Talk:D. B. Cooper

Investigation section

Does anyone know if searching for missing/unaccounted persons was part of the investigation? I'm not sure how things worked back then, but even if the family didn't report him missing (either out of embarrassment or because he had no surviving immediate family) he would have failed to show up to work, pay bills, maintain his home, collect pension, and so on. Seems like a pretty obvious lead to discard 2001:BB6:78A5:C600:9A2:9057:FF54:B7C3 (talk) 22:35, 1 October 2021 (UTC)

As mentioned in the article, the FBI did look, but did not find anyone who disappeared that weekend. Some have used this as indirect evidence that he survived -- but as we all know, an absence of evidence is not necessarily evidence of absence. DoctorJoeE ^Stalk/_Talk 23:37, 6 October 2021 (UTC)

TFA?

I was considering nominating this for TFA for its 50th anniversary of the Cooper's mysterious disapearance. Thoughts? Article appears to be in decent shape.  Spy-cicle💥  ^Talk? 23:01, 6 October 2021 (UTC)

Sure -- why not? DoctorJoeE ^Stalk/_Talk 23:34, 6 October 2021 (UTC)

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Available evidence and a preponderance of expert opinion suggests that Cooper probably didn’t survive his high-risk jump...

As someone who has researched the case for many years, I'm curious as to what is the available evidence and the preponderance of expert opinion? Available evidence to indicate death would be a body, body parts, clothes, a parachute, a missing persons report, the money, etc. None of this has occurred except for about 300 of the 10,000 bills. Available evidence really does not indicate that he lived or died. The copycat hijackers survived. The FBI kept the case open for years and spent probably millions of dollars looking at living suspects.

The footnote cites a FBI page that says this "As many agents before him, Carr thinks it highly unlikely that Cooper survived the jump. “Diving into the wilderness without a plan, without the right equipment, in such terrible conditions, he probably never even got his chute open.”"

This citation indicates that it is the FBI that says he did not survive. Agent Larry Carr has stated before that he has never skydived. I can think of a number of FBI agents who believe he survived, granted most of them are quoted around specific suspects.

Here are a number of entries dating as far back as 2001 when the page was created:

No conclusive evidence has surfaced regarding Cooper's whereabouts, and several theories offer competing explanations of what happened after his famed jump.

Despite hundreds of suspects through the years, no conclusive evidence has surfaced regarding Cooper's true identity or whereabouts, and the bulk of the money was never recovered. The FBI believes he did not survive the jump.[2] Several theories offer competing explanations of what happened after his famed jump.

Published reports indicate that FBI agents currently handling the case consider it highly unlikely that Cooper survived his risky and ill-advised jump.[6] “Diving into the wilderness without a plan, without the right equipment, in such terrible conditions, he probably never even got his 'chute open,” said Larry Carr, the Special Agent currently in charge of the investigation.[7]

It looks like on 19 September 2016‎ DoctorJoeE made the edit that added in the words preponderance and expert opinion.

It seems odd that a free page like Wikipedia would use an FBI page as the sole reference for a topic that is disagreed on. Why not say that some in the FBI believe he died and that others believe he lived? Dwnoone1 (talk) 00:44, 2 November 2021 (UTC)

I've taken it out, agree that 'preponderance of sources' is WP:WEASELy , I think 'His fate is unknown' is a fair summary and already in that paragraphJeffUK (talk) 14:11, 24 November 2021 (UTC)

FA concerns

A few of the sources here don't look like the high-quality RS required for WP:WIAFA.

• ""History's Greatest Unsolved Crimes". Frances Farmer Archive. Archived from the original on June 24, 2016. Retrieved February 7, 2011."
• "Research Conclusions: Cooper Research Team web site Archived November 25, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved August 28, 2014." - what makes citizenslueths.com a high-quality RS?
• "Martin Andrade Jr, MBA (December 1, 2014). "Survival Probability Analysis of the D.B. Cooper Hijacking, using Historical Parachuting Data" (PDF). Martinandrade.files. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 30, 2015. Retrieved September 30, 2017." - any indication that this wordpress site is RS
• " "Suspects". Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved May 29, 2018." - website is dbcooperforum, almost certainly not RS
• What makes crimeslam.com RS?
• " Craig, John S. "D.B. Cooper Suspect Named: William Pratt Gossett," associatedcontent.com." - what makes this source RS, web search indicates this is almost certainly self-published
• What makes thinairpodcast high-quality RS?
• "Richardson, R. Still Missing: Rethinking the D.B. Cooper Case and Other Mysterious Unsolved Disappearances. Terra Mysteria Media (2014), pp. 142–147. ISBN 099600470X" - what makes this high-quality RS?
• " Skyjacker – The Richard McCoy Jr. Story (March 2, 2011). ParachutistOnLine.com Archived July 3, 2017, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved February 25, 2013." - what makes parachutistonline.com a high-quality RS?
• "Lehigh Valley International Airport began as airmail stop (September 3, 2010). Lehigh Valley History Archived July 8, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved March 8, 2011." - wordpress site, are you sure it's high-quality enough for FA?
• dropzone.com refs are forum posts

This is the sort of article with a high risk of original research/poor sourcing being added, so sourcing, especially for theories, needs heavy attention. Hog Farm _Talk 17:10, 26 November 2021 (UTC)