They're getting warmer.......

 
The FBI is investigating a "credible" lead in the "D.B. Cooper" skyjacking case in which a man hijacked a plane for $200,000 in ransom in 1971 and parachuted into the night with the bag full of cash, the Seattle Times reports.

CAPTION

By LM Otero, AP

Ayn Sadalo Dietrich, spokeswoman for the FBI's Seattle office, cautions that the agency is not on the verge of a big break, but is carrying out "due diligence" on new information, the paper says.Dietrich was responding to a lengthy article on the case by the British newspaper The Telegraph.

READ:  The Telegraph's article

She says the FBI, responding to a tip, is trying to extract a fingerprint from an item linked to a potential suspect and compare it to one taken from the Boeing 727 after the Thanksgiving Eve skyjacking.
She calls the new information "the most promising lead we have right now," the Times reports.
In the hijacking, "Cooper" claimed to have a bomb and forced the plane to Northwest Orient flight to land, where he obtained parachutes and the ransom money. He bailed out somewhere northwest of Portland.
Some of the money was found by a child digging in a sandbar along the Columbia River in 1980, but the whereabouts of "Cooper" remains a mystery, assuming that he survived the jump from 10,000 feet.

National Treasure III

Starring Nicolas Cage, who sneaks into the Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy museum at night, along with a beautiful, blond (female)  museum docent, and has to outwit all the animated manikins in order to find and remove a priceless treasure.

Finding the 1947 Beechcraft Model 35 Bonanza, they quietly sneak into the airplane, and with a screwdriver and small electric drill, they remove the storm window latch (you can see it in this picture), fire up the engine, and make their escape through the window, (being sure to remain below 126 kts, the placarded max "window open" speed).


Then, finding an open FEDEX office, they mail the precious item to ME, where it is used to fix my Bonanza.  I don't see any other way to get my hands on one.

Sundowner For Sale

Thanks to Karlene, my "Sundowner For Sale" is being seen by more people than I reach from my blog:


http://karlenepetitt.blogspot.com/2011/07/sundowner-for-sale_18.html

Meanwhile, back from vacation, I would like to fly my  new Bonanza, but it is grounded.  I broke the small handle that holds the pilot's side storm vent window closed (and they cost a million bucks)....