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This is going to be long, but I swear, IT’LL BE WORTH IT. “D. B. Cooper is the name popularly used to refer to an unidentified man who hijacked a Boeing 727 aircraft in the airspace between Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington on November 24, 1971. He extorted $ 200,000 in ransom and parachuted to an uncertain fate. Despite an extensive manhunt and an exhaustive (and ongoing) FBI investigation, the perpetrator has never been located or positively identified. The case remains the only unsolved air piracy in American aviation history. The suspect purchased his airline ticket under the alias Dan Cooper, but due to a news media miscommunication he became known in popular lore as ‘D. B. Cooper.’ Hundreds of leads have been pursued in the ensuing years but no conclusive evidence has ever surfaced regarding Cooper’s true identity or whereabouts, and the bulk of the ransom money has never been recovered. Numerous theories of widely varying plausibility have been proposed by experts, reporters, and amateur enthusiasts. While FBI investigators have insisted from the beginning that Cooper probably did not survive his risky jump, the agency maintains an active case file—which has grown to more than 60 volumes—and continues to solicit creative ideas and new leads from the public. ‘Maybe a hydrologist can use the latest technology to trace the $5,800 in ransom money found in 1980 to where Cooper landed upstream,’ suggested Special Agent Larry Carr, leader of the investigation team since 2006. ‘Or maybe someone just remembers that odd uncle.’” Highlights from the Wiki article: Flight 305, approximately one-third full, took off on schedule at 2:50 pm, local time (PST). Cooper passed a note to Florence Schaffner, the flight attendant situated nearest to him in a jumpseat attached to the aft stair door. Schaffner, assuming the note contained a lonely businessman’s phone number, dropped it unopened into her purse. Cooper leaned toward her and whispered, ‘Miss, you’d better look at that note. I have a bomb.’ The note was printed in neat, all-capital letters with a felt pen. It read, approximately, ’I have a bomb in my briefcase. I will use it if necessary. I want you to sit next to me. You are being hijacked.’ Schaffner did as requested, then quietly asked to see the bomb. Cooper cracked open his briefcase long enough for her to glimpse eight red cylinders (‘four on top of four’) attached to wires coated with red insulation, and a large cylindrical battery. After closing the case he dictated his demands: $200,000 in ‘negotiable American currency’; four parachutes (two primary and two reserve); and a fuel truck standing by in Seattle to refuel the aircraft upon arrival…  Schaffner described him as calm, polite, and well-spoken, not at all consistent with the stereotypes popularly associated with air piracy at the time. Tina Mucklow, another flight attendant, agreed. ‘He wasn’t nervous,’ she told investigators later. ‘He seemed rather nice. He was never cruel or nasty. He was thoughtful and calm all the time.’ He ordered a second bourbon and water, paid his drink tab (and insisted Schaffner keep the change), and offered to request meals for the flight crew during the stop in Seattle.  FBI agents assembled the ransom money from several Seattle-area banks—10,000 unmarked 20-dollar bills…and made a microfilm photograph of each of them…” The plane stopped in Seattle, refueled, collected the money and parachutes, and took off towards Mexico. “After takeoff, Cooper told Mucklow to join the rest of the crew in the cockpit and remain there with the door closed. As she complied, Mucklow observed Cooper tying something around his waist. At approximately 8:00 pm a warning light flashed in the cockpit, indicating that the aft airstair apparatus had been activated. The crew’s offer of assistance via the aircraft’s intercom system was curtly refused. The crew soon noticed a subjective change of air pressure, indicating that the aft door was open.” And then Cooper was gone. None of the money was ever known to be spent; about $5000 of the ransom money was found by an 8-year-old on a riverbank in 1980. Most likely, Cooper did not survive the jump (out of the four parachutes offered to him, he chose an older, inferior primary parachute and a non-operative dummy parachute for his backup, for some reason), but his body has never been recovered. Though there were many eyewitnesses to the hijacking, no one has ever conclusively offered up a relative/friend/coworker/neighbor/whoever as the same man.  CRAZY RIGHT?! Read the whole article if you’re interested! You’ll learn fascinating information, like why the hijacker might’ve chosen the name “D.B. Cooper”, and more!  Pictured: 1971 artist sketch of D.B. Cooper released by the FBI, with and without the dark sunglasses he wore after beginning the hijacking.  

This is going to be long, but I swear, IT’LL BE WORTH IT.

“D. B. Cooper is the name popularly used to refer to an unidentified man who hijacked a Boeing 727 aircraft in the airspace between Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington on November 24, 1971. He extorted $ 200,000 in ransom and parachuted to an uncertain fate. Despite an extensive manhunt and an exhaustive (and ongoing) FBI investigation, the perpetrator has never been located or positively identified. The case remains the only unsolved air piracy in American aviation history.

The suspect purchased his airline ticket under the alias Dan Cooper, but due to a news media miscommunication he became known in popular lore as ‘D. B. Cooper.’ Hundreds of leads have been pursued in the ensuing years but no conclusive evidence has ever surfaced regarding Cooper’s true identity or whereabouts, and the bulk of the ransom money has never been recovered. Numerous theories of widely varying plausibility have been proposed by experts, reporters, and amateur enthusiasts.

While FBI investigators have insisted from the beginning that Cooper probably did not survive his risky jump, the agency maintains an active case file—which has grown to more than 60 volumes—and continues to solicit creative ideas and new leads from the public. ‘Maybe a hydrologist can use the latest technology to trace the $5,800 in ransom money found in 1980 to where Cooper landed upstream,’ suggested Special Agent Larry Carr, leader of the investigation team since 2006. ‘Or maybe someone just remembers that odd uncle.’”

Highlights from the Wiki article:

Flight 305, approximately one-third full, took off on schedule at 2:50 pm, local time (PST). Cooper passed a note to Florence Schaffner, the flight attendant situated nearest to him in a jumpseat attached to the aft stair door. Schaffner, assuming the note contained a lonely businessman’s phone number, dropped it unopened into her purse. Cooper leaned toward her and whispered, ‘Miss, you’d better look at that note. I have a bomb.’

The note was printed in neat, all-capital letters with a felt pen. It read, approximately, ’I have a bomb in my briefcase. I will use it if necessary. I want you to sit next to me. You are being hijacked.’ Schaffner did as requested, then quietly asked to see the bomb. Cooper cracked open his briefcase long enough for her to glimpse eight red cylinders (‘four on top of four’) attached to wires coated with red insulation, and a large cylindrical battery. After closing the case he dictated his demands: $200,000 in ‘negotiable American currency’; four parachutes (two primary and two reserve); and a fuel truck standing by in Seattle to refuel the aircraft upon arrival… 

Schaffner described him as calm, polite, and well-spoken, not at all consistent with the stereotypes popularly associated with air piracy at the time. Tina Mucklow, another flight attendant, agreed. ‘He wasn’t nervous,’ she told investigators later. ‘He seemed rather nice. He was never cruel or nasty. He was thoughtful and calm all the time.’ He ordered a second bourbon and water, paid his drink tab (and insisted Schaffner keep the change), and offered to request meals for the flight crew during the stop in Seattle. 

FBI agents assembled the ransom money from several Seattle-area banks—10,000 unmarked 20-dollar bills…and made a microfilm photograph of each of them…”

The plane stopped in Seattle, refueled, collected the money and parachutes, and took off towards Mexico.

“After takeoff, Cooper told Mucklow to join the rest of the crew in the cockpit and remain there with the door closed. As she complied, Mucklow observed Cooper tying something around his waist. At approximately 8:00 pm a warning light flashed in the cockpit, indicating that the aft airstair apparatus had been activated. The crew’s offer of assistance via the aircraft’s intercom system was curtly refused. The crew soon noticed a subjective change of air pressure, indicating that the aft door was open.” And then Cooper was gone.

None of the money was ever known to be spent; about $5000 of the ransom money was found by an 8-year-old on a riverbank in 1980. Most likely, Cooper did not survive the jump (out of the four parachutes offered to him, he chose an older, inferior primary parachute and a non-operative dummy parachute for his backup, for some reason), but his body has never been recovered. Though there were many eyewitnesses to the hijacking, no one has ever conclusively offered up a relative/friend/coworker/neighbor/whoever as the same man. 

CRAZY RIGHT?! Read the whole article if you’re interested! You’ll learn fascinating information, like why the hijacker might’ve chosen the name “D.B. Cooper”, and more! 

Pictured: 1971 artist sketch of D.B. Cooper released by the FBI, with and without the dark sunglasses he wore after beginning the hijacking.

 

  1. fuckyeahamericanhistory posted this

1 year ago Short URL 5 notes