The Hijacker

Puzzler time. Here we go.

You gotta pay attention here.

A lone hijacker commandeers a jetliner that's on its way from Boston to Los Angeles.

At gunpoint, he instructs the pilot to land the plane at O'Hare in Chicago, halfway through the flight. When they land, he further instructs the pilot to call the authorities and tell them that this hijacker wants a million dollars in cash and three parachutes. If they give in to this demand, he will release half the hostages on the plane.

So the authorities show up at O'Hare and they have all the stuff he demanded. The hijacker lets half the hostages off the plane, as promised. Then they load the plane with the three parachutes and the one million dollars and they take off again.

He tells them to head towards Los Angeles.

After they get going, he then tells the pilot to lower the altitude. He opens the door with the million dollars in the suitcase attached to one parachute, and himself attached to the other parachute.

When the time is right, he gets all set and jumps out over Montana somewhere, with one parachute strapped to his back, and one strapped to the money. He lands somewhere in the wilderness and runs toward his freedom.

And the puzzler question is simple, what did he do with the third parachute?

Good luck.

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Remember last week's puzzler?

The Two Camrys

Puzzler time. This one is automotive in nature. Here we go.

Years ago in the shop, I had two Toyota Camrys side by each, as we say in the trade. One of them didn't run. It cranked when you turned the key, but it wouldn't fire up. And the other one was in for an emissions test.

So I say to my fellow mechanic, Ralph, "Go ahead and do these two cars."

So he takes the emissions tester probe, he sticks it in the tailpipe of the car, which he's supposed to do the emissions test. He opens the hood. Next thing I know, he's cranking and this car won't start.

He then takes the probe out of that tailpipe, sticks it in the other car, the car that didn't run. He turns the key. And of course, it doesn't start. It does the same thing that the first car did.

And I said, "What on earth are you doing?"

And he says, "It's like catching a cold. These cars are too close together."

Of course, it looks to me like he's just did the emissions test on the wrong car. But neither of them will start now. They both just crank and crank, but don't start.

But then he explains it to me and I said, "Ah ha!"

So the puzzler question is, what was he doing?