Part 53, page 141
DB Cooper-22479Serials SE 164-81
Document date 27 November 1971
FBI 164-81, Vault Part 53 p. 141 (DB Cooper-22479), News clipping, dated 27 Nov 1971 — cooper.theunsolved.net/parts/Cooper-Part-53/pages/141
Transcript
The scan is the source; the transcript is machine-generated from it.
FD-350 (Rev. 7-16-63)
(Mount Clipping in Space Below)
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Air Force pilots following hijacked jet didn't see jump
Pilots following a hijacked Boeing 727 Wednesday night were unable to see the hijacker parachute from the plane because of cloudy weather and the hijacked jet's low speed.
A McChord Air Force Base spokesman said yesterday that two F-106 jet interceptors from the 318th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron were sent from McChord to trail the Northwest Orient Airlines jet. A T-33 jet trainer on a training mission was diverted to follow the airliner and two Idaho Air National Guard F-102 jet interceptors from Boise also were dispatched.
"It would be extremely difficult to follow a jet flying 165 knots (the estimated speed of the hijacked jet) in an F-106," said Col. Roy King, deputy for operations for the 25th NORAD Region at McChord. He said there were clouds at 10,000 feet, the hijacked jet's altitude, and that the fighter pilots had very little visual contact with the plane, relying mainly on radar.
King said the jet fighters would have had to either fly past the hijacked jet and turn around or make "S" turns behind it.
The "S" turns probably would have taken about two miles on either side of the center line of flight, he said.
"Besides, you probably wouldn't want to get too close to the plane with an erratic character in there," he said.
In the daylight it might have been possible for a pilot to see whether the 727's rear exit ramp was open, King said. At night it would have been impossible, he said.
Two more F-106s from Hamilton Air Force Base, Calif., and an HC-130 rescue plane joined in following the hijacked 727 about 50 miles south of the Oregon-California border. Those pilots also saw nothing, the McChord spokesman said.
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(Indicate page, name of newspaper, city and state.)
p. A4 Seattle Times Seattle, Wash.
Date: 11/27/71 Edition: Sunset Final Author: Editor: Henry McLeod Title: UNSUB;Northwest Airlines, Flight 305, Portland to Seattle Character: 11/24/71 or CAA-HIJACKING;EXT Classification: 164-81 Submitting Office: Seattle
☐ Being Investigated
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COPY SENT TO BUREAU
SEARCHED ......... [illegible] SERIALIZED .........FILED ............
[illegible] 6 1971 FBI—SEATTLE
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DB Cooper-22479