Part 53, page 140

Transcript

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

As it turned out, the weather was such that the military jets would have been hard pressed to see a chutist jump.

Cossey said it appeared to him that the hijacker was unfamiliar with the various types of non-military para- chutes available. So were Northwest Airlines official. They obtained two back- pack chutes from Renton

---

Aviation, chutes used by aerobatic flyers. The chutes do not accommodate chest- pack "reserve" chutes. Furthermore the aerobatic chutes open immediately after the rip cord is pulled, not in stages, as do the types used by skydivers to ease the shock.

Cossey believes that the hijacker "got quite a shock" when he leaped from the 727 at 200 miles per hour and opened the back- pack chute provided to him by Renton Aviation.

Cossey should know. He is an experienced chutist him- self and he personally packed three of the chutes the hijacker was given. The fourth was a "dummy" chestpack chute used by Sky Sports for ground train- ing.

Thus it is believed that the hijacker may be an ex- paratrooper or former Army Ranger, experienced in the hard realities of com- bat and survival.

The FBI refused to say whether it is investigating persons with criminal records who may have served as paratroopers or may have had military par- achuting experience.

"We're just not comment- ing on that kind of detail," an agent in Portland said.

The hijacker had to be re- sourceful. He had asked for the money in a knapsack.

---

THE FBI in Portland, Ore., yesterday released this art- ist's conception of the sus- pected skyjacker who par- achuted Wednesday eve- ning from a Northwest Airlines 727 jetliner after collecting $200,000 in ran- som in Seattle. — (UPI Photo.)

---

sure as hell won't leave the parachute around for us to find," said one deputy.

When he jumped, the hi- jacker leaped into history and into the imaginations of millions. Even some depu- ties engaged in the search have expressed admiration for their quarry.

The Little Man, the aver- age Joe who only lives such high adventure in day dreams, seems to have adopted the mysterious sky- diving hijacker as some sort of hero.

"Boy, he really pulled one off, didn't he?" is a typical comment.

Eyes gleam, a chuckle rises in the throat, and then average Joe dreams of what it would be like to make a clean getaway with $200,000 of the "system's" money with nobody getting hurt but the system.

But law officers and air- line officials are gravely troubled. They see a danger in the glorification of this kind of swashbuckling air pirate. This time nobody was physically hurt, they admit. But what about next time?

Authorities agree that, in- deed, it was a dashing, dar- ing crime. But, they point out, the man who did it is a criminal and must pay the penalty.

And pay he will, if they catch him.

---

Instead he received it in a cloth sack that he would have to find a way to bind to him during the jump.

Law officers are continu- ing to search an area of Clark County where it is be- lieved the hijacker could have made his jump. But they are not optimistic about finding the hijacker, or his parachute.

"If he was smart enough to plan it out this far he