Part 4, page 14

Transcript

The scan is the source; the transcript is machine-generated from it.

[LEFT COLUMN] COOPER: I don't want to disappoint you or your idea [of] Efrem Zimbalist, but they are wrong. He had as much in the brains department as they do in the money department. I'd be in jail right now instead of talking to you. While we're on the subject, I wish somebody would ask that Milnes character just how much money he's spending to chase my ass. I bet it's a pretty penny, over $200,000. ANON: How do you know his name? COOPER: I read the papers just like everyone else. Afterall, I'm in them. ANON: Can you tell us what the first thing you did [after] landing? COOPER: Sure. I buried my chute. ANON: Were you in wooded terrain? COOPER: Yep, an evergreen jungle. ANON: How far were you from where you wanted to be? COOPER: In the neighborhood of five miles. Not too shabby for a first try. ANON: How did you get so close? COOPER: Only two of my projected calculations were off. They weren't important as it turned out. Second, I have a very good Japanese watch. ANON: So? COOPER: Multiply time by speed and you come up with distance. I knew how fast we were going-afterall I told the pilot what speed to go-what vector we were traveling on, and, at least approximately, what the winds were. A man doesn't necessarily need a computer. ANON: How did you get from your landing spot to [here]? Isn't the terrain between Seattle and Reno pretty inaccessible? COOPER: Some is. Some isn't. ANON: You don't want to tell us any more. COOPER: Right. ANON: Can I ask you whether you had an accomplice on the ground? COOPER: Sure, you can ask. ANON: But you won't say? COOPER: Right. I don't intend to give you any information that might incriminate me. ANON: I understand. COOPER: You're getting warmer and let's, at my request, skip the subject.

[MIDDLE COLUMN] COOPER: No [joking/doubt], the [Boeing] 727 [was my first choice]. [It was the] first Boeing 727-100 standard transport that was first flown by Eastern Airlines way back in 1964. ANON: A nice ironic touch. COOPER: Yeah, one of many. ANON: ...So you got to know the 727 from the inside out. What attracted you to the plane as being ideal for a parachute skyjack? COOPER: First of all, the alignment of the three Pratt & Whitney engines-two on the sides of the rear fuselage and the third at the base of the T-tail assembly. I also liked the down-flaps stalling speed. One hundred and nine miles per hour, to be exact. Risky, but jumpable. Then I figured in the small crew; three on the flight deck and the three stewardesses. Two central galleys and the wardrobes with two crappers to the rear. I figured those might come in handy as a place to hold a stewie hostage. As it turned out, I was right. I can even tell you the number of passenger seats, right down to the last piece of lint. ANON: Go ahead. COOPER: Ninety-four. 28 first-class seats, four abreast. Sixty-six tourist seats, six abreast. ANON: What about your exit? COOPER: I was getting to that. The ventral door on [the 727...]

[RIGHT COLUMN - partially illegible at outer edge] COOPER: [I] figured everything down to [the] stairway. It was [a] chute from it[.] [A] hydraulically-operated number, and has automatic reversion to manual control. You might say that, in skyjacking, it's the little things that count. ANON: Let's interrupt the chronology for a minute and talk about motivation. Why did you do it? Of course, there was the $200,000, but what else impelled you? COOPER: I've read the papers, watched television, all of that. I've read that I'm a non-hero, a pop hero, an anti-hero, and a plain old hero hero. The Ordinary Guy who beat the system and became the instant idol of every stiff on unemployment from Vancouver to Tijuana. I've been called a jet-age Jesse James and the Robin Hood of the air. Some of that drivel makes me laugh-and some of it makes me sick, to be frank with you. I want to tell you right now, and put it in capital letters. I did it for the money, true, BUT I ALSO DID IT BECAUSE IT WAS FUN. There is a thrill in being the first to do the impossible. Ask Armstrong. ANON: How do you feel about the backlash of your hijack, the lives that were lost when people tried to copy your modus operandi? COOPER: Well, for one thing, I was personally responsible for the stiffening of airline security. I say [mo... text continues beyond visible area]

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[Boeing 727 diagram labels, reading left to right] forward entry door galley Stewardesses held Cooper's seat aft entry door Stewardesses ventral stair exit