WA WA - D.B. Cooper Hijacking Mystery, 24 Nov 1971 #4

[Dan Cooper]

Is he still alive? The mystery of DB Cooper – the hijacker who disappeared

In 1971, a man held a plane to ransom for $200,000, then parachuted out in his suit and dress shoes, never to be seen again. What happened to him?

www.theguardian.com

 

[Aegon_the_Conqueror]

Is he still alive? The mystery of DB Cooper – the hijacker who disappeared

In 1971, a man held a plane to ransom for $200,000, then parachuted out in his suit and dress shoes, never to be seen again. What happened to him?

www.theguardian.com

Found him. How much is the bounty?

 

[lonewanderer]

Found him. How much is the bounty?

What?

 

[LinasK]

What?

Someone is being funny.

 

[Aegon_the_Conqueror]

What?

I keed.

 

[Richard]

From a Wheelchair Suspect to Titanium on a Tie, FBI Files Reveal New Clues in Unsolved Airline Hijacking by D.B. Cooper​

HIjacked Northwest airliner 24 November 1971

LINK:

From a Wheelchair Suspect to Titanium on a Tie, FBI Files Reveal New Clues in Unsolved Airline Hijacking by D.B. Cooper

The newly released 398-page FBI file includes strange suspect tips, forensic evidence from Cooper's tie — and no clear answers

www.aol.com

 

[ColyH]

Don't know how true this is but interesting.

 

[ColyH]

William Rataczak, Co-Pilot of Flight Hijacked by D.B. Cooper, Dies at 86

 

[snarast]

Don't know how true this is but interesting.

if it’s true DB wasn’t the only one with nerves of steel that day. Hard to believe.

IMHOO

 

[Richard]

Monday, 24 November will mark 54 years since the hijacking...

 

[Lebowski]

I’m far from an expert in this case but when I read about Milton Vordahl; that was the most convinced I have been.

me too. and i can't find much information about him, beyond that from the guy pushing the theory. i find that surprising, because it seems pretty compelling, but i guess it's a recent idea, so people haven't put much thought into it yet?

was hoping to find arguments against vordahl so i can have a rounded sense of his strengths and weaknesses as a suspect.

 

[StarryStarryNight]

I haven’t read this yet, but it seems to have a lot of information on this guy.

https://norjak.org/vordahl/

 

[Lebowski]

yeah, that's the wesbite by the guy doing the research on this and pushing the idea. there's a lot there, and i find it intriguing. i'm just hoping for a solid devil's advocate take or two.

 

[StarryStarryNight]

yeah, that's the wesbite by the guy doing the research on this and pushing the idea. there's a lot there, and i find it intriguing. i'm just hoping for a solid devil's advocate take or two.

Just reading the information there, it seems the biggest link between Vordahl and the Highjacking is the metals found on the DB Cooper tie and the fact that he worked extensively with those metals as a scientist.
Seems like a pretty weak connection to this guy exclusively, over everyone else that worked with these metals back then. Yes, he lost his job when the government moved on from those metals, but so did thousands of others. Yes, he liked to write letters to the editor griping about all sorts of things, but there doesn’t seem to be anything indicating he had a axe to grind or felt he needed to settle a score.
In some photos he kinda favors the sketch, in others, not so much.
I would be interested to know how his life was after 1971. Any lifestyle changes?
As a suspect, I’d rank him a 4 out of 10. Too many unknowns.

 

[Lebowski]

one problem i've come up with on my own is that apparently all the metal shavings evidence is considered shaky because people don't know how carefully the tie was handled, and apparently people aren't sure the tie was cooper's in the first place. then there is the possibility the shavings were transferred to the tie by someone other than cooper, etc.

but still, if the high-antimony titanium alloy is as rare as this guy says (not just the bits of high-purity titanium, which were rare-ish at the time but not exceptional), that creates a relatively small pool of people who had contact with the tie or could at least have been a transfer source for it. (dropping the a priori assumption that the tie was cooper's). an obvious cluster within that pool were the 450 people at the henderson, NV TIMET plant, including vordahl. these people were all laid off when the SST project was cancelled, a few months before the hijacking. so all of them had both a grievance with the industry and a need for money, common elements of cooper profiles. what's special about vordahl in particular? as a scientist, and very bright one, he's a better fit to the profile than most of the workers. he seems particularly associated with the special alloy, since he has several patents on it -- when almost no one else had a patent involving high-antimony titanium alloy at the time.

and, IMO, he resembles the composite sketches. same "pouty" lower lip, same face shape, same wide-set eyes, same huge forehead.

(edit: adding this paragraph, because i forgot to tie some loose ends together...) so, we drop the a priori assumption that the tie was cooper's, but if we suppose the alloy really was insanely rare, that might both point to a TIMET employee being associated with the tie and indirectly argue that the tie is indeed cooper's.

it's not conclusive, but IMO, he's the most compelling suspect i've seen.

 

[Lebowski]

Just reading the information there, it seems the biggest link between Vordahl and the Highjacking is the metals found on the DB Cooper tie and the fact that he worked extensively with those metals as a scientist.
Seems like a pretty weak connection to this guy exclusively, over everyone else that worked with these metals back then. Yes, he lost his job when the government moved on from those metals, but so did thousands of others. Yes, he liked to write letters to the editor griping about all sorts of things, but there doesn’t seem to be anything indicating he had a axe to grind or felt he needed to settle a score.
I would be interested to know how his life was after 1971. Any lifestyle changes?
As a suspect, I’d rank him a 4 out of 10. Too many unknowns.

but the particular alloy of those three particles is supposed to be exceedingly rare. vordahl had patents including alloys with antimony % in the double-digits. supposedly he was one of only two in the 1960s. (other one was an electronics maker in new england). it's not enough to single him out uniquely, but it's better than just the pure titanium shavings that were special at the time but still available to a lot of people.

i haven't read about his life after 1971. don't know there.

 

[StarryStarryNight]

one problem i've come up with on my own is that apparently all the metal shavings evidence is considered shaky because people don't know how carefully the tie was handled, and apparently people aren't sure the tie was cooper's in the first place. then there is the possibility the shavings were transferred to the tie by someone other than cooper, etc.

but still, if the high-antimony titanium alloy is as rare as this guy says (not just the bits of high-purity titanium, which were rare-ish at the time but not exceptional), that creates a relatively small pool of people who had contact with the tie or could at least have been a transfer source for it. (dropping the a priori assumption that the tie was cooper's). an obvious cluster within that pool were the 450 people at the henderson, NV TIMET plant, including vordahl. these people were all laid off when the SST project was cancelled, a few months before the hijacking. so all of them had both a grievance with the industry and a need for money, common elements of cooper profiles. what's special about vordahl in particular? as a scientist, and very bright one, he's a better fit to the profile than most of the workers. he seems particularly associated with the special alloy, since he has several patents on it -- when almost no one else had a patent involving high-antimony titanium alloy at the time.

and, IMO, he resembles the composite sketches. same "pouty" lower lip, same face shape, same wide-set eyes, same huge forehead.

it's not conclusive, but IMO, he's the most compelling suspect i've seen.

I realize the alloy is very specific and he did tons of research on it, but he didn’t work in a vacuum. Other people worked with him in the research I’m sure and other employees were involved in the manufacture of it.
It, perhaps , shrinks the suspect pool(if it is indeed Cooper’s tie).
I understand why he’s suspect no doubt. I’m just don’t find it as compelling. I hope some more infomation can be found.

 

[Sweetluv]

November 24, 1971...and the mystery continues....

 

[snarast]

I haven’t read this yet, but it seems to have a lot of information on this guy.

https://norjak.org/vordahl/

That just might be the closest perp-sketch I’ve ever seen.