Newly found parachute not from D.B. Cooper, says man who provided the skyjacker's chutes

VANCOUVER, Wash. -- A recently discovered parachute could not have been used by D.B. Cooper in 1971, says the man who packed the four chutes that were given to the mysterious skyjacker.

The torn, tangled parachute -- found by children about a month ago along a dirt road near Amboy -- was probably made around 1945, said Earl Cossey, who examined the chute for the FBI on Friday.

The FBI said the matter remained under investigation.

A man who had given his name as 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 then bailed out of the jet as it flew 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.

Cossey, who sold parachutes at a skydiving operation in Issaquah in the 1970s, had provided the chutes that the FBI gave Cooper. He told The Columbian of Vancouver that the newly found chute "absolutely, for sure" could not have been one of the four that he provided.

"The D.B. Cooper parachute was made of nylon," he said. "This 1945 parachute was made of silk."

FBI Agent Robbie Burroughs in Seattle said Monday that agents had not ruled out the possibility that the chute was from Cooper.

"We haven't made a determination one way or the other yet," Burroughs said. "We're still in the process of finishing up what investigative steps we think are necessary to feel certain about calling it one way or the other."

The FBI had launched a publicity campaign last fall, hoping to generate new tips to solve the 36-year-old mystery.