VANCOUVER, Wash. — A recently discovered parachute could not have been used by D.B. Cooper in 1971, says the FBI and the man who packed the four chutes given to the mysterious skyjacker.
The parachute — found about a month ago by children near Amboy — was probably made around 1945, said Earl Cossey, who examined the chute for the FBI on Friday.
“The D.B. Cooper parachute was made of nylon,” he said. “This 1945 parachute was made of silk.”
Cooper hijacked a Northwest Orient flight from Portland, Ore., to Seattle in November 1971, claiming he had a bomb. After the plane landed at Seattle, he released the passengers in exchange for $200,000 and four parachutes and asked to be flown to Mexico. He bailed out of the jet somewhere near the Oregon line.
Some of the money given to him was found in 1980 along the Columbia River, but the fate of Cooper remains unknown. Many think he could not have survived the jump.
