Ah the power of TV! Seems a few kids discovered a buried parachute in just the right section of Southwest Washington after seeing a program on infamous plane hijacker D.B. Cooper.

Children playing outside their home near Amboy found the chute’s fabric sticking up from the ground in an area where their father had been grading a road, agent Larry Carr said Tuesday. They pulled it out as far as they could, then cut the parachute’s ropes with scissors.

The FBI is hopeful they’ll be able to learn more about the chute before they start to excavate the area it was found in, looking for a 37 year old clue. At this point they know it’s white, old and thats about it.

There are no obvious markings on the parachute to indicate whether it’s the type Cooper used, a Navy Backpack 6 with a 26-foot canopy, Carr said. He’s hoping a member of the public who has expertise in the parachutes will come forward and confirm whether it’s the right kind before the FBI bothers to excavate the property. Barring that, the agency could turn to scientific analysis of the fabric.

“We’ve got to be pretty darn sure we’re not wasting time and money here,” he said.

Could be an interesting story brewing. The location of the chute brings into other question other assumptions about D.B. Coopers’ escape including the discovery of some $5,800 in cash that was recovered in 1980.

Parachute May Belong to Famed Hijacker [AP]