Part 13, page 339

Transcript

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

2.

Ordered to the plane to refuel and prepare for immediate take-off on schedule to Reno. There were official-looking gents all over the place, alot of them FBI men. I imagine. Finally, this courier type guy boarded the plane and gave the small white pouch to the stewardess that I allowed to remain to be the interpreter. Oh, and last but not least the chutes. The dough seemed in order; it only weighed about 20 lbs.

We took off about 7:30. Right on schedule, my schedule. This is where the timing came in. Made the stewardess enter the captain's cockpit. Can you imagine, that fancy dame, when I first handed her the note and declared myself, actually thought I wanted a piece of her instead of the action. She got so she treated me with a little more respect, or should I say, fear. That's the way a man should treat a woman, under him. You give them much quarter and they'll stomp on you.

Well, back to that night. I got what little crew was left, four to be exact, up front. Oh, the instructions given to the crew upon taking off were to leave the flaps down at 15°, unlatch the passenger door, to level off at 7,000 ' and to not exceed 95 knots. They were also told the lattitude-longitude course to take. I had everything [guess: th]ought out, needless to say. I've been around planes before and I've made drops before, plenty of them and not just in Viet Nam. Was a smoke fighter once. And I knew the drop-out area like the palm of my hand. For several weeks I practiced preci- sion dropping at the Orchards Chute Landing Area in SW Washington. And for all you'll ever know I might have had kin or somebody in the area, might I not?

Well, back to the story because this is where the action got fierce. Figured I had 30 to 45 minutes before make the drop. Lots to do. Taking my hunting knife out I slashed up a secondary chute and strapped the money around my waist. Put my long flashlight and K rations about my person. Oh, and I had a 38 revolver which I never had to flash. And then the big job. To check out the main chute. That was awkward but I had been practicing that too trying to cut down my time. I had to rush that a little but that's the chances you take. Defused the dynamite, opened the door and tossed it out. Repacked the main chute, strapped it on my back, put the reserve chute on my chest which I learned afterwards had been sewn shut. That's a laugh. They must

DB Cooper-3202