Part 54, page 79

Transcript

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

Linn Emrick, a Sky Sports [guess: employee] supplied the emergency, or chest, par- achutes turned over to the hijacker.

According to both, Cossey and Em- rick, the hijacker could not have at- tached the reserve parachute to the main parachute harness.

Emrick said he accidentally gave of- ficials seeking the parachutes one good emergency chute and one practice chute which was sewed shut. The defective chute was missing from the aircraft when it landed in Reno 3½ hours after leaving Seattle.

Parachute experts in Seattle said it would have been difficult for the hi- jacker to jump encumbered by the $200,000 and the briefcase allegedly containing an explosive device a stew- ardess described.

Cossey said there was no way the hi- jacker could have held anything in his hands since jumping at that speed would throw him out of control.

However, the jump could have been made safely since the 727 is the only commercial airliner with a tail door which would permit a jumper to miss both engines and the tail section.

After the plane left Seattle, it flew south over Portland, Eugene and Med- ford, then to Red Bluff, Calif., where it turned east toward Reno.

A Northwest Airlines official said the slow flight was burning so much fuel it was initially believed it would have to land at Medford.

The FBI described the hijacker as "in his mid-40s," about 6-feet, 1 in[guess: ch], 175 pounds, dark hair and a slim build. He wore a black suit and dark glasses.

In Seattle, FBI officials said a com- posite drawing of the hijacker may be available Friday.

And in Las Vegas, an FBI source said the airliner had been dusted for fingerprints Thursday and they were en route to FBI headquarters in Wash- ington, D.C., for possible identification.