Parachute is not D.B. Cooper's

Not D.B. Cooper's Parachute, AP Photo/Kevin P. Casey

Back to searching rural Washington and Oregon! The FBI has confirmed that the parachute found in a Clark County, Wash., field is not infamous hijacker D.B. Cooper's. Parachute experts, as well as Earl Cossey, the man who packed the parachute given to Cooper the night of the hijacking, determined the recently discovered was not Cooper's. FBI spokesperson Robbie Burroughs crushed our mystery-loving hopes by saying, "From the best we could learn from the people we spoke to, it just didn't look like it was the right kind of parachute in any way."

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By Abbey in News on April 2, 2008 11:37 AM

Comments [rss]

Grandpapack

Department of Defense parachutes did not become eligible for sale as surplus until at least sixteen years from the year of purchase. The earliest date that a 1946 parachute could be purchased by a civilian was 1962 (nine years before the Cooper jump). Earl Cossey recollected that he acquired the Cooper chute "in the sixties". Cossey's comment that the found canopy was from an earlier era than the Cooper jump might indicate fading memory after 37 years; so we can only hope that he really can recognize his own parachute.

brappy

The date on the parachute says 1946. I really doubt that in November 1971, someone would be using a parachute that was made 25 years prior. This was the golden age of military surplus and newer parachutes could be found easily, I'm sure.

Why that never seemed to be a point in the story confused me.

@abbey - The photo is scary in general.

Troy Morris

Obviously, this is the most realistic re-inactment of the D.B. Cooper case since "Without a Paddle."

Abbey

i think its a poorly staged fbi/ap photo.

why they did it in a hanger/parking garage beats the heck out of me!

Kim Ruehl

her face is all "bitch, please. that ain't d.b. cooper's." also, how/why did the parachute fall in a parking garage? i don't understand so many things about that photo.