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of } a ‘accidentiTha Flag bat spent he “DB! Cooper’ & considerable:effort verifying the interview-~we bave ye i ens orate i the, yansom be bad received eaSince “tben he: “PBI, assiggad by: eS ee, BES i he: ad and by, battalios s Of G G Is. ANONYMOUS “INTERVIEWER; The: ‘spent ~ countless’ | bous sand many * : thousands: of Me ‘paper don't do you justice.”: Be ee taxpayers'dollars trying to find Cooper. : \t COOPER:s My sentiments exactly. It’s funny: ‘what, s, But’ ‘Cooper-the name the bijacker used at Portland | “ eyewitnesses don’t see. They were fifteen pounds and. e * when’ boarding. Flight ':'No. 305, Nortbwest’s .-:. pwo inches off. And that artist’s picture stunk. If. were | vanscontinental “milk run” which emanated at National * a vain man, I'd sue him for libel. But I've gor. no reason: Airport. in. Washington, .D.C.—bas evaded bis would-be --\' complain... oS . captors. with the same. style‘and elan be exbibited in a _ ANON: Why are ‘you here, of all places Dera pulling. the most bizarre, caper. in; the bistory of aerial . . COOPER: Why not? b eo piracy. = ANON; Well, the ‘Papers say you’ re. in Mexico, or: ar an Goaded ‘by public’ “adoration ‘of the’ ‘skyiacker, and - “South America." : i. ‘S vankled almost to tears by such: Coopermaniacal items as.” COOPER; And that's “where. the _ authorities are : . with: gloves and long johns,. bothers ballads (“D.B. Cooper, ‘Where; Are You Now"), DB..." looking, right?, You don’t escape just by. tossing" auch, protection you gan bring along ona bu Cooper’ sweatshirts, and’ even memorial bikini panties, _~ borders; look at James Earl Ray. The trick is not to be ~". from: Portland to Seattle, (laughing) It would’ have: been the Seattle office of the FBI bas sworn to scour every _ where they think you'll be. For instance, they didn’t. - a bit suspicious if | ‘had ‘come aboard: in sheavy., Dots; inch of terrain between-Sea-Tac and Reno to track’ - expect anyone to hijack a plane in the Northwest, and a with Eddie Bauer ‘sub-ertic. gear and & sport u F “;down their man, At this writing it looks very much as if they didn’t expect a parachutist, and... well, I'm sure *- would have had quite s time. fivting i into ISD 1, Mr, Hoover's minions may bave ta do exactly that. -. ~ -you catch my drift. I'm not in Mexico or South America: | ANON: I guess so, but did you, back on Res media bas been just as eager for clues to Cooper's _. yet, so don’t believe everything you tead in the papers, .”' jump immediately after you opened ‘the doo i wetreabouts, bis true identity, bis motives. Locally, the =: ANON: How long .did it take you to plan the ~~ COOPER: Hell, no. That. would have, been |: Pel offered a $5,000 reward under their Secret Witness _- skyjacking? dead giveaway. | had, to: wait until I was’ ver. ‘crime fighter series. The Seattle Times, while gently - COOPER: A year, six months. \ had the notion for a.‘ touchdown area. This is where the FBI screwed up. chiding editorially those who would adulate Cooper, bas long time, but I didn’t start the ground work until June. * At the “‘appropriate™ time 1 went back past all those _ pretty much kept its button-down cool about the whole | Something happened which made me think it was time. empty seats to the stairs, Christ, it was noisy. Next tim ‘' thing. to do ir. ~~ LHL have something better than kleenex for ear. plugs. Now, into this lacuna-filled’ tangle of pop heroism, ’ ANON: What was that? tried to walk down all the stairs. About the tenth step. electronic legend and FBI fumbling, steps the Seattle COOPER: Skip it. It would take too long to explain. think it was, | stepped off, It was all wind and. grav “Flag with an authentic, first-person, totally | exclusive ANON: Tell us how you got the idea. * afcer that. ‘ interview with D.B. Cooper bimself. . COOPER: It came to me while | was watching TV, ' ANON: Were you aware that planes were following: .Elsewbere in this issue we bave explained something Hijackers before me had always been first class fools. . the Northwest 727? .. . 1, ‘about bow that worldwide scoop was obtained, and the Can you imagine anything more stupid than risking the‘ COOPER: Yes, I couldn’t see them in ‘the plane: oO lengths to which the Flag is prepared to go to protect death penalty because you want to go to Cuba right, - during my. fall, but there is NO way I could miss hearin; the anonymity of “D.B. Cooper". In no way do we — now.-Hell, you want to go to Cubs, charter a boat, or go ps them once I bailed out. Knowing how close McChord is, either condone or condemn Cooper's crime; our task is to Mexico.-Their airline isn’t so bad. "|; to Sea-Tac, I would have had to be awfully stupid not to4) to simply report the news, from any viable source. These guys who set s0 worked up about polities are.,: .. figure.on having company as we flew south down Vecto All we promised, in return for this interview, was that sick, ar a ee 23, It, was a calculated risk. That is why | jumped in bad. _—-~awe would under no circumstances~ including grand fury. Met wanted’ manev Daina i foe maneu ne Bs wueather and ar night “And Tennnnca Pwoited bnvee a Hrelathd