yeah it's interesting that when he wanted cord, he cut the 2nd reserve. not the 2nd back rig
I guess it could have just been a random choice
Maybe if he was a skydiver, in this mind the back rig was higher value, and he didn't want to destroy it? Cut up the obviously less worthy chest reserve?
Cooper may have acted assuming the chutes could have beepers.. leave two on the plane and throw out the other front reserve.. split them up..
That's the best thought I've heard so far on opening the chute. His primary reason for doing so may have been inspection.
It actually makes no sense. What the hell's he going to do if he finds a beeper? Not jump. What then?
He opened the reserve in an attempt to store the ransom. When that didn't work he opened the other reserve to cannibalize the shroud lines. It's as straight forward as that.
He ordered the knapsack and the chutes together. " 3:20pm "He must have knapsack with money before any other steps taken. [wants money in knapsack ?]"
He might as well have said but failed to say, he wanted the money IN the knapsack.
Failing to get the knapsack he opened a chute to fashion some container for the money, and this is one of first things he did (observed by all the stews).
"It was also during this time that he complained to Mucklow that he had requested the money be delivered in a knapsack but instead it was delivered in a cloth type bank bag, which displeased him. It was at this time that Mucklow recalls he stated he would be forced to use one of the parachutes to rewrap the money since he had not been furnished the knapsack. At this same time Mucklow says she suddenly observed him having a small green paper bag, contents unknown." / Interview 11-30 Mucklow: /
Harold Anderson 11/20: ... the hijacker even specified that the money was to be delivered in a knapsack ...
After reviewing all of the transcripts, interviews, etc. it is very clear Cooper ordered the money t0o be delivered in a knapsack - that was the whole purpose of ordering a knapsack.
It is also abundantly clear, after reviewing all of these transcripts, that the ONLY place the ransom is referred to as 'negotiable American currency' is in one radio passage radioed by Scott at 3:13pm saying: "3:13pm [PI Transcript] Wants money in negotiable American currency denomination of bills not important." These words are therefore Scott's words and interpretation not repeated in the same form by anyone anywhere else that I can find. The ransom is referred to by other terms, by others in other documents and testimony which includes the crew interviews.
I will list all of that later... when convenient.
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