Question: How do you stow the stairs if your crew are the ones who needs to be on the plane itself? The buttons and the control panel is on the outside, right?
*I vividly remember the D.B. Cooper hijacking, as I was a teenager at the time. To put this in context, Cooper was far from the only hijacking going on - in fact, hijacking had become a big business during this period. While planes were the most common, cars, buses, and even trains had been hijacked during this period. It became so common that a **_comedy_** was made surrounding the idea of a hijacked subway: "The taking of Pelham 123" (great movie by the way, if you ever get to see it, and not the awful remake from a few years ago). The big joke where I lived (NYC, who was having a particularly big problem with bombings and hijackings), was "I'm hijacking this bus to cuba!" - mass transit in NYC is ubiquitous, with a fresh bus arriving on most lines every 3-6 minutes. The drivers were sick to death of this joke, but we were stoopid teenagers, and it never got old for us!*
Fun fact: The aircraft that Cooper jumped from was converted to a freighter which entered service with UPS back in the very late '80s. As a longtime UPS ramp employee, I worked that plane many times, even having the opportunity to walk up the air stairs Cooper jumped from to enter the cabin of the aircraft.
My first time flying was as a 5-6 yo in 1979 from Heathrow to Barcelona on Iberia. It must’ve been a 727 because I have a very vivid memory of walking down rear air stairs into searing Spanish heat - something I’d also never experienced before as I’d only travelled in Northern Europe before then. Interesting times, glad I got that opportunity (my next flight was in 1982 - LHR to BUD on a BA Trident 3, very similar design to a 727 😊.
Since he won't answer I’ll do so myself. Other documentaries tend to go a lot deeper into the mystery that is D.B. Cooper and the investigation and manhunt that followed the hijacking where he might have ended up on the ground and finding out who he really was and comparing pictures of potential suspects and probably a lot more i can’t remember right now. This one is unique because of the more steril, less dramatic technical view on the topic.
Hi@@pustekuchen8956 That wasn't really what I was referring to. Petter's perspective is that of a pilot, so this video talked about a number of details that I'd not heard about in other documentaries. For instance, the rear stairs not being part of the pressurized bulkhead. About the conversation with the flight attendant taking the note and not looking at it. How Cooper didn't seem to care about the refueling point for the trip to Mexico, etc. As someone who has long been fascinated by this case, I just felt that his perspective was interesting.
@@porthose2002 I know thats what I meant but with very few words, I thought it was evident what his perspective brings so I only focused on things that other videos mention
If you hijack a RyanAir and demand one million, then after applying the administration fees, they would probably give you twenty bucks and a 5% discount on your next flight.
The “World Freefall Convention”,a yearly skydiving event, used to charter a 727 to jump out of. Jumpers were awarded “D.B. Cooper numbers” to go along with their other certifications. A unique jump in that one *slowed down* to terminal velocity.
I spent years maintaining the 727. The worst part about using the air stairs was that the JT-8 engines used on 727’s collected a lot of oil in the engine cowling from the gearbox breather and being serviced etc. They were famous for leaking small amounts of oil onto the ground. When you boarded from the air stairs you were directly under the #2 engine. So needless to say a customer would get a lube job every once in a while. LOL!
As a 17 year old boy in Portland in 1971 this was about the most exciting event that had ever happened, especially since we lived about 5 miles from the airport and I would regularly ride my bicycle down around the Portland airport and the Portland Air Base.
As an ex BA BAC 1-11 pilot for fourteen years I agree that the demise of the airstairs is a shame. Without them I couldn't have stopped halfway down the Bravo cul-de-sac at LHR to pick up a first officer friend who nearly missed the last flight home to Jersey. The noise with the back door open and both RR Speys going was horrific and certainly impressed the passengers! Keep up the good work.
I loved the advantage of “clunk, we’re here, get out” Now we wait on the jetway operator, then adjust it, and that’s a couple minutes. Even aircraft with door stairs need to wait for the jetway. Isn’t that the entire point?
Christmas Eve 1998 I was flying ABQ to MSP, but there was a huge snowstorm and we were diverted to FSD. However since we were a diversion, and FSD was so small, there was no available gate to disembark from. We sat on the tarmac for three hours waiting for the weather in MSP to clear, but people started getting restless. Finally they found a spot to park the plane and we all disembarked through the aft air stairs of the 727, and we walked single file into the terminal under the wing. Truly was a unique moment to be able to see our airplane from that perspective. After another two hours the weather cleared, they found a jetway, and we resumed our flight to MSP. I feel fortunate to have been able to use the aft air stairs in a non-emergency situation.
@@onesecureone He's an imposter. My grandfather took that money and wisely invested it in a small, boutique hotel, named after himself. Now that he's gone, we can finally reveal the truth. The rest is history.
Petter, I think you have now become my favourite story teller. One of the things I love about aviation is there's so many interesting stories and tales over the years. Fascinating stuff.
Petter, your story-telling skills are simply superb. Your precision and clarity, the thoroughness of your research, the respectful way you comment - and your beautiful accent make every one of your videos compelling. You have me transfixed every time. Thank you for these videos and your analyses. They are very appreciated. Wishing you Health and Peace, Paul
Though I know the story well, I enjoy hearing different versions of the tale. I last boarded a 727 via the Air Stairs in 1989 on an AeroPeru flight. They were great, a wonderful way to load an airplane. That 727 was a bit sketchy. I was flying with my Dad and we later found out that locals paid $25/ticket and it was buy-one-get-one-free. The oxygen mask compartments contained speakers playing folk music; I'm not sure if there were masks or not. But I do know that this aging airplane performed well, even when we had to land on a rough strip in the wilderness to unload some boxes from the passenger cabin to a bunch of men who came onboard with AK-47's. My Dad was a very experienced third-world traveler and in response to the shocked expression on my face assured me that we were probably just dropping off the payroll to one of the gold mines. Oddly enough, some of the AeroPeru fleet were nice newer planes, like a fairly new Olympic Airlines Boeing with all the signs in English and Greek. Or a great little Fokker F-28 we flew to Cuzco that later tragically crashed. But I will never forget the simple joy of loading that 727 via the belly stairway.
You've got to give it to Cooper, pretty ingenious idea and no one was hurt in anyway! Feels like some proper James Bond stuff - side note thanks Petter for suggesting this video recently, I've just found your channel and I am obsessed with the aviation incident series, in fact I had heard the name 'DB Cooper' but had no idea who he was!! Loved this video, I shall continue my quest to watch the whole playlist!
Well… if he actually survived, he wasn’t too bright because he left a substantial amount of money which was found in 1980. My guess is that he owed some money to some dangerous people, he hijacked the plane, got the cash, parachuted to the ground, took some of the money out of the bags so he could retrieve it later, but the men he owed made sure he could never go back there or anywhere else. I mean, they found some of the money, but never any remains so…
@@InCaveEntertainment"he wasn't too bright": Sorry to say it like that, but: According to you and to your limited imagination ;-) The correct thing to say is we do not know. And I'm not saying that as a mean to say "what do we really know, is there any proof for anything, bla bla bla". Here, I mean, we don't know, because we lack the intel. There's just not enough information. But from this presentation, the fact that this dude knew so much about barely anyone but CIA knew at that time... Yeah, I wouldn't say he was "not so bright". I'd acknowledge, however, that it doesn't seem it end well for him. Which is good. Even if polite, criminals do not deserve to win in the end.
@@huyxiun2085 - interesting. I refer to jails and prisons as “homes for the criminally challenged”. Because the people in there were stupid enough to get caught. While I certainly don’t advocate for anyone doing anything illegal, the fact remains that people exceed speed limits, roll 4-way stops, some shoplift, others commit other crimes, and most people don’t ever get caught. Unless they’re stupid like robbing the same bank three times (as one guy did, could have stopped after the first two robberies, but he was stupid, now in a federal prison, etc.)
My very first flight as a little kid was on a 727 from Albany, NY to Chicago, IL. I remember exiting down the ventral stairs and being given a "wings" pin by a flight attendant as I started down.
I was also given wings as a boy on an international flight; I sat with a dead-heading captain in uniform and played cards with him for hours :-) (I think it was SAS)
I remember getting those too (in Australia) on (what was) Trans-Australia Airlines (TAA) in the 1970s, and distinctly remember the aft stairs, on what was probably a 727.
A big reason the Convair 240 and Martin 2-0-2 had airstairs is that these aircraft were designed specifically to replace the Douglas DC-3 on secondary routes, and small secondary airports in the 1940s didn’t have stairs because the tail of a parked DC-3 is already on the ground.
I like the way you've done the time bar thing at the bottom of the video, so people can skip to the parts they want to listen about. You can listen to it all like you intended, but those who haven't got 26min spare can watch the bits they are particularly interested in. This is awesome!
When the time comes to hang your cap up for the last time Captain Petter, you really must try to get into some king of broadcasting media. I was hung on your every word, in fact, it was one of the very best "insights" I have ever heard, and a fascinating story. Your efforts are very much appreciated I'm sure by a lot of people who have an interest like me, in anything avionic.
I’m so glad you feel that way. It’s truly great to hear. Feel free to help my out by sharing this video with your friends on social media. It really helps.
@@MentourPilot I concur. You're an outstanding speaker and present the information in a way that keeps the interest of people like me, who already knows a good amount about aviation, but it also isn't so technical that it goes over the head of non aviation buffs. Great speaker with excellent teaching instincts... Definitely would attend an event if you ever did a speaking tour.
Thank you for the story, Mentour Pilot, I watched it with great interest. On TH-cam, few months ago, I watched a video telling of the Cooper highjack, but there isn't, and can't be, any real comparison about the quality of that content, when compared with your work. I thought back ladders were available in all aircrafts, as they render possible autonomous disembarking - no they are installed only on few models. Last time I used the back ladder in my long flying career (as a passenger) was year 2006, aboard an MD80 in Southern Italy - when Alitalia was still a thing. That was an airport where passengers walked from the gates directly to the aircraft, no air bridge, no buses, no nonsense, how nice was to fly. Things changed shortly after, when aircrafts lost their standing to the airports, and become ancillary to them. *Thank you once more!* And forgive my nostalgia of the good ol' times..
When I was younger, the skydiving places would have these invited in for special occasion holidays( 'boogies' - generally held over 3 day weekend) we LOVED those air stairs! I am sure the pilots were exhausted by Sunday; we wanted them to get to altitude( usually 12,500ft), then hurry up and land for the next load waiting,& repeat all day long...so we could get in as many jumps as possible! For us, we got a break each time, to repack, make up the next manifest,& watch the load in the air get down... We were unthinkingly cruel that way. But, boy, did they get paid well to do a 'boogie'!!! Twin Otters were also a favorite for 'guest appearances', because of their climb rate. When you're used to ancient military-surplus Beechcrafts lumbering their way into the sky, these were a real treat!
@@wayneeligur7586 The Ilyushin-62 was never bought by American airlines, but plenty of them from Russia, Poland, Cuba etc. serviced airports in Canada and the US until a few years ago. Poland's two greatest airline disasters involved Il-62M's flying between Warsaw and New York (both crashed near Warsaw due to uncontained engine failures). I don't think the Il-62 had a ventral ramp; instead, it had a retractable leg to prevent the plane tipping nose-up on the ground, a function which a ventral ramp could fulfil on other aircraft. [Note: The LOT Polish Airlines Il-62 crashes were caused by egregious manufacturing and maintenance flaws of Russian origin; the Tu-154M Polish Air Force 101 crash outside Smolensk on 10 April 2010 was caused by egregious pilot error, mismanagement and impeachable political interference in the cockpit].
@@awuma Appreciate the lengthy answer. Yet I do think I flew out of ABQ. to Newark in one in 2003 I say this because it was the most uncomfortable and noisey plane I had ever been on. It took forever to tke off from ABQ. [5,000 ft el.]. Looking at planes from the USSR it seems that they used all of our then technologies to copy [poorly]] what we had, even lately their new offering is a clone of an Airbus? Tehy manufactured slip shod as a rule.
This was a really fascinating story! My dad used to fly DC-9s and the longer variants thereof, and I really loved those aft stairs. Also really great in reducing the boarding times and queuing.
Request: Could you cover/discuss: The Berlin Airlift? I understand that it had several firsts, including (but not limited to) Relying on Ground Approach Guidance, Strobe lights, and extremely bright lights to help pilots line up with the runway in the dark or bad weather, Illuminated cones/wands of various colors to help ground crew get a plane to where it is supposed to be for unloading, supplying a massive amount of Coal (for heating and cooking), Food, and Medicine.... Oh, yes! Candy dropping from the sky!!!
@@georgeholt8929 Burma was during WW2, it could be said that The Berlin Airlift prevented a war! BTW, It took General Turner to make both work, although Gen. LeMay claimed credit for the Berlin operation... (It was filling before Turner took over from LeMay!!!) A lot of what I admire about the Berlin Airlift is that it had a lot of firsts. Some pilots knowing how vital their cargo was, ignored the Minimum Acceptable Limits, put their faith in GCA (new technology) and landed! Then wrote down the Minimum (Ceiling, Visibility). >It was the first time such an air power operation was used to preserve the peace .vs. supporting a war. >It also ensured that enough people supported Truman that he won an election against Dewey (who was pretty much guaranteed to win prior to Stalin's blockade), and decimated the political power of the Ultra-Leftwing Democrats for decades!! Vittles and Little Vittles also were pretty amazing!!!!
@@timengineman2nd714 I thought the comment was about the difficulty in getting airplanes to the landing zone, and less about cargo or time line. During the Burma airlift they used Curtis C-46 aircraft the Berlin event used C-54 aircraft, a newer aircraft.
@@georgeholt8929 Yes, in a way both are very much milestones of aviation history! >Flying an overloaded airplane above it's service ceiling + not getting all the parts you need since "You're Not A Frontline Fighting Unit" = Flying the Hump (aka India to China airlift). >>> A Certain Officer under Turner in charge of Maintenance happen to have the last name of Murphy! Berlin also was a big strain since they had drawn down the US military so much. (Don't you mean R5D? Just curious as a Navy guy.) Yeah, they first started out with C-47's but they were too small and basically took just as long to unload their 3.5 tons of load as it did to unload a C-54 which was the main reason they switched aircraft, even though the number of DC-4s/C-54s/R5Ds in Europe was very small.
The most significant thing for the pilots in the Berlin op was that there was a narrow "corridor" in the sky which they had to keep to, or risk being shot down by fighters from various Warsaw pact air forces. The Burma op never presented that particular challenge, nor had the bad guys knowing where you were at all times. That meant no detours for turbulence, thunderstorms, etc. Some very scary flying. Well worth the telling
Your brief discussion of other boarding systems brought me some memories of incidents related to me by my father, Tom Ellison, who for many years was the manager of navigation engineering for United Airlines based at their maintenance base in San Francisco. When the airlines first started implementing boarding ramps there were at least two designs; UAL used a system similar to the current system where the remote end of an extendable "jetway" is driven to the forward door of the aircraft steering with a pivoting wheel similar to the nose gear on aircraft and the entire ramp pivots horizontally at the terminal end. I don't recall if it was TWA or Pan Am, but one of them used another system where a fixed ramp extended out from the terminal about 100 feet then another section joined at 90 degrees extended over the plane's fuselage pivoting vertically with a curved end that actually rested on top of the airplane during boarding and was raised and lowered hydraulically. This worked quite well until the time that the hydraulics dramatically failed, swatting the aircraft causing considerable damage and pinning the plane to the terminal until it could be lifted off. Another feature of this system was that the aircraft had to taxi straight at the terminal, stopping fairly close to the large windows where waiting passengers had a clear view into the cockpit. The initial design of antilock braking systems required the crew to turn the system off after exiting the runway (you may see where this is going). One crew discovered that failing to switch off this system when arriving at the terminal meant there was no way to actually stop the multimillion dollar airplane before colliding with an even more expensive departure area filled with very startled and now apprehensive passengers.
Back in 1987 I boarded a Dan Air Boeing 727-200 via the tail stairs. As a young AV Geek boarding an aircraft from the ground and getting to walk underneath those three Pratt & Whitney engines with the APU running was just the height of excitement! Using an airbridge is nowhere near as good!
1979, Nice, France. I nearly lost my flight, went to counter late, they took me on a jeep and rushed me to the take off waiting zone where the Caravelle was waiting takeoff clearance! I boarded the plane through the rear stairs!! Quite an adventure. 😮
I am a ramp agent in Ibiza airport and my business is the handling agent for many airlines. Some of them use old aircraft with air stairs and, when they don't work, some of the airlines apparently don't fix them any more. They seem to prefer to pay for extra ground equipment. Maybe because it's more expensive to have replacement pieces and maintenance staff changing them? Maybe because they want as few AOG as possible?
I am a USAF veteran and a former crew of a Lockhead C-130. I love to fly but sorry to say I suffered a stroke and had to hang up my wings. I do enjoy these stories.
Those are some old engines. I worked at PW&A assembling JT8s for a couple years in the late 70s. After that I had a job where I flew on 727s and 737s 3 or 4 times a month for years. They all leak oil.
Very interesting and entertaining video! The largest passenger aircraft to have an air stair was the Ilyushin IL-86 widebody. In fact, it was specifically designed that way, so it could operate on remote airports without major infrastructure. When boarding, the passengers first went to the lower deck, where they would self-check their luggage into the hold and then climb up to the main deck.
Great vid. As you mentioned the 727-100 airstairs were used as an a emergency exit. But only if a handle was pulled that fired a pressure filled gas bottle to make the door struts actually lift the rear of the A/C up about, if I remember correctly, about 80cms. to raise the tail of the A/C high enough to allow egress.(The door locking mechanism was sheared off during this action.) I worked on the B727 from 1968 till they were retired from service in Oz around 2002. TAA, Ansett and Aeromarine. The B727-200 had rear side doors ii front of the engines so the rear stairs were not needed as an exit. As Aeromarine was a freight company, a prerequisite before unloading was to put in a tail strut, the stairs were not used. (-200 A/C.)
I wonder whether the CIA tests had been declassified at the time this happened, or how wide the tests groups where if still secret because knowing the details about the flaps and altitude needed to attempt it are pretty specific.
Makes me wonder whether he was ex-CIA. Maybe he got burned by the agency and this was his way of providing for his needs going forward and dishing out a bit of payback at the same time. It doesn't mean much that they only found some scraps of a couple bills - maybe he ditched some deliberately to make it seem like he didn't make it. If he took the money out of the country I doubt they had the capabilities back then to effectively track it overseas. Or maybe they did track some of it but covered it up because its better to make people think Cooper died and didn't get away with it.
@@andrewawakened628 To even attempt it as well, it speaks of courage either born of insanity or experience. Parachuting was still a fairly rare sport back then, not compared to today so he must have had some experience to want to attempt it.
@@andrewawakened628 I agree with everything you said. $200,000 in 1972 equates to about $987,000 in 2020 - so he could have easily retired on the money.
@@amahlaka it was very coincidental that they landed at an airport near a bank that had an adequately prepared ransom package. Virtually have to be an cia fbi agent to know all of that.
Nice story! Well presented as always, of course, and also a reminder of the times when, as a passenger, you still had a lot of freedom. It brings back memories of a trip I made in the 80's, from Luxembourg to Jo'burg, when I simply asked and was allowed to visit the cockpit, just in time to see the sun rise somewhere over Africa - with a 180 degree view instead of from a small side window...... those were the days :-) !
I've been subscribed to your channel for several months now, and I've learned a lot about aviation, but this was a great video for many reasons. Not only did I learn a LOT about older jet airplanes and how they worked, but I loved the details about the infamous Cooper hijacking. Superb content. Top notch stuff.
Absolutely outstanding video. The best I have seen from Mentour Pilot. Educational and most interesting. Thank you so much. I remember this incident quite clearly from late 1971.
I have heard this story several times, even recently on TH-cam. But this was by far the BEST telling of the story ever! And I enjoyed and appreciate the history and additional information about the ventral stairway. I always enjoy this channel and this is a good sample why! That Cooper Vane is genius in its' simplicity and effectiveness.
Petter, this is one of your best! I never would have guessed that the Convairs had rear stairs. Used to watch them all the time at EWR. But I have deplaned on the rear stairs of the 727 and DC-9. And kudos to the 727, great aircraft with a smooth ride.
Just your enthusiastic smile in the beginning and experience from past videos made me upvote. And I was right. This was interesting, entertaining and fun! Thank you!
I was entering an airplane by the back stairs on my second flight ever in 1986 when i was 12. Never seen them again in my life, though i had lots of short and long flights in my youth following.
that's great to know. I think I also used them a few times. My second commercial flight was on a 737, unfortunately it did not have these stairs, it makes me very sad.
Thank you for the video! I'd love to get your thoughts on something. My understanding is that Cooper's instructions for the pilots had some indirect consequences. Mainly, his demand that the landing gear must stay deployed, and the wing flaps needed to be at 15 degrees, would both limit the speed and altitude the plane could travel at. So, the pilots didn't have the option of ignoring Coopers requests about altitude and airspeed. My understanding is that pilots have to stick to specific victor flight paths at specific altitudes. As a result, Cooper's airspeed and altitude requests would have eliminated most of those flight paths. I believe that there were only two options at the specified airspeed and altitude. That would mean that Cooper could have had two accomplices waiting at a specified landmark on each of the two flight paths. Cooper supposedly asked a flight attendant whether lights he saw were the Merwyn Dam, and he asked about the location of McCord AF Base. Does it seem realistic that Cooper could have made his demands about speed, altitude, landing gear, and wing flaps, to ensure that the pilots could only choose one of two flight paths?
Actually the DC-3 was probably one of the first to incorporate what became know as an"integral air stairs" by using the rounded rear passenger door with pneumatic pistons to manually raise and lower it . Earlier models seem not to have had this feature which may not have been included until after WW 2 when the DC-3 became so widely used at smaller airports often with limited ground facilities and requiring quick single engine running turn time stops with only a few passengers getting on or off. While working as a gate agent for a carrier in the Seventies I recall being taken out on the ramp and instructed on how to open an access door and push a handle to drop down the rear stairs upon arrival to prevent the aircraft from settling on its tail. In similar fashion an unattended 727 left parked during a snow storm having accumulated on horizontal surfaces settled on its tail lifting the nose wheel up into the air requiring a tricky recovery perhaps.
I worked on the 727-100 and 200 for many years and spent a lot of time in that aft stair area. There are many components back there including cockpit voice recorder and data recorder. The flow control valves for the AC Packs are back there too. There is a door that opens to get access to engine number 2 through the “S DUCT”. Anyhow, there are MANY maintenance items back there. We used to call it the “cooper lock”. The name in the maintenance manual calls it the “ANTI HIGHJACKING LOCK”. Another note , Those Pratt and Whitney JT 8 engines dripped a lot of oil from the gearbox breather. It would build up some oil on the bottom of the engine cowlings. Unfortunately a lot of people ended up getting a drip of oil when walking under the # 2 engine… haha…. I've got 1000’s of miles as a flight mechanic doing charters all over the place. Those 727’s were built like a tank and could take a lot of abuse. They were also a fast airplane cruising usually around .84 Mach. I will always miss that airplane along with the DC-10. Those were good times… Sorry I carried on so long!
Brilliant content. I used to love using the rear air stairs on the 727. It was really loud if the APU was on. I never knew about the Cooper switch. Epic. 👍
When D Cooper first came out in the news it reminded me of an NCO I knew with an Airborne unit I was assigned to in 1974. My first trip to Ft. Bragg, NC. was in 1968. I also am familiar with a Ranger unit at Ft. Lewis, Washington. We had a lot of CIA and other connected service members with us. The training we go through makes it an easy challenge to successfully complete such a mission. At El Toro MAS in Calif we also had such people doing covert operations. It's ironic Jan-Feb 2001 I took a commercial flight from Atlanta to London and then Brussels and back. While boarding I carried silverware (knives, forks and spoons) which they noticed and commented once that it must be for meals. Of course the following year you couldn't carry so much as a tiny nail clipper knife and they are not permitted in courthouses either. Who is going to attempt harm with a 1-4" inch folding knife blade? According to religious accommodations Sikhs are suppose to be given such privileges. Not even sworn police can carry without permission in which case they use an alternate point if they must. The thing I can't understand is that some of the notes were found but torn. This would make me believe that the jump was unsuccessful or part of a decoy.
If those notes were found on the riverbank, I'd bet that he went into the water. The river probably looked a lot like a clearing, if his chute had enough control to aim. Otherwise, just bad luck. Or, like you suggest, he threw a few bundles into the river to draw attention downstream.
What a story about that Cooper! I wonder why I never heard it before. ...Ten years ago I flew Як-42 / Yak-42 and we were using the rear airstair - an exotic experience nowadays. It felt quite exclusive to approach an aircraft from the side usually not accessible to passengers and I perceived the boarding as convenient and quick.
Out of passing interest: Perris Valley Skydiving in Southern California got hold of a DC-9 & converted it for jump use through it's rear opening... with removed stairs. Don't know if they still have it, haven't heard anything of it in some years now. Did hear it cost them fortunes to get airworthy, and they had to extend their runway to accommodate it. Also heard, that far as jump planes go, it was more of a 'novelty' than anything... as in not all that much fun once you'd jumped it a time or two. Search TH-cam for 'jump the jet perris' (sans quotes) for some videos.
Words you never want to hear your pilot say: _"What's a mountain goat doing way up here in a cloud bank?"_ (that's from _The Far Side_ by cartoonist, Gary Larson)
I was interested to see your analysis after watching Lemino's documentary on this story: I wasn't disappointed. You have some good work on your channel. Really helpful, even as a non-pilot: an IT guy interested in quality management & good practice.
This was great! I knew about the story but nobody ever concentrated on the aircraft itself. I learned quite a lot in this tutorial. Thanks for sharing this.
I LOVE your channel. You are such an excellent communicator and your graphics are exceptional. My dad was a pilot, I miss him, and your videos help me remember his stories 😀. Awesome job!
My dad was a pilot too and I watch alot of aviation related content in his memory. I miss my dad alot and discovered the love for all things aviation is in the family blood!
Fantastic footage of a 727 rolling. That's at my local airport, EGLF. I live approx 600m from the northern perimeter. I've used airstairs on BAC 1-11, DC-9, located at the rear, and on an RYR 738 at Hahn. Years ago, they were nicknamed "bust stop jets".
I thought I had watched every video that you had produced Petter, until I came across this one. I loved that there was a crime element in this one. What was fascinating was the fact that every banknote had been photographed. There was no mention of whether some of these notes had been tracked down as having been used, apart from a couple of bundles that were found by a river sometime later.
Remember how loud those 727s were? Outside that is... fortunately the engines were at the back leaving the noise behind for the passengers. Great video Petter. Thanks.
Petr, Great Job on video! I lived in SEA during this hi-jacking -- It was a cold, rainy, sleety night to jump into the mountain forests! Note on the money: It's location is downstream on the Columbia River bank, below the mouth of the Toutle River. The Toutle was ravaged by violent mudflows and flooding after the Mt St Helens' Eruption in 1980 -- possibly moving the currency miles from its drop point in the mountains downstream to the Columbia, (which is a very large, mighty river near Portland). Keep up these historical tales, you do very well!
My son and I toured a static display of an old FedEx 727 in Sioux City, IA and we paid extra attention to the air stair area. I've got several pictures of the area which are super interesting to look at. Love the old 727 and am thankful I got to fly on one which was an old Northwest Airlines aircraft, from KMSP to KGRR back in '99.
This was the first Mentour video I ever watched, because I went looking for information on DB Cooper. From that I immediately subscribed and became interested in aviation as a result. Thanks Petter!
Awesome story! Thanks ... In July 2006 I jumped from a similar aircraft with air stairs (a DC-9 21) at the World Free Fall Convention in Rantoul Illinois! It was an unforgettable skydive akin to a 727 they used in the past. The DC 9 is still sitting at Perris Skydiving (now unused) in California.
My father was doing a delivery flight years ago with a C47, and at one of his scheduled stops ( well was the last one for that particular trip) he came in to land, and half way down the, what he thought was newly tarred runway (it was on the schedule for doing "real soon"), he hit a pothole in the water, as it was not tar he saw at the approach in the evening, but heavy rain earlier the day had resulted in flooding. The pothole resulted in the one landing leg detaching, so he made the decision to lift the remaining gear, as he was too slow to go around, plus would have an issue still with only one landing gear. Thus the plane duly belly flopped, both props went and bent, and he skidded to a halt in a spray of water, right at the terminal building, just as the duty ATC came out of the pub to fire a read flare. None of the passengers actually noticed, even though they had, when boarding the morning, needed to use a set of stairs, but alighting merely stepped down into the mud. He called the airline, and the next morning there was another C47 flying up, loaded with a crew of mechanics, 2 propellers, the requisite jacks, tools and one undercarriage leg, plus some money to pay for their being there a week. Replacement plane flew the passengers on, and left the repair crew there to do the repairs, and the plane, arrived, a week late. Tough planes those. My last flight on one was also interesting, in that the landing gear did not show locked, so there were some rather interesting minutes with the door open, and me and the flight engineer leaning out to look under the wing, so see if the gear was down and looked locked. Faulty switch on the gear, fixed after landing, and I got back on it to carry on as well. Undoubtedly the best landing I ever had in a C47, somewhat marred by the fire truck pacing us on the runway edge, foam cannon on the ready, just in case. But, as the fuel load was about 2 minutes at the time, the fire was likely going to be survivable anyway. Just we still had the original WWII seats and belts.
I was out in Zimbabwe in 1988, having a chat with some pilots there, one of the stories they told me was that Zambian Airways had just bought a new plane, so new they hadn't even insured it yet... On it's first flight down to Zambia the pilot got the wrong airstrip, the old disused one that someone had dug a drainage ditch across... Lets just say that plane didn't have ANY landing gear by the time it came to a stop!
@@MentourPilot I hope to see more of these stories "in living color" - the various perspectives, the details in the dramas. I don't have any specific ideas because I am not a raconteur, but it sounds like you have the talent for it. The technical approach keeps me coming back but this one will have me watching closely for new videos.
Nice video, really love technical history lessons like this. You answered a few questions I always wonder about when it comes to airstairs. And as you said, boarding a DC-9 using the airstair is quite an impressive thing compared to todays dull tubes. Thank you a lot!!! Lets have more of this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
From the Pacific NW, and of course grew up with the story of "D. B. Cooper". So interesting that his hijacking help create a change in the industry. Thanks.
Very very good content. The animation makes it easier and more interesting to understand and it is interesting for any aviation geek at any level. More videos like these; please. An idea: How about a video about unusual/challenging approach- and take off procedures?
I thought I knew about the Cooper story, but after seeing this episode I realised there was so much more detail to it. This is the reason I love this channel! 10/10.
Wow, you must be really young. They made a Movie about DB Cooper. I was in Kindergarten in Vancouver Washington(across the river from Portland) at the time when this happened and can still remember it being on the News.
wow.. surprised to see one of the Oil Spill Response B727s in this video at 4:23 (can't work out if it's G-OSRB or OSRA), both still have their aft stairs I'm happy to confirm... I helped with some design work on the vent systems for these. Both ex FedeX freighters that would switch between Oil Spill deterrent deployment standby and freighter work periodically in order to maintain hours. If you look at the aircraft in the video, you can make out the dispersal booms in red/white flaring out under the engines.. I was lucky to actually walk up the aft stairs during a survey of one of these fine aircraft at Lasham... and then crawl around in the cargo hold in amongst the control cabling.. good times!!! Great channel, really enjoying your content!!!!
Cooper did not care about the route taken after takeoff, so either he figured if he had made it out of the jungle that the NW would be easy, was crazy, or the pilot was in on it and the drop point was determined. If so, seems Cooper and the Pilot must have been buddies from a past 'life´. Did Mr. Rataczak every comment on the pilot? Did the pilot have such a background where such a thing could even be possible?
@@ep5acg crews knew people were getting cash and they were poorly paid. What if the crew staged it? The composite drawing is from the crew . What if a business man with an attache was there. NONE of the passengers knew of a hijack going on.
@@joinjen3854 hah great theory. Then no one even jumped. Perhaps just tossed a sack of rocks out the back. Ah but what about the money found on the bank of the Columbia? And how in the heck would they get that big sack of cash off the plane after they landed? .. well perhaps someone on the ground in on it. lol seems at least as good of a theory is all the others.
Brilliant description of the DB Cooper hijack, and I’ve watched a few on here!, you should put it into your title of the video so it comes up when people search for the story.
First of all, I would like to wish Lucas the best of luck on his PPL! Second, I live in the city next to Portland right on the ILS to the 10 runways and the story of DB Cooper is legend even here!
In 1976 I lived about 10 miles from the Columbia river. I used to go there to fish with friends. We’d camp out on the bank of the river and talk about Dan Cooper’s tale. I use to walk along the shore and close to the tree line hoping I’d find the cash Dan Cooper carried on his jump. At that time I thought he jumped successfully but maybe he became separated from the money. I never found any money or evidence of Cooper’s jump but it was fun anyway. I remember that event being the most interesting story at the time even with the Vietnam War and Nixon’s role in the Watergate scandal being the leads on nightly news. I often wonder if I would’ve kept the money but I knew it would be marked. In 1976 the currency was probably still in fair shape. But when kids found some of the money in 1980 the bills were obviously victims of the environment. I’ve seen a dozen shows on Cooper’s hijacking. It will always be one of the great mysteries probably never to be solved.
DAN GRYDER at the PROBABLE CAUSE channel has an excellent analysis of DB COOPER including a suspects family recanting their statements that provided an alibi .
A 727 was one of the featured jump planes at World FreeFall Convention during the 90s, I made a few jumps, even wore the "costume." There's some YT videos here and there. Aircraft was cargo type, all 200 sit on floor with seat belts on take off. Because it is hot and humid in Illinois, the interior fogs up at about 5000, it clears later. Jump run at 13K. Airstairs removed and they lined the hallway with plywood to reduce chance of an object snagging a exiting skydiver. Interesting because exit speed is about 150 instead usual jump plane exit speed of 100 (usual freefall is 120), get positive control immediately. I've heard some go into a track position on exit and were able to get slightly above height of the t-tail.
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Question: How do you stow the stairs if your crew are the ones who needs to be on the plane itself? The buttons and the control panel is on the outside, right?
The "robberer." :D Your English is a million times better than anyone's German out here.
So how does one move from the pressurised cabin to the stairs if there is no door in the rear pressure bulkhead?
*I vividly remember the D.B. Cooper hijacking, as I was a teenager at the time. To put this in context, Cooper was far from the only hijacking going on - in fact, hijacking had become a big business during this period. While planes were the most common, cars, buses, and even trains had been hijacked during this period. It became so common that a **_comedy_** was made surrounding the idea of a hijacked subway: "The taking of Pelham 123" (great movie by the way, if you ever get to see it, and not the awful remake from a few years ago). The big joke where I lived (NYC, who was having a particularly big problem with bombings and hijackings), was "I'm hijacking this bus to cuba!" - mass transit in NYC is ubiquitous, with a fresh bus arriving on most lines every 3-6 minutes. The drivers were sick to death of this joke, but we were stoopid teenagers, and it never got old for us!*
AUTO-GCAS ?
Fun fact: The aircraft that Cooper jumped from was converted to a freighter which entered service with UPS back in the very late '80s. As a longtime UPS ramp employee, I worked that plane many times, even having the opportunity to walk up the air stairs Cooper jumped from to enter the cabin of the aircraft.
Cool!
My first time flying was as a 5-6 yo in 1979 from Heathrow to Barcelona on Iberia. It must’ve been a 727 because I have a very vivid memory of walking down rear air stairs into searing Spanish heat - something I’d also never experienced before as I’d only travelled in Northern Europe before then. Interesting times, glad I got that opportunity (my next flight was in 1982 - LHR to BUD on a BA Trident 3, very similar design to a 727 😊.
That's so awesome!
I've watched a number of documentaries on D.B. Cooper, but your background as a pilot adds a great perspective. Thanks for sharing this!
How does his perspective differ?
@@robertgeldoff2529watch other videos for yourself 🥱
Since he won't answer I’ll do so myself.
Other documentaries tend to go a lot deeper into the mystery that is D.B. Cooper and the investigation and manhunt that followed the hijacking where he might have ended up on the ground and finding out who he really was and comparing pictures of potential suspects and probably a lot more i can’t remember right now.
This one is unique because of the more steril, less dramatic technical view on the topic.
Hi@@pustekuchen8956 That wasn't really what I was referring to. Petter's perspective is that of a pilot, so this video talked about a number of details that I'd not heard about in other documentaries. For instance, the rear stairs not being part of the pressurized bulkhead. About the conversation with the flight attendant taking the note and not looking at it. How Cooper didn't seem to care about the refueling point for the trip to Mexico, etc. As someone who has long been fascinated by this case, I just felt that his perspective was interesting.
@@porthose2002 I know thats what I meant but with very few words, I thought it was evident what his perspective brings so I only focused on things that other videos mention
Fun Fact: RyanAir have never been hijacked because it costs too much to take weapons into the cabin.
From what I hear about who tends to fly Ryanair, I think that any weapons in the cabin would be used for regular mayhem, not hijacking.
@@mikekeenan8450 haha
Until a whole dictatorship ass ghetto country used a MiG-29 to hijack it..
Somebody tried once and asked them to take them to the city it said on the ticket
If you hijack a RyanAir and demand one million, then after applying the administration fees, they would probably give you twenty bucks and a 5% discount on your next flight.
The “World Freefall Convention”,a yearly skydiving event, used to charter a 727 to jump out of. Jumpers were awarded “D.B. Cooper numbers” to go along with their other certifications. A unique jump in that one *slowed down* to terminal velocity.
That's cool info! I love the idea of slowing down to terminal velocity, and picturing a line of people jumping out of the back stairs.
I spent years maintaining the 727. The worst part about using the air stairs was that the JT-8 engines used on 727’s collected a lot of oil in the engine cowling from the gearbox breather and being serviced etc. They were famous for leaking small amounts of oil onto the ground. When you boarded from the air stairs you were directly under the #2 engine. So needless to say a customer would get a lube job every once in a while. LOL!
As a 17 year old boy in Portland in 1971 this was about the most exciting event that had ever happened, especially since we lived about 5 miles from the airport and I would regularly ride my bicycle down around the Portland airport and the Portland Air Base.
Just when you think that everything's been done, described and explained - here comes a whole new one.
That’s what we are going for!
@@MentourPilot i look forward to it.
It was easily three times as captivating as the standard "D.B. Cooper" story. We even know how the name came to be D. B. Cooper now... poor guy!
The "Cooper Vane" lol. The guy left a hell of a legacy.
@@MentourPilot Back in the day when planes had stairs and banks had cash.
As an ex BA BAC 1-11 pilot for fourteen years I agree that the demise of the airstairs is a shame. Without them I couldn't have stopped halfway down the Bravo cul-de-sac at LHR to pick up a first officer friend who nearly missed the last flight home to Jersey. The noise with the back door open and both RR Speys going was horrific and certainly impressed the passengers! Keep up the good work.
I loved the advantage of “clunk, we’re here, get out”
Now we wait on the jetway operator, then adjust it, and that’s a couple minutes. Even aircraft with door stairs need to wait for the jetway. Isn’t that the entire point?
Great story and presentation. Who knew the story of the ventral air stairs was so captivating! 2 thumbs up!
Makes you wonder how you can pull this off yourself...... Haha
Christmas Eve 1998 I was flying ABQ to MSP, but there was a huge snowstorm and we were diverted to FSD. However since we were a diversion, and FSD was so small, there was no available gate to disembark from.
We sat on the tarmac for three hours waiting for the weather in MSP to clear, but people started getting restless. Finally they found a spot to park the plane and we all disembarked through the aft air stairs of the 727, and we walked single file into the terminal under the wing. Truly was a unique moment to be able to see our airplane from that perspective.
After another two hours the weather cleared, they found a jetway, and we resumed our flight to MSP. I feel fortunate to have been able to use the aft air stairs in a non-emergency situation.
Very cool story! Thank you
That was fascinating and l like the crime element too. That was fun.
Glad you liked it! Share it with your friends. 😉
I agree!
Here here. It takes Petter to put a pure original spin on the most popular of topics!
Who doesn't like crime? WHO? :D
@@borderlineiq the victim's, some are just mean
I might have a little first-hand information on why you don’t see aft air stairs anymore... 😉
well...
Nice job Dan glad you made the trip
@@onesecureone He's an imposter. My grandfather took that money and wisely invested it in a small, boutique hotel, named after himself. Now that he's gone, we can finally reveal the truth. The rest is history.
You are my hero, D.B.!! Hope you enjoyed the $!
@@frankmiller95 I heard Manuel stole all the money and scampered off to Barthalona.
Petter, I think you have now become my favourite story teller. One of the things I love about aviation is there's so many interesting stories and tales over the years. Fascinating stuff.
@ Mark Hazeldi, yes he and David Suschet becoming fav story teller. Oh wait...Andy Griffith i American southern the best.
Him and mister ballen are the best
Yes, the storytelling's so good that I don't care that your videos have crowded out all the other air casualty videos in my feed.
Petter, your story-telling skills are simply superb. Your precision and clarity, the thoroughness of your research, the respectful way you comment - and your beautiful accent make every one of your videos compelling. You have me transfixed every time. Thank you for these videos and your analyses. They are very appreciated. Wishing you Health and Peace, Paul
I never realized why he asked for 4 parachutes. That makes a lot of sense. Smart guy....
@Harish b. Best video on youtube.
The two parachute variant has been a classic puzzle, although I'm not sure if the puzzle was created before or after that event.
But take two with you anyway!
Couldn't of been that smart, he didn't have a hoodie! Lol.
@@DeneF Maybe he made clothes from the extra parts?
Though I know the story well, I enjoy hearing different versions of the tale. I last boarded a 727 via the Air Stairs in 1989 on an AeroPeru flight. They were great, a wonderful way to load an airplane.
That 727 was a bit sketchy. I was flying with my Dad and we later found out that locals paid $25/ticket and it was buy-one-get-one-free. The oxygen mask compartments contained speakers playing folk music; I'm not sure if there were masks or not. But I do know that this aging airplane performed well, even when we had to land on a rough strip in the wilderness to unload some boxes from the passenger cabin to a bunch of men who came onboard with AK-47's. My Dad was a very experienced third-world traveler and in response to the shocked expression on my face assured me that we were probably just dropping off the payroll to one of the gold mines.
Oddly enough, some of the AeroPeru fleet were nice newer planes, like a fairly new Olympic Airlines Boeing with all the signs in English and Greek. Or a great little Fokker F-28 we flew to Cuzco that later tragically crashed.
But I will never forget the simple joy of loading that 727 via the belly stairway.
The last time I drove stairs to a plane was at JFK 1995. Walked on some in Bermuda 1973 and St. THOMAS IN 1982. THEY ARE COOL.
DB Cooper told me that those stairs was his favorite feature
You are lying. I never told anyone that.
@@se-kmg355 Crap! My bad, I didn't think you would find me here. Sorry! I won't tell them where the rest of the money is.
Really? DB Cooper told me he had designed the Cooper Vane. ;-)
Haha!
@@goofyrulez7914 It's been 50 years, the cash is all gone.
You've got to give it to Cooper, pretty ingenious idea and no one was hurt in anyway! Feels like some proper James Bond stuff - side note thanks Petter for suggesting this video recently, I've just found your channel and I am obsessed with the aviation incident series, in fact I had heard the name 'DB Cooper' but had no idea who he was!! Loved this video, I shall continue my quest to watch the whole playlist!
Well… if he actually survived, he wasn’t too bright because he left a substantial amount of money which was found in 1980. My guess is that he owed some money to some dangerous people, he hijacked the plane, got the cash, parachuted to the ground, took some of the money out of the bags so he could retrieve it later, but the men he owed made sure he could never go back there or anywhere else. I mean, they found some of the money, but never any remains so…
@@InCaveEntertainment"he wasn't too bright": Sorry to say it like that, but: According to you and to your limited imagination ;-) The correct thing to say is we do not know. And I'm not saying that as a mean to say "what do we really know, is there any proof for anything, bla bla bla". Here, I mean, we don't know, because we lack the intel. There's just not enough information. But from this presentation, the fact that this dude knew so much about barely anyone but CIA knew at that time... Yeah, I wouldn't say he was "not so bright". I'd acknowledge, however, that it doesn't seem it end well for him. Which is good. Even if polite, criminals do not deserve to win in the end.
@@huyxiun2085 - interesting. I refer to jails and prisons as “homes for the criminally challenged”. Because the people in there were stupid enough to get caught. While I certainly don’t advocate for anyone doing anything illegal, the fact remains that people exceed speed limits, roll 4-way stops, some shoplift, others commit other crimes, and most people don’t ever get caught. Unless they’re stupid like robbing the same bank three times (as one guy did, could have stopped after the first two robberies, but he was stupid, now in a federal prison, etc.)
@@InCaveEntertainment I think he was CIA, and it wasnt about the money. It was an experiment.
My very first flight as a little kid was on a 727 from Albany, NY to Chicago, IL. I remember exiting down the ventral stairs and being given a "wings" pin by a flight attendant as I started down.
I was also given wings as a boy on an international flight; I sat with a dead-heading captain in uniform and played cards with him for hours :-) (I think it was SAS)
I remember getting those too (in Australia) on (what was) Trans-Australia Airlines (TAA) in the 1970s, and distinctly remember the aft stairs, on what was probably a 727.
He's still effectively a sort of patron saint for skydivers
eh, mostly we make fun of him and assure everyone who asks he died...or DID HE?!
@@nobody-zp8tv he's like the guys who escaped from Alcatraz...
@@johnandrews3568 that's a great comparison ~ stay safe
A big reason the Convair 240 and Martin 2-0-2 had airstairs is that these aircraft were designed specifically to replace the Douglas DC-3 on secondary routes, and small secondary airports in the 1940s didn’t have stairs because the tail of a parked DC-3 is already on the ground.
Ever get into a DC3? It's quite an incline.
i have heard the cooper story before, but have to admit, you have done it in such a superb way! Thumbs up!
I like the way you've done the time bar thing at the bottom of the video, so people can skip to the parts they want to listen about. You can listen to it all like you intended, but those who haven't got 26min spare can watch the bits they are particularly interested in. This is awesome!
When the time comes to hang your cap up for the last time Captain Petter, you really must try to get into some king of broadcasting media. I was hung on your every word, in fact, it was one of the very best "insights" I have ever heard, and a fascinating story. Your efforts are very much appreciated I'm sure by a lot of people who have an interest like me, in anything avionic.
I’m so glad you feel that way. It’s truly great to hear.
Feel free to help my out by sharing this video with your friends on social media. It really helps.
Wow. What an incredible testament!
@@MentourPilot I concur. You're an outstanding speaker and present the information in a way that keeps the interest of people like me, who already knows a good amount about aviation, but it also isn't so technical that it goes over the head of non aviation buffs. Great speaker with excellent teaching instincts... Definitely would attend an event if you ever did a speaking tour.
Hear Hear !
I could not agree more. I binge watch him every night after work. Fascinating information.
Thank you for the story, Mentour Pilot, I watched it with great interest.
On TH-cam, few months ago, I watched a video telling of the Cooper highjack, but there isn't, and can't be, any real comparison about the quality of that content, when compared with your work.
I thought back ladders were available in all aircrafts, as they render possible autonomous disembarking - no they are installed only on few models.
Last time I used the back ladder in my long flying career (as a passenger) was year 2006, aboard an MD80 in Southern Italy - when Alitalia was still a thing. That was an airport where passengers walked from the gates directly to the aircraft, no air bridge, no buses, no nonsense, how nice was to fly. Things changed shortly after, when aircrafts lost their standing to the airports, and become ancillary to them.
*Thank you once more!* And forgive my nostalgia of the good ol' times..
When I was younger, the skydiving places would have these invited in for special occasion holidays( 'boogies' - generally held over 3 day weekend) we LOVED those air stairs! I am sure the pilots were exhausted by Sunday; we wanted them to get to altitude( usually 12,500ft), then hurry up and land for the next load waiting,& repeat all day long...so we could get in as many jumps as possible! For us, we got a break each time, to repack, make up the next manifest,& watch the load in the air get down... We were unthinkingly cruel that way. But, boy, did they get paid well to do a 'boogie'!!! Twin Otters were also a favorite for 'guest appearances', because of their climb rate. When you're used to ancient military-surplus Beechcrafts lumbering their way into the sky, these were a real treat!
This was interesting... More information about the "D. B. Cooper" incident than most of have heard. Thank you!
Awesome! I hope you liked it.
@@MentourPilot Was the Illysion-62 ever used here in the USA?
@@MentourPilot Absolutely! :)
@@wayneeligur7586 The Ilyushin-62 was never bought by American airlines, but plenty of them from Russia, Poland, Cuba etc. serviced airports in Canada and the US until a few years ago. Poland's two greatest airline disasters involved Il-62M's flying between Warsaw and New York (both crashed near Warsaw due to uncontained engine failures). I don't think the Il-62 had a ventral ramp; instead, it had a retractable leg to prevent the plane tipping nose-up on the ground, a function which a ventral ramp could fulfil on other aircraft. [Note: The LOT Polish Airlines Il-62 crashes were caused by egregious manufacturing and maintenance flaws of Russian origin; the Tu-154M Polish Air Force 101 crash outside Smolensk on 10 April 2010 was caused by egregious pilot error, mismanagement and impeachable political interference in the cockpit].
@@awuma Appreciate the lengthy answer. Yet I do think I flew out of ABQ. to Newark in one in 2003 I say this because it was the most uncomfortable and noisey plane I had ever been on. It took forever to tke off from ABQ. [5,000 ft el.]. Looking at planes from the USSR it seems that they used all of our then technologies to copy [poorly]] what we had, even lately their new offering is a clone of an Airbus? Tehy manufactured slip shod as a rule.
This was a really fascinating story! My dad used to fly DC-9s and the longer variants thereof, and I really loved those aft stairs. Also really great in reducing the boarding times and queuing.
Indeed they are! Thanks for watching!
Request: Could you cover/discuss: The Berlin Airlift? I understand that it had several firsts, including (but not limited to) Relying on Ground Approach Guidance, Strobe lights, and extremely bright lights to help pilots line up with the runway in the dark or bad weather, Illuminated cones/wands of various colors to help ground crew get a plane to where it is supposed to be for unloading, supplying a massive amount of Coal (for heating and cooking), Food, and Medicine.... Oh, yes! Candy dropping from the sky!!!
Are you sure your not confusing Burma with Berlin ? The Burma airlift was the greater of the two.
@@georgeholt8929 Burma was during WW2, it could be said that The Berlin Airlift prevented a war!
BTW, It took General Turner to make both work, although Gen. LeMay claimed credit for the Berlin operation... (It was filling before Turner took over from LeMay!!!)
A lot of what I admire about the Berlin Airlift is that it had a lot of firsts. Some pilots knowing how vital their cargo was, ignored the Minimum Acceptable Limits, put their faith in GCA (new technology) and landed! Then wrote down the Minimum (Ceiling, Visibility).
>It was the first time such an air power operation was used to preserve the peace .vs. supporting a war.
>It also ensured that enough people supported Truman that he won an election against Dewey (who was pretty much guaranteed to win prior to Stalin's blockade), and decimated the political power of the Ultra-Leftwing Democrats for decades!!
Vittles and Little Vittles also were pretty amazing!!!!
@@timengineman2nd714 I thought the comment was about the difficulty in getting airplanes to the landing zone, and less about cargo or time line. During the Burma airlift they used Curtis C-46 aircraft the Berlin event used C-54 aircraft, a newer aircraft.
@@georgeholt8929 Yes, in a way both are very much milestones of aviation history!
>Flying an overloaded airplane above it's service ceiling + not getting all the parts you need since "You're Not A Frontline Fighting Unit" = Flying the Hump (aka India to China airlift).
>>> A Certain Officer under Turner in charge of Maintenance happen to have the last name of Murphy!
Berlin also was a big strain since they had drawn down the US military so much. (Don't you mean R5D? Just curious as a Navy guy.)
Yeah, they first started out with C-47's but they were too small and basically took just as long to unload their 3.5 tons of load as it did to unload a C-54 which was the main reason they switched aircraft, even though the number of DC-4s/C-54s/R5Ds in Europe was very small.
The most significant thing for the pilots in the Berlin op was that there was a narrow "corridor" in the sky which they had to keep to, or risk being shot down by fighters from various Warsaw pact air forces. The Burma op never presented that particular challenge, nor had the bad guys knowing where you were at all times.
That meant no detours for turbulence, thunderstorms, etc. Some very scary flying.
Well worth the telling
Your brief discussion of other boarding systems brought me some memories of incidents related to me by my father, Tom Ellison, who for many years was the manager of navigation engineering for United Airlines based at their maintenance base in San Francisco. When the airlines first started implementing boarding ramps there were at least two designs; UAL used a system similar to the current system where the remote end of an extendable "jetway" is driven to the forward door of the aircraft steering with a pivoting wheel similar to the nose gear on aircraft and the entire ramp pivots horizontally at the terminal end. I don't recall if it was TWA or Pan Am, but one of them used another system where a fixed ramp extended out from the terminal about 100 feet then another section joined at 90 degrees extended over the plane's fuselage pivoting vertically with a curved end that actually rested on top of the airplane during boarding and was raised and lowered hydraulically. This worked quite well until the time that the hydraulics dramatically failed, swatting the aircraft causing considerable damage and pinning the plane to the terminal until it could be lifted off.
Another feature of this system was that the aircraft had to taxi straight at the terminal, stopping fairly close to the large windows where waiting passengers had a clear view into the cockpit. The initial design of antilock braking systems required the crew to turn the system off after exiting the runway (you may see where this is going). One crew discovered that failing to switch off this system when arriving at the terminal meant there was no way to actually stop the multimillion dollar airplane before colliding with an even more expensive departure area filled with very startled and now apprehensive passengers.
Back in 1987 I boarded a Dan Air Boeing 727-200 via the tail stairs. As a young AV Geek boarding an aircraft from the ground and getting to walk underneath those three Pratt & Whitney engines with the APU running was just the height of excitement! Using an airbridge is nowhere near as good!
It's funny, D.B. Cooper was always just "Uncle Dan" to me.
Very interesting story that goes beyond what the typical news sites state about it. Well done.
1979, Nice, France. I nearly lost my flight, went to counter late, they took me on a jeep and rushed me to the take off waiting zone where the Caravelle was waiting takeoff clearance! I boarded the plane through the rear stairs!! Quite an adventure. 😮
I am a ramp agent in Ibiza airport and my business is the handling agent for many airlines. Some of them use old aircraft with air stairs and, when they don't work, some of the airlines apparently don't fix them any more. They seem to prefer to pay for extra ground equipment. Maybe because it's more expensive to have replacement pieces and maintenance staff changing them? Maybe because they want as few AOG as possible?
That’s possible. Sometimes we also wait to get them fixed until a major overhaul since they are not essential.
I am a USAF veteran and a former crew of a Lockhead C-130. I love to fly but sorry to say I suffered a stroke and had to hang up my wings. I do enjoy these stories.
I’m very sorry and also thank you for your service sir
@@maLebowitz What service? Bombing children in 3rd world countries?
@@kaneosaki645 You support banker wars? What is he to be thanked for?
@@Vicus_of_Utrecht he was part of the military. He could have been shot down over Russia if ww3 broke out at the time
@@Vicus_of_Utrecht"banker wars" I wonder who you thought were the good guys in ww2
Never walk under the #2 engine of a 727. At least not the ones I worked with in mid-90`s. They all leaked oil on the unwary.
Did you notice that unwary is an anagram of runway - neat!!
Those are some old engines. I worked at PW&A assembling JT8s for a couple years in the late 70s. After that I had a job where I flew on 727s and 737s 3 or 4 times a month for years. They all leak oil.
@@Chris_at_Home laughs in B-52
@@Richardincancale crazy, I read the comment as 'runway'
Thought you said runway
Very interesting and entertaining video!
The largest passenger aircraft to have an air stair was the Ilyushin IL-86 widebody. In fact, it was specifically designed that way, so it could operate on remote airports without major infrastructure. When boarding, the passengers first went to the lower deck, where they would self-check their luggage into the hold and then climb up to the main deck.
Great vid. As you mentioned the 727-100 airstairs were used as an a emergency exit. But only if a handle was pulled that fired a pressure filled gas bottle to make the door struts actually lift the rear of the A/C up about, if I remember correctly, about 80cms. to raise the tail of the A/C high enough to allow egress.(The door locking mechanism was sheared off during this action.) I worked on the B727 from 1968 till they were retired from service in Oz around 2002. TAA, Ansett and Aeromarine. The B727-200 had rear side doors ii front of the engines so the rear stairs were not needed as an exit. As Aeromarine was a freight company, a prerequisite before unloading was to put in a tail strut, the stairs were not used. (-200 A/C.)
I wonder whether the CIA tests had been declassified at the time this happened, or how wide the tests groups where if still secret because knowing the details about the flaps and altitude needed to attempt it are pretty specific.
Makes me wonder whether he was ex-CIA. Maybe he got burned by the agency and this was his way of providing for his needs going forward and dishing out a bit of payback at the same time. It doesn't mean much that they only found some scraps of a couple bills - maybe he ditched some deliberately to make it seem like he didn't make it. If he took the money out of the country I doubt they had the capabilities back then to effectively track it overseas. Or maybe they did track some of it but covered it up because its better to make people think Cooper died and didn't get away with it.
@@andrewawakened628 To even attempt it as well, it speaks of courage either born of insanity or experience. Parachuting was still a fairly rare sport back then, not compared to today so he must have had some experience to want to attempt it.
@@andrewawakened628 I agree with everything you said. $200,000 in 1972 equates to about $987,000 in 2020 - so he could have easily retired on the money.
Could also have been a CIA-operation, (unlikely, but sorta possible)
@@amahlaka it was very coincidental that they landed at an airport near a bank that had an adequately prepared ransom package. Virtually have to be an cia fbi agent to know all of that.
Nice story! Well presented as always, of course, and also a reminder of the times when, as a passenger, you still had a lot of freedom. It brings back memories of a trip I made in the 80's, from Luxembourg to Jo'burg, when I simply asked and was allowed to visit the cockpit, just in time to see the sun rise somewhere over Africa - with a 180 degree view instead of from a small side window...... those were the days :-) !
I've been subscribed to your channel for several months now, and I've learned a lot about aviation, but this was a great video for many reasons. Not only did I learn a LOT about older jet airplanes and how they worked, but I loved the details about the infamous Cooper hijacking. Superb content. Top notch stuff.
I think he must have been a CIA agent, the fact that he knew so much.
Absolutely outstanding video. The best I have seen from Mentour Pilot. Educational and most interesting. Thank you so much. I remember this incident quite clearly from late 1971.
This is an excellent revue of the Air-Stair and all that pertains to it.
So glad you liked it!
Feel free to share it with your friends! It really helps the channel
I have heard this story several times, even recently on TH-cam. But this was by far the BEST telling of the story ever! And I enjoyed and appreciate the history and additional information about the ventral stairway. I always enjoy this channel and this is a good sample why!
That Cooper Vane is genius in its' simplicity and effectiveness.
i think that part of the appeal is the accent lol
Petter, this is one of your best! I never would have guessed that the Convairs had rear stairs. Used to watch them all the time at EWR. But I have deplaned on the rear stairs of the 727 and DC-9. And kudos to the 727, great aircraft with a smooth ride.
I know this story well, but you told it very well, including a couple of details I hadn’t known. Keep up the great work, we love your videos!
Just your enthusiastic smile in the beginning and experience from past videos made me upvote. And I was right. This was interesting, entertaining and fun! Thank you!
I was entering an airplane by the back stairs on my second flight ever in 1986 when i was 12. Never seen them again in my life, though i had lots of short and long flights in my youth following.
that's great to know.
I think I also used them a few times. My second commercial flight was on a 737, unfortunately it did not have these stairs, it makes me very sad.
This is awesome. Loved the 727 and the MD80 aft air stairs.
Thank you for the video!
I'd love to get your thoughts on something. My understanding is that Cooper's instructions for the pilots had some indirect consequences. Mainly, his demand that the landing gear must stay deployed, and the wing flaps needed to be at 15 degrees, would both limit the speed and altitude the plane could travel at. So, the pilots didn't have the option of ignoring Coopers requests about altitude and airspeed. My understanding is that pilots have to stick to specific victor flight paths at specific altitudes. As a result, Cooper's airspeed and altitude requests would have eliminated most of those flight paths. I believe that there were only two options at the specified airspeed and altitude. That would mean that Cooper could have had two accomplices waiting at a specified landmark on each of the two flight paths. Cooper supposedly asked a flight attendant whether lights he saw were the Merwyn Dam, and he asked about the location of McCord AF Base. Does it seem realistic that Cooper could have made his demands about speed, altitude, landing gear, and wing flaps, to ensure that the pilots could only choose one of two flight paths?
Actually the DC-3 was probably one of the first to incorporate what became know as an"integral air stairs" by using the rounded rear passenger door with pneumatic pistons to manually raise and lower it . Earlier models seem not to have had this feature which may not have been included until after WW 2 when the DC-3 became so widely used at smaller airports often with limited ground facilities and requiring quick single engine running turn time stops with only a few passengers getting on or off.
While working as a gate agent for a carrier in the Seventies I recall being taken out on the ramp and instructed on how to open an access door and push a handle to drop down the rear stairs upon arrival to prevent the aircraft from settling on its tail. In similar fashion an unattended 727 left parked during a snow storm having accumulated on horizontal surfaces settled on its tail lifting the nose wheel up into the air requiring a tricky recovery perhaps.
So impressed with the "Cooper Vane". Simple. Utterly brilliant!
What a great walk back in time. Thanks.
I worked on the 727-100 and 200 for many years and spent a lot of time in that aft stair area. There are many components back there including cockpit voice recorder and data recorder. The flow control valves for the AC Packs are back there too. There is a door that opens to get access to engine number 2 through the “S DUCT”. Anyhow, there are MANY maintenance items back there. We used to call it the “cooper lock”. The name in the maintenance manual calls it the “ANTI HIGHJACKING LOCK”. Another note , Those Pratt and Whitney JT 8 engines dripped a lot of oil from the gearbox breather. It would build up some oil on the bottom of the engine cowlings. Unfortunately a lot of people ended up getting a drip of oil when walking under the # 2 engine… haha…. I've got 1000’s of miles as a flight mechanic doing charters all over the place. Those 727’s were built like a tank and could take a lot of abuse. They were also a fast airplane cruising usually around .84 Mach. I will always miss that airplane along with the DC-10. Those were good times… Sorry I carried on so long!
Brilliant content. I used to love using the rear air stairs on the 727. It was really loud if the APU was on. I never knew about the Cooper switch. Epic. 👍
When D Cooper first came out in the news it reminded me of an NCO I knew with an Airborne unit I was assigned to in 1974. My first trip to Ft. Bragg, NC. was in 1968. I also am familiar with a Ranger unit at Ft. Lewis, Washington. We had a lot of CIA and other connected service members with us. The training we go through makes it an easy challenge to successfully complete such a mission. At El Toro MAS in Calif we also had such people doing covert operations.
It's ironic Jan-Feb 2001 I took a commercial flight from Atlanta to London and then Brussels and back. While boarding I carried silverware (knives, forks and spoons) which they noticed and commented once that it must be for meals. Of course the following year you couldn't carry so much as a tiny nail clipper knife and they are not permitted in courthouses either. Who is going to attempt harm with a 1-4" inch folding knife blade? According to religious accommodations Sikhs are suppose to be given such privileges. Not even sworn police can carry without permission in which case they use an alternate point if they must.
The thing I can't understand is that some of the notes were found but torn. This would make me believe that the jump was unsuccessful or part of a decoy.
If those notes were found on the riverbank, I'd bet that he went into the water. The river probably looked a lot like a clearing, if his chute had enough control to aim. Otherwise, just bad luck. Or, like you suggest, he threw a few bundles into the river to draw attention downstream.
What a story about that Cooper! I wonder why I never heard it before. ...Ten years ago I flew Як-42 / Yak-42 and we were using the rear airstair - an exotic experience nowadays. It felt quite exclusive to approach an aircraft from the side usually not accessible to passengers and I perceived the boarding as convenient and quick.
I loved this video! Thank you Petter!
Out of passing interest:
Perris Valley Skydiving in Southern California got hold of a DC-9 & converted it for jump use through it's rear opening... with removed stairs. Don't know if they still have it, haven't heard anything of it in some years now. Did hear it cost them fortunes to get airworthy, and they had to extend their runway to accommodate it. Also heard, that far as jump planes go, it was more of a 'novelty' than anything... as in not all that much fun once you'd jumped it a time or two. Search TH-cam for 'jump the jet perris' (sans quotes) for some videos.
This is the best version of the story I have watched/read. Im new to your channel and have been loving it!
Words you never want to hear your pilot say: _"What's a mountain goat doing way up here in a cloud bank?"_
(that's from _The Far Side_ by cartoonist, Gary Larson)
:=)
Cumulo-granite.
Thanks very interesting, I enjoyed this. take care and fly safe.
God Bless
I was interested to see your analysis after watching Lemino's documentary on this story: I wasn't disappointed.
You have some good work on your channel. Really helpful, even as a non-pilot: an IT guy interested in quality management & good practice.
This was great! I knew about the story but nobody ever concentrated on the aircraft itself. I learned quite a lot in this tutorial. Thanks for sharing this.
Petter, that is a very interesting video, and intriguing. Very informative, as you learn more about aircraft every time I watch you video,s.
I LOVE your channel. You are such an excellent communicator and your graphics are exceptional. My dad was a pilot, I miss him, and your videos help me remember his stories 😀. Awesome job!
My dad was a pilot too and I watch alot of aviation related content in his memory. I miss my dad alot and discovered the love for all things aviation is in the family blood!
Fantastic footage of a 727 rolling. That's at my local airport, EGLF. I live approx 600m from the northern perimeter. I've used airstairs on BAC 1-11, DC-9, located at the rear, and on an RYR 738 at Hahn. Years ago, they were nicknamed "bust stop jets".
I thought I had watched every video that you had produced Petter, until I came across this one. I loved that there was a crime element in this one.
What was fascinating was the fact that every banknote had been photographed. There was no mention of whether some of these notes had been tracked down as having been used, apart from a couple of bundles that were found by a river sometime later.
Remember how loud those 727s were? Outside that is... fortunately the engines were at the back leaving the noise behind for the passengers. Great video Petter. Thanks.
They took us on a field trip in sixth grade and we all got to hang off the chainlink at the gate and get blasted as it pulled away for takeoff .
I talked with a pilot and he said the 727 was a hot rod.
Petr, Great Job on video! I lived in SEA during this hi-jacking -- It was a cold, rainy, sleety night to jump into the mountain forests! Note on the money: It's location is downstream on the Columbia River bank, below the mouth of the Toutle River. The Toutle was ravaged by violent mudflows and flooding after the Mt St Helens' Eruption in 1980 -- possibly moving the currency miles from its drop point in the mountains downstream to the Columbia, (which is a very large, mighty river near Portland). Keep up these historical tales, you do very well!
My son and I toured a static display of an old FedEx 727 in Sioux City, IA and we paid extra attention to the air stair area. I've got several pictures of the area which are super interesting to look at. Love the old 727 and am thankful I got to fly on one which was an old Northwest Airlines aircraft, from KMSP to KGRR back in '99.
This was the first Mentour video I ever watched, because I went looking for information on DB Cooper. From that I immediately subscribed and became interested in aviation as a result. Thanks Petter!
Awesome story! Thanks ... In July 2006 I jumped from a similar aircraft with air stairs (a DC-9 21) at the World Free Fall Convention in Rantoul Illinois! It was an unforgettable skydive akin to a 727 they used in the past. The DC 9 is still sitting at Perris Skydiving (now unused) in California.
ZOMG, this was actually in Loki today! hahahahah. The guy who claimed to have a bomb and jumped out of that door was Loki.
I was coming here to post the same thing haha
My father was doing a delivery flight years ago with a C47, and at one of his scheduled stops ( well was the last one for that particular trip) he came in to land, and half way down the, what he thought was newly tarred runway (it was on the schedule for doing "real soon"), he hit a pothole in the water, as it was not tar he saw at the approach in the evening, but heavy rain earlier the day had resulted in flooding. The pothole resulted in the one landing leg detaching, so he made the decision to lift the remaining gear, as he was too slow to go around, plus would have an issue still with only one landing gear. Thus the plane duly belly flopped, both props went and bent, and he skidded to a halt in a spray of water, right at the terminal building, just as the duty ATC came out of the pub to fire a read flare.
None of the passengers actually noticed, even though they had, when boarding the morning, needed to use a set of stairs, but alighting merely stepped down into the mud. He called the airline, and the next morning there was another C47 flying up, loaded with a crew of mechanics, 2 propellers, the requisite jacks, tools and one undercarriage leg, plus some money to pay for their being there a week. Replacement plane flew the passengers on, and left the repair crew there to do the repairs, and the plane, arrived, a week late. Tough planes those.
My last flight on one was also interesting, in that the landing gear did not show locked, so there were some rather interesting minutes with the door open, and me and the flight engineer leaning out to look under the wing, so see if the gear was down and looked locked. Faulty switch on the gear, fixed after landing, and I got back on it to carry on as well. Undoubtedly the best landing I ever had in a C47, somewhat marred by the fire truck pacing us on the runway edge, foam cannon on the ready, just in case. But, as the fuel load was about 2 minutes at the time, the fire was likely going to be survivable anyway. Just we still had the original WWII seats and belts.
I was out in Zimbabwe in 1988, having a chat with some pilots there, one of the stories they told me was that Zambian Airways had just bought a new plane, so new they hadn't even insured it yet... On it's first flight down to Zambia the pilot got the wrong airstrip, the old disused one that someone had dug a drainage ditch across... Lets just say that plane didn't have ANY landing gear by the time it came to a stop!
Great explanation. I also thought it would not be interested but I was hooked.
Great to hear!!
Feel free to help me out by telling your friends on social media about the video. It helps a lot.
@@MentourPilot I hope to see more of these stories "in living color" - the various perspectives, the details in the dramas. I don't have any specific ideas because I am not a raconteur, but it sounds like you have the talent for it. The technical approach keeps me coming back but this one will have me watching closely for new videos.
Back in the 60's my friend's dad was a passenger on a DC9. Passengers exited from the back door those days in smaller airports.
one of the best stories ever -- read it when i was a kid... blew my mind.
Nice video, really love technical history lessons like this. You answered a few questions I always wonder about when it comes to airstairs. And as you said, boarding a DC-9 using the airstair is quite an impressive thing compared to todays dull tubes. Thank you a lot!!! Lets have more of this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I will do my best!
Meanwhile you can help me by sharing this video with your friends on social media. It really helps the channel.
From the Pacific NW, and of course grew up with the story of "D. B. Cooper". So interesting that his hijacking help create a change in the industry. Thanks.
Very very good content. The animation makes it easier and more interesting to understand and it is interesting for any aviation geek at any level. More videos like these; please. An idea: How about a video about unusual/challenging approach- and take off procedures?
It's now about 98% certain that Richard Floyd McCoy was Dan Cooper or DB Cooper
See Dan Gryder's recent TH-cam investigation.
Worth the watch if you can make it through the lengthy beginning.
I remember boarding the DC-9 as a boy using the air stairs.
I thought I knew about the Cooper story, but after seeing this episode I realised there was so much more detail to it. This is the reason I love this channel! 10/10.
Really interesting. Enjoyed that
Oklahoma city has an airport hub that flies Federal prisoners around the USA with a 727 that loads/unloads prisoners through this entry.
Cool!
that could mean cooper has gone through the backdoor more often.
could he have learned it in prison?
And San Diego airport too
@@fukpoeslaw3613 I got the impression from the video that he might have been someone with detailed knowledge of those tests the CIA was doing.
@@fukpoeslaw3613 I have the feeling Cooper knew alot because he either had military training or had worked for one of the aerospace companies.
Never heard of that Hijacking but is sounds super interesting.
Hope you liked it!
Its an intriguing "incident", no one got hurt, just some stolen cash, and a parachute that was never recovered.
Wow, you must be really young. They made a Movie about DB Cooper. I was in Kindergarten in Vancouver Washington(across the river from Portland) at the time when this happened and can still remember it being on the News.
There is a great deal of information about DB Cooper, since fans of true crime are absolutely obsessed with this story. :)
wow.. surprised to see one of the Oil Spill Response B727s in this video at 4:23 (can't work out if it's G-OSRB or OSRA), both still have their aft stairs I'm happy to confirm... I helped with some design work on the vent systems for these. Both ex FedeX freighters that would switch between Oil Spill deterrent deployment standby and freighter work periodically in order to maintain hours. If you look at the aircraft in the video, you can make out the dispersal booms in red/white flaring out under the engines.. I was lucky to actually walk up the aft stairs during a survey of one of these fine aircraft at Lasham... and then crawl around in the cargo hold in amongst the control cabling.. good times!!! Great channel, really enjoying your content!!!!
I was entertained throw out the whole video ,wow I really liked it
Awesome!
As a kid I used the airstairs of Air France DC 9’s. I agree, it was a totally cool the-way-the-future-was feeling.
Bill Rataczak was the copilot on the DB Cooper flight. Flew with him when he became a 727 captain. He retired in '99 and believe is still living.
Cooper did not care about the route taken after takeoff, so either he figured if he had made it out of the jungle that the NW would be easy, was crazy, or the pilot was in on it and the drop point was determined. If so, seems Cooper and the Pilot must have been buddies from a past 'life´. Did Mr. Rataczak every comment on the pilot? Did the pilot have such a background where such a thing could even be possible?
@@ep5acg some thought the 1st Officer was Cooper.
@@joinjen3854 I wonder how that would work. Surely they would miss the 1st officer while he was sitting in the back ..
@@ep5acg crews knew people were getting cash and they were poorly paid. What if the crew staged it? The composite drawing is from the crew . What if a business man with an attache was there. NONE of the passengers knew of a hijack going on.
@@joinjen3854 hah great theory. Then no one even jumped. Perhaps just tossed a sack of rocks out the back. Ah but what about the money found on the bank of the Columbia? And how in the heck would they get that big sack of cash off the plane after they landed? .. well perhaps someone on the ground in on it. lol seems at least as good of a theory is all the others.
Brilliant description of the DB Cooper hijack, and I’ve watched a few on here!, you should put it into your title of the video so it comes up when people search for the story.
First of all, I would like to wish Lucas the best of luck on his PPL! Second, I live in the city next to Portland right on the ILS to the 10 runways and the story of DB Cooper is legend even here!
I always found this story so fascinating.
In 1976 I lived about 10 miles from the Columbia river. I used to go there to fish with friends. We’d camp out on the bank of the river and talk about Dan Cooper’s tale. I use to walk along the shore and close to the tree line hoping I’d find the cash Dan Cooper carried on his jump. At that time I thought he jumped successfully but maybe he became separated from the money. I never found any money or evidence of Cooper’s jump but it was fun anyway. I remember that event being the most interesting story at the time even with the Vietnam War and Nixon’s role in the Watergate scandal being the leads on nightly news. I often wonder if I would’ve kept the money but I knew it would be marked. In 1976 the currency was probably still in fair shape. But when kids found some of the money in 1980 the bills were obviously victims of the environment.
I’ve seen a dozen shows on Cooper’s hijacking. It will always be one of the great mysteries probably never to be solved.
DAN GRYDER at the PROBABLE CAUSE channel has an excellent analysis of DB COOPER including a suspects family recanting their statements that provided an alibi .
I believe several years ago someone converted a B727 into a sky diving plane using the rear ventral stairs. Would be fun to find that.
According to Wikipedia, it was a DC-9, owned by Skydive Perris.
A 727 was one of the featured jump planes at World FreeFall Convention during the 90s, I made a few jumps, even wore the "costume." There's some YT videos here and there. Aircraft was cargo type, all 200 sit on floor with seat belts on take off. Because it is hot and humid in Illinois, the interior fogs up at about 5000, it clears later. Jump run at 13K. Airstairs removed and they lined the hallway with plywood to reduce chance of an object snagging a exiting skydiver. Interesting because exit speed is about 150 instead usual jump plane exit speed of 100 (usual freefall is 120), get positive control immediately. I've heard some go into a track position on exit and were able to get slightly above height of the t-tail.
@@wrightmf Cool! That would be thrilling!