Part 5, page 2

Transcript

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

a wristwatch, with a clunky leather band, as I remember. Hell, you've seen one stew, you've seen 'em all. ANON: What did you do while you were waiting for the money and chutes. COOPER: I watched, waited, and smoked. Oh, and I prayed to high heaven they didn't call my bluff. All I could have done was give them a shave. Seems like I smoked a couple packs of Raleighs too. If the FBI was going to make a move it would have been at Sea-Tac. Everybody but the stew with me and the three-man crew was clear of the aircraft. I buzzed the cockpit and asked the captain what the hell was the holdup. He said they were having trouble with the vapor lock, and that another truck was coming. I said, "OK, but remember, one truck at a time." Eventually five trucks came out, but only three of them were able to deliver. At this juncture, I came awfully close to blowing my cool. I went forward to the cockpit. ANON: You were in the cockpit? COOPER: Affirmative. In point of fact, I was there twice while the ship was on the ground, both times flashing my "bomb", of course. ANON: Do you recall what you told the captain? COOPER: The last time, I do. I said, "It's takeoff time. Take me to Mexico." ANON: What was the Captain's reaction? COOPER: About the same as if I had said, "Take me to Katmandu". He looked at me as if I were totally insane. He said he could try Medford, Red Bluff or Reno, all on Vector 23. My response was negative. He then suggested San Francisco; I told him no, very emphatically. I said, "I want the flaps at 15 percent and the gear down, I also want the ventral staircase down when you take off." He gave me a negative on the stairs. He said, not too gently as I recall, "Goddamnit, I can't rotate for departure—lift the nose and rotate with those stairs down." He also told me that he couldn't make Mexico with the flaps and gear down, but that he would compute the fuel consumption and shoot for Reno. I was glad he got my idea all by himself. I told him affirmative, to head south. Then I slammed the cockpit door and went back to the tourist compartment with the stew. According to my watch, we got airborne at 7:40 p.m., four hours and 42 minutes since leaving Portland. Like I said, I have a very good watch. ANON: Speaking of Portland...Shortly after takeoff you handed your skyjack note to one of the stewardesses... COOPER: Yes. The brunette, and she thought I was trying to proposition her...In a way, she was right. ANON: You were very careful about retrieving that note, about not leaving it—or anything else—behind as evidence. Could you tell us what the note said? COOPER: Word for word. It said, "I am hijacking [illegible]..."

---

Courtesy of Vancouver Columbian

The Search: "The FBI was wrong"

---

way to Cuba. I began to realize that if I didn't hurry up and do it, I was going to go dingy. ANON: It sounds like a Jerry Lewis movie. Have you heard that song about you? COOPER: Yes. And I still hear it in my sleep. I think it should be number one on the shit parade. It stinks. ANON: D.B. Cooper...Is that your real name? COOPER: Of course not! ANON: There was another passenger on Flight 305 named Cooper. Was that your inspiration or what? COOPER: I stuck a pin in a Seattle phone book. You can look it up if you like. There is a D.B. Cooper listed. ANON: We'd like to know something about the parachutes that were delivered to you aboard the jet. Were they to your liking? COOPER: Negative. Somebody was playing games there. The backpack harness did not have the necessary D-rings for attaching the chestpacks. They were some sort of emergency rigs for acrobatic flying, I guess. So I just said to hell with it, I'd have to jump without a reserve. ANON: Everyone assumed you asked for two parachutes so they wouldn't give you one with a note that said crime doesn't pay in it, not knowing whether you were going to force somebody, like the stewardess maybe, to bail out with you. What did you do with the extra parachute? COOPER: I made a special point of not leaving it behind in the cabin. I cut it up into strips and used the strips to tie the money bag to my waist, very securely. Next question. ANON: You've told us something about the jump, about working the escape door and plunging out into the darkness. How did you bail out without tipping off the crew? COOPER: (tape garbled briefly here.) ...took the stewardess forward, and ordered the captain to lock the door from the inside. I checked it out. It was locked. I returned aft, closing the first-class and tourist compartment curtains securely behind me. [illegible] is to have a complete airplane [illegible]

---

[illegible/clipped] playing hero? Uh-uh. He did try to humor me with a steady line of chatter on the passenger P.A. And he was a smoothie. ANON: What did he say? COOPER: He kept saying that a smart hijacker would land in San Francisco, things like that. Jesus, I almost thought he was in my corner. It didn't take much of that to piss me. I told him to knock it off, that his monologue was beginning to bug me and that if I got too bugged my bomb was liable to go off. Then I said, as I remember,

---

"I'll be back in five years..."

---

"Now hear me, this is your skyjacker speaking. Nobody, under any circumstances, is to attempt to make any further contact with me. Is that understood?" The [crew] understood. ANON: It was at that time that you leaped clear with the $200,000? COOPER: Well, sometime after that. ANON: One final thing, Mr. Cooper. You've [got] $200,000, a national reputation, you've been first [to do] something you've wanted to do. That's awkward [but] you know what I mean...what now? COOPER: I'm going to retire. Tonight, I am lea[ving] for parts unknown. ANON: You aren't going to fly, are you? COOPER: What do you think? ANON: Don't know, to tell the truth. COOPER: Good. Loose lips sink ships. I've let m[y mouth] flap far too freely. It's very hard to keep a stor[y straight]...