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## The Parachute Question
A detail that has received significant attention from researchers is the parachute Cooper chose to take when he jumped.
He was given four chutes: two main (back) parachutes and two reserve (front) parachutes. He did not take all four. Evidence on the plane when it landed in Reno indicated that he had taken one main chute. The second reserve—the non-functional dummy—was still on the plane. The evidence strongly suggests Cooper did not take the non-functional reserve, which, if true, suggests he either knew it was non-functional or chose his chute for other reasons.
Some analysts have argued that a trained parachutist would have recognized the dummy reserve by feel or by inspection and would have avoided taking it. If true, this points toward someone with actual parachute training and experience. Others have argued that a layman might have chosen a main chute simply because it was larger and more obvious.
Cooper jumped in the dark, in late autumn, in a business suit, from a low altitude for a parachute jump, into unknown terrain. Professional skydivers who have analyzed the conditions consistently describe the jump as extremely dangerous by the standards of recreational parachuting. The altitude, the night conditions, the cold temperature, the lack of appropriate clothing, and the terrain all argue against easy survival.
But people have survived more improbable jumps.
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## The FBI’s Composite and the Description Problem
One of the enduring obstacles in the Cooper investigation is that the case’s most detailed evidence—the witness descriptions—is also inherently imprecise.