You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

Yup. Extensively. The accounts of the interviews are widespread. He got pulled out of a grocery store, as his shift ended just as the skyjacking began.

However, there is uncertainty about whether Dan Cooper signed his ticket, or the agent, Dennis Lysne did. Most feel that Lysne signed the tix, not Coop. But Colbert is leading the charge otherwise...

For more details see SKYJACK, NORJAK, and other books on Cooper.

Contrary to Bruce's statement above, there is no uncertainty whatsoever that Dan Cooper DID NOT sign the ticket.  In the 1971 era, the ticket agent did all the writing on the ticket although he did ask Cooper for his name.

Well, there you go again, Bruce.  R99 is correct.  I offered to try to find Lysne a long time to confirm the signature, but I, and others, discovered that Lysne had passed away, and there was no uncertainty that Lysne had signed the ticket.  Colbert conjures up fake news to get media attention, he seems not to care about the truth.

I wouldnt be a bit surprised if there was a NWA manual or short course on how to sign in people, prepare, and issue them their ticket. The ticket agent may have been following procedure he was trained to follow.

Georger, you can rest assured that the ticket agents had a lot of training on how to process passengers, solve problems before they occurred, and get the planes back in the air fast.

The main reason for the ticket agent doing all the writing probably was that he would write in a legible manner and get the job done real fast.  And he could process passengers faster since they would not have to touch the ticket except when leaving the counter.

When you think about this, it was a remarkable admission (or an act of naive stupidity!) on Cooper's part to cozy up to the stews and tell them he had a bomb and then tell him he was concerned about there being sky marshals on board!? What is to prevent these stews from freaking out and screaming - THERE'S A BOMB ON BOARD! There is an able bodied well built college guy right across the aisle! Flo has already proven to be tight lipped and reticent. Hancock is older and not much different in her caution. Mucklow almost has no choice but to take the role of the 'calm country blonde girl' in keeping Cooper's psyche together. Rataczak wants to kill the guy asap! A whole lot of passengers are sitting there apparently clueless.

And Cooper is concerned there might be several sky marshals on board! ?     

Gag me with a silver box of TNT!   Who signed the ticket?   

Cooper's question about the sky marshals may be more significant that it first appears.  Seriously, we need a good shrink here.

well it was obviously on his mind for some reason. One obvious reason is control. Did he want the stews to identify any sky marshal on board - would they even know? Or its a general warning not to interfere. Did any other hijackers ask about 'sky marshals on board'? What routes were carrying sky marshals in 1971? Did NWA have any sky marshals on any of their planes?

I wouldnt read too much into this or a 'shrink' may reply: "It means he intended to ride eight Clydesdales abreast and take them all out of the door with him, thus the four parachutes'. 

I imagine that those of us who survived the DropZone Cooper thread have already heard enough about Clydesdales.

For the record, I have never been on an aircraft with a sky marshal, at least to the best of my knowledge.

And for the record when did sky marshals begin? I could do a search but Im wondering how common they were in 71 .... and where were they common? Obviously Cooper was aware of them. Was Cooper a member of law enforcement? Was he someone that could eliminate his prints from the system, as deceased or whatever? Is there a phony death certificate for our Dan Cooper that Cooper put into the system before or shortly after the hijacking? 

From wiki:   'The history of in-flight security began in March 1962 with the US Federal Aviation Administration-directed program to combat airplane hijackings. In that same year alone, there were numerous airplane hijackings (all happening one after another) in the USA that were planned with the ultimate aim to fly to Cuba. In response, the Federal Aviation Administration created the title of FAA Peace Officer. FAA Peace Officers were the first people to ever provide armed security onboard commercial aircraft. The original 18 In-Flight Security Officers, currently known worldwide as IFSOs, were the predecessor to all current in-flight security programs that exist today.[1]'

and this: "Following the mandatory passenger screening enacted by the FAA at U.S. airports beginning in 1973, the customs security officer force was disbanded and its personnel were absorbed by the U.S. Customs Service. By 1974 armed sky marshals were a rarity on U.S. aircraft. The former customs security officers were reassigned as customs patrol officers, customs inspectors, and customs special agents.[5]"

By 1974 armed sky marshals were a rarity on U.S. aircraft.  ??

Maybe Cooper was ahead of his time! Or behind the time? Or not current? Out of touch with reality? ??

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

Did NWO have any sky marshals on any of its domestic flights in 1971 and if so where?

Hi, everybody, hope you don't mind me jumping in without a parachute - I'm years behind some of you in research, but maybe I can help with this. From a different wiki article, I see that in late 1970 Nixon implemented teams of sky marshals, which continued until 1973, when increased screening measures were brought in at airports. (This, by the way, was likely a response to a world-wide pilots' strike in 1972 to protest lax security in the wake of so many hijackings. Can't remember where I saw that but will look it you're a fussy bunch. ) The flights affected were international and domestic, particularly ones out of Florida. Perhaps when DBC referred to Flight 305 being in the right place at the right time, the right place meant on a route not originating out of Florida? Just a thought. The wiki article in question is here - I believe an earlier poster cited a broader (worldwide scope) article. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

At the very least, this proves Danny Boy had done his homework. I don't know how well publicized the program was at the time, but I would think the crew would have been aware of them on board. Wouldn't it be more dangerous for them not to be?

There is another article here, but I just got off a night shift and haven't given it a proper read yet. Might be useful for those of you interested in this particular angle.

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

P.S. Nice to meet you all  and thanks to Bruce and Shutter for the help getting on here. I am also looking for a cooler handle. I was thinking of Carmen Sandiego (it takes one to find one) or Doobie Keebler (based on the newsradio sketch below, wherein Jimmy James is arrested as DB Cooper), but am open to suggestion. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

Good post! Very informative. Lynn, try Lynn as your user name! It works! Its a good name.

Cooper was careful enough to have everything returned to him, including the book of matches Tina tried to throw away, or keep. why would he want to write on the ticket?

Quote

Colbert conjures up fake news to get media attention, he seems not to care about the truth.

I don't think that's the case here. agents have claimed Cooper signed the ticket. I don't think Colbert is a model for CNN either...

I was talking about Colbert in general, and his tactics thus far.

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

I believe this started with the agents investigating McCoy...

Now, when you look at the counters from that period you won't see any pens attached to chains that you would think would be there for them to use. the tickets are behind the counter, they fill out the forms, so why would they allow them to put there name on it..

another agent working for NW in Portland stated they do all the writing on the tickets..

Good point!  Just the physical layout and logistics at check-in make it difficult for passengers/clients to sign tickets.  Meyer

That ticket is one of those all too common Cooper vortex ambiguities..

H-bach
"Dennis Lysne, who sold Cooper his ticket was tracked to his home at 7pm. Lysne began thinking of the persons to whom he had sold tickets that day, but none struck him as unusual. when he made contact with Agent Gough, he remembered the name "Dan Cooper" and associated it with a middle-aged man in a business suit. Other than that, Lysne remembered little else"

Apparently, the common procedure was for the ticket agent to fill out the ticket including the name window on the front. However, Colbert talked to agents who claimed at the time exceptions were made.

So, it isn't a verifiable fact that Lynse filled out the name on the ticket though more likely.

I did find tickets from that era where the name was filled out by customers..

So, it isn't a verifiable fact that Lynse filled out the name on the ticket though more likely.

I believe it is. we have testimony to the fact from other employee's. this theory came years later and not from direct information. these agents believe McCoy did both hijackings.

The same agents believe a different tie clip was found on the plane as well. I have never seen the actual proof of the credit card transaction supposedly made by McCoy in Vegas. lots of things they haven't been able to back up to prove McCoy was Cooper...his photo was shown to the crew shortly after the hijacking fresh in there minds. I don't think makeup would cover for him unless he used facial hair (stash, or beard) they all said NO....

They also claim a collect phone call from McCoy in Vegas occurred at around 11:10 from the Tropicana hotel..the plane landed at approx. 11:03, sparks were seen from the stairs while landing. where did he jump to get to a phone by 11:10?

they also claim McCoy gave information nobody would know about Cooper. he said he lost the money as soon as he jumped, but then they state he laundered the money in Vegas, and couldn't explain new things purchased after the hijacking? they run themselves into circles trying to show proof.

One of these guys was the prosecutor with the McCoy trial, and the other was at the Salt lake city FBI...neither had access to the files..Portland FBI office doesn't believe this theory either, so when you have claims of Cooper signing the ticket by these sources one has to question the credibility of the facts.

The Lab would have compared prints and dna.

Carr said McCoy is the model for how a hijacking should be done. Compared to that he thought Cooper was a novice.

Did McCoy ask if there were any sky marshals on board?