Part 16, page 296
DB Cooper-4622Serials MO 164-34
Document date 10 December 1971
FBI 164-81, Vault Part 16 p. 296 (DB Cooper-4622), Report, dated 10 Dec 1971 — cooper.theunsolved.net/parts/Cooper-Part-16/pages/296
Transcript
The scan is the source; the transcript is machine-generated from it.
MO 164-34 GRM/mb 1
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The following investigation was conducted by SA [REDACTED] on December 1, 1971:
Major [REDACTED] Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, advised he is acquainted with sport parachutists and skydiving activities in the northwestern section of the United States.
The U. S. Parachute Association has divided the country up into about seven regions with a total membership of about 25,000 to 30,000 people.
He further indicated that he firmly believed that if this had been a skydiver who committed the hijacking, the skydiver would not have come from the Northwest section of the United States. He believed that since most skydivers know each other in a section of the country, this would preclude it being an individual from that section of the country.
Major [REDACTED] advised the jump from 10,000 feet in bad weather is not a great physical feat and there would be no problem in jumping at that altitude in bad weather. He advised that an individual would not need jump boots and stated that he, himself, has skydived with tennis shoes on.
At this time Major [REDACTED] was shown an artist con- ception of an individual, allegedly the hijacker of Northwest Air Lines Flight 305, and he indicated he did not know anybody in his section of the country who fit this description. Major [REDACTED] further stated that whoever set up the hijacking operation in this case knew quite a lot about airplanes. He further indicated that probably the reason behind the four parachutes given to the hijacker was that the hijacker wanted to test the good faith of the people on the ground inasmuch as a skydiver would be able to tell whether or not parachutes were operable. He further indicated that if two parachutes were left behind in the aircraft, the hijacker could have dropped one 'chute and activated it as a decoy to ward off any trailing air- craft, and then could have bailed out after the decoy 'chute was dropped.
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164:81 - 13/3 SEARCHED ......INDEXED SERIALIZED /MR [guess: FILED] [REDACTED] DEC 10, 1971 FBI - SEATTLE [initials]
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DB Cooper-4622