November 24 – Anniversary of D.B. Cooper's Skyjacking

nPostednon November 24, 2015

n
n

Thisnis very weird for me:

n
n

nAnman the media named D.B. Cooper skyjacked an airliner in order tonextort $200,000 in ransom, and he might have died when he parachutednaway with the money, but he may have gotten away with it. Allnof that’s unusual (thank goodness), and the case is singular becausenit is the ONLY unsolved air piracy in American history. But the thingnthat is so weird for me is that there are Cooper fans who gatherntogether once a year to talk about the unsolved case.

nInshudder at the thought of celebrating someone who hijacks a plane!

n
n

nAlthough,nif you were going to celebrate a skyjacker, D.B. Cooper would be thenright one, because he was calm, polite, and he never hurt anyone.

n
n

nStill,nhe threatened everyone with a bomb (if it really was a bomb).

n
n

nAtnthe time of the hijacking, on this date in 1971, there had been non9-11, there had been no flying planes into buildings and killingneveryone on board. At the time, officials generally cooperated withnhijackers at least long enough to save the passengers’ lives andnhopefully the lives of the flight crew as well. n

n
n

This is the sketch of “Cooper”
created from descriptions
by eyewitnesses.

nHere’snwhat happened (briefly stated): a man dressed in a business suit andncalling himself Dan Cooper bought an airplane ticket at the Portland,nOregon, Airport; he bought a one-way ticket to the nearby city ofnSeattle, Washington, just a 30-minute flight. When in the air, thenman informed a flight attendant that he had a bomb and wantedn$200,000 in “negotiable American currency”; he also demanded fournparachutes (two primary and two reserve) and food for the flightncrew. n

n
n

nThenairplane circled the Seattle and Tacoma area while the FBI gotntogether the parachutes and ransom money. Then it landed at thenSeattle-Tacoma Airport, and Cooper released the passengers and mostnof the flight crew when he got the parachutes and the money. Thenplane was refueled. Cooper told the pilots that, when they took offnagain, they would fly toward Mexico City, with a refueling stop innReno, Nevada. He made some really specific demands about flying –nwing flaps lowered, landing gear in takeoff and landing position,ncertain speed and altitude, and so on.
Shortly after takeoff,nCooper told the flight attendant to join the pilots in the cockpitnand stay there with the door closed. And shortly after that, thenflight crew saw from warning lights that the aircraft’s rear exitndoor was open and its staircase had been extended. A few minutesnafter that, the crew noticed a sudden upward movement from thenairplane’s tail section. They wondered if Cooper had jumped outnalready.

n
n

nAboutntwo hours later, the airliner finally landed in Reno. Of course FBInagents, state troopers, Reno police, and sheriff deputies surroundednthe jet and then searched the plane. They were able to confirm thatnCooper was indeed gone. Two of the parachutes and a black clip-on tienwere left behind.

n
n

nOfncourse officials studied the flight path from Seattle toward Reno andnbegan a manhunt to find and arrest Cooper, if he survived his jump.nAnd, as you can imagine, they concentrated their efforts over thenspot that the airliner was when the crew felt that tail-section dip.nHowever, the FBI never found Cooper or his body, and they never foundnthe parachute. Also, they didn’t find the money (which had beenncarefully photographed before it was turned over to the hijacker, sonthat they would be able to track serial numbers if he ever spent thenmoney). n

n
n

The money that was found
still had intact rubber bands, but
the money itself was pretty
bedraggled!

nThatnis, they didn’t find the money THEN. Nine years later, in 1980, anyoung boy was digging a fire pit in a sand bar. He uncovered threenbundles of twenty-dollar bills, with their rubber bands still intact.nThe serial numbers matched the some of the money that was given tonCooper! The money ($5,800) was not found anywhere along the flight ofnthe plane, but of course could have been carried by Cooper or someonenelse and then buried, or it could have washed down a river beforenbeing buried in the sand by natural processes.

n
n

nButndespite years of investigation, enlisting the public’s help, quite anfew fingerprints found on the tie clip and unused parachute, and allnthe info given from passengers and especially flight crew, includingnsketches from the sketch artist – we still don’t know who DannCooper really was, and we don’t know what happened to him.

n
n

nOh,nand why do we call Dan Cooper (not his real name) “D.B. Cooper”?nIt was a mistake made by a hurried reporter – but the name stuck innthe public’s mind. And since one alias is as good as another, D.B.nCooper it shall remain, unless we ever do discover the man’s realnidentity.

n
n

nFindnout more, including all the details that people still debate, atnCitizen Sleuths.n

n
n

nBecausenCooper hijacked the plane and jumped on the day before Thanksgiving,nevery year the Saturday after Thanksgiving is the D.B. CoopernFestival. And it is held in the Ariel Store in Ariel, Washington,nbecause this spacious tavern was sort of HQ for the giganticnground search for Cooper.

n
n

Ingather that the FBI still maintains and active case file on thenskyjacking. And it is now 60 volumes!!

nThis air pirate — who, again, endangered the lives of 42 people and caused a lot of inconvenience and expensive investigations for many, many more people — has somehow created a cult following. There have been songs, books and comic books, movies, and Cooper-themed promotions in restaurants, bowling alleys, and more…

n
n

nAlsonon this date: