understand the D.B. Cooper case it is necessary build a p profile of his character.

First He had to be either extremely Stupid or very inteligent. Only an extremely stupid person would attempt to parachute out of a plane at night, over wooded country without knowing his exact location, which would be unlikely with a stupid person. Yet that is exactly what many people, including the News Media and according [guess: to] them the F.B.I.

To further eliminate the Studidity issue,let us examine why I have eliminated that possibility, At, one time I was willing to accept the version as published in the papers, figuring that the F.B.I. knew details that were not published.

On Feb 10, 1981 when the $5800.00 was found along the Columbia river it was practically proof positive that Cooper was still alive and had escaped with the money. It was reported at that time that there was a rubber band around the money when found but that it had broken off when the money was picked up. There is no way that a rubber band would have lasted over nin e years, even if burried. It is also unlikely that there would be just 5800 dollars in a bundle. there would have been an even amount for easy countability

Cooper apparently planted that money thereto further enhance the opinion that he had jumped in that area and was dead. he furthermore devised this scheme to make it easier for him to spend the money, here is what he planned. He planted this bundle in the sand on the windward side of a small dune. knowing that when a good wind came up it would uncover the sand on that side (in the meantime the ruber band would have been

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rotted away. Hopefully the wind would have peeled off these bills, one at a time and scatterd th[guess: em] along the river bank, in the water and in the bushes. He hoped that fishermen would find the bills one at a time, and not realizing the source, put them in his po[cket] pocket and later spend them. Figuring that if[f] enough of the money showed up that the F.B.I. would stop,looking, assuming that it was scattered all over, Coopers only mistake was that he miscalculated so the ruber band was still on, not enough sand had been blown away so the bundle was still intact.

Now lets go on the assumption that Cooper was very intelligent. Here is my Profile of his characteristics.

Cooper worked either for an Airline, the military or for Boeing. He was very well aquainted with the 727. He knew all the flight characteristics, that the rear door could be opened in flight, and how to do it. He also knew if his activities would affect the trim and how to compensate.

He was himself an accomplish[ed] pilot, he was an instrument pilot or at least had considerable instrument training, especially with OMNI Navigation. He had considerable experience flying over Oregon and Northern California. Knowing in detail the terrain and exact location of all populated areas, open large fields and all the OMNI (vortac) stations.

He was an experienced parachute jumperPossibly in the military, a smoke Jumper but more likely a private parachute club.

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DB Cooper-43372

Cooper had at least two accomplaces. "A" got on the 727 earlier. Maybe at Portland of a[guess: got] an earlier stop (if any). He was one of the first passengers to get on board so few if any would notice that he had a piece of Carry on luggage which he put under he seat. He was one of the last to get off at Seattle, so that in the confusion no one would notice that he had "Forgot" his luggage. In this luggage there was a pair of jump boots, a specially made jump suit with, pockets, hooks etc to carry Coopers equipment anda sport parachute. The chutes Cooper asked for were just decoys. one of which was thrown overboard in a wooded area somewhere along the line. On the first place he would not have trusted any chute that was furnished and in the second place a sport [guess: schute] is much more manouverable than a standard shute. Also there was a portable OMNI receiver, a flashlite, an al[guess: timeter] and maybe a small comp ass to use if he missed his target, also a small walkie talkie. Some of these items may have been in the case [guess: where] cooper diplayed his supposed [guess: y] "Bomb"

Here is how they plan was ca[guess: rried] out. After negotiation in Seattle Cooper told the pilot where he wanted to go, how high and how fast to fly and what route to take, such as V23, Cooper knew just where this route would lead. Soon [illegible] after the plane was airborn he opened the rear door, let out an antenna for his OMNI receiver and started to moniter the flight. With his OMNI set he could tell exactly if the plane was on the correct path. By monitoring and keeping track of the time from one OMNI station to another he knew the exact speed. With the OMNI indicator he knew exactly when each Vortac station was passed over. If the plane was to one side or the other he could tell exactly how far by recording the time from one angle bearing to another.

DB Cooper-43373

He had previously picked out a landing site. It was an area a short distance past an OMNI station, where there was open land, no close houses or near any busy roads and where there was a road his [guess: accomplice] "B" would be waiting. B, had a flashlite a walkie talkie to match Coopers, a compass and a direction finder on his walkie talkie in case Cooper was off target, so they c could get together quickly. He was sp[guess: otted] in the area directly below Coopers selected jumping site.

There are several places that fit Cooper requirements. [guess: One] is on a course approximately 140 degrees from the Red Bluff Calif. Vortac Stattion. When he got past the previous station he turned to 115.[guess: 2] megacycles and watched the Omni indicator. when the needle switched from "TO" to "FROM" he timed the time it would take the plane over the selected landing site. At exactly the prec[guess: ise] second he jumped, and if all calculation were correct he would be directly over his [guess: accomplace]. At this [guess: time] he would signal on his walkie talkie, "B, would then give a flashlite signal and he could float down exactly on target. If He were off a ways he could direct his sport shute to the spot. If he was too far off they could still use the fl[guess: ash]lite to keep track of each other Still further away they could use the walkie talkie and "B"[guess: s] direction finder.As each person was very familiar with this t[guess: err]itory they would have no trouble spotting his location precisely.

ANOther importan[guess: t] detail. Cooper was in no immediate need of money so he could afford to hide the money and wait.

Coopers reason for doing this. He had some imagined or [guess: real] grievance with someone, probably[guess: s] an[guess: d] official[guess: s] in the Airline and wanted to get even. Maybe he just wanted to show how smart he was.

[REDACTED] Watsonville Ca [REDACTED] Nov 25 1981.

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Federal Bureau of Investigation. Portland Oreg

Dear Sirs:

Enclosed is a copy of my own analysis of the D.B. Cooper case. I sent the Original to Universal Picntures in their search for Cooper Contest. Perhaps my profile of Coopers characterisics can be of some use to you in finding the rest of the money. You can expext that he will be trying some other gimmic to make the money spendable.

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Yours truly [REDACTED] Ph. [REDACTED]

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[handwritten] 16 [guess: pa] -- [guess: art] -- 1858 SEARCHED _____ INDEXED SERIALIZED _____ [guess: C] [guess: E] 0 2 1981 [guess: FBI — PD]

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DB Cooper-43375