the official physical description of cooper has remained unchanged and is considered reliable. flight attendants schaffner and mucklow, who spent the most time with cooper, were interviewed on the same night in separate cities, and gave nearly identical descriptions: around tall, , mid-40s, with close-set piercing brown eyes and swarthy skin. because the tie clip was pinned on the left side there is the possbilty cooper was left handed; he smoked raleigh cigerettes and drank bourbon and soda.while he knew the airstair could be lowered cooper had to ask about how the airstair was operated indicating that while he had knowledge of an airstair he did not have practical experience of how to operate one.