| There's one theory, notably absent, from the entire cavalcade of possibilities that no one seems to highlight... 1. D.B. Cooper boards the plane. 2. D.B. Cooper reveals a bomb, and with it, his intent to kill everyone on the plane, placing himself in control of their jeopardy. 3. He then, demands assistance, which involves the FBI. This, after placing everyone's life in danger, with the threat of violence. 4. The thing he asks for is absurd, and anyone who has ever used a parachute would raise an eyebrow at accepting equipment from a hostile entity. Even the FBI. 5. Once handed to him, there will be no way for him to look at the equipment, to see if it works, within the confined space of the plane. 6. As long as the money is real, someone making demands like this would expect the parachute to be real too. Especially, providing that their experience and status as a parachutist remains at novice level, with no specialization for preparing equipment. 7. The FBI could have easily provided him with real money and a sabotaged parachute, leaving him to plummet to his death. And why not? There are obvious risks to this play. What if D.B. Cooper had been smart enough to unpack and inspect the parachute before jumping out of the plane, and then, what if he noticed the sabotage and blew up the plane? That's the primary risk, there are other risks, and alternative options in the FBI's corner in this story. They could have also opted to have the fighter jets circle back and gun D.B. Cooper down, before a working parachute reached the ground. But, no matter what, no one seems to have considered the possibility of a vengeful off-the-record FBI. Which, of course, we all know, definitely existed back then. |