Hello Everyone: First let me say, I flew with the Second Officer also called a Flight Engineer of the Cooper flight on a Boeing 727. His name was Bill Ratacak and was a very athletic guy when I knew him. When we flew together with him as a Captain on the DC-10, he would get to the layover hotel and put on his roller blades and be gone. Every once in a while I'd see him zooming down the hills of San Fran going like hell and making a turn at a corner like a fighter jet. I thought that guy would never slow down. I have heard in the last couple of years he had been slowed down by a muscle effecting nerve disease of some kind. It has a name, but I didn't file it away in my brain as I should have. It is sad to hear of such an active man being taken over by something as well as he took care of himself. I am not sure if Bill survives these days. The other two pilots passed a way a long time ago.

Another thing that came out of the DB Cooper event was that no other flights ever experienced a similar exit down the back stairs of any Boeing 727. At the time of DB's adventure the rear stairs and entrance could be lowered into the slip stream as the plane flew with no ill effects to speak of in controlling the aircraft.

The answer to eliminating this possiblity was ingenious and simple and probably took a Boeing engineer a whole coffee break to line it out. What was installed was a wind vane that rotated into position to stop the stairs from coming down once flying speed had been achieved by the 727. On the ground the weather vane which had a spring mechanism attached to it would sit at a right angle to the fuselage. When airborne it rotated in line with the fuselage mechanically locking the stairs from deploying. It looked a lot like a Table Spoon turned sideways. This mechanism still allowed emergency evacuation if something like a cabin fire occurred on the ground. Ingenious and no other 727s as far as I am aware were ever hijacked with the rear stairs in mind as an exit for the perpetrator.

Thanks for reading,
CapnGriff