Cooper’s demands were both precise and audacious: US$200,000 in cash (equivalent to over US$1.5 million in 2024), four parachutes, and a fuel truck standing by to refuel the plane in Seattle. The airline’s president quickly authorised the ransom payment to prioritise passenger safety, while the plane circled Puget Sound for two hours, giving authorities time to gather the money and equipment.

When the flight landed in Seattle, Cooper exchanged the passengers for the ransom and parachutes, keeping several crew members on board. He instructed the pilots to fly toward Mexico City at a low altitude of 3,000 metres (10,000 feet) and at a slow speed with the landing gear deployed. Somewhere over the Pacific Northwest, during a cold and rainy night, Cooper lowered the plane’s rear staircase and parachuted out into the dark with the cash strapped to his body. He left behind a black tie with a mother-of-pearl clip but took his identity with him into the dark forest below.

Despite an exhaustive search, Cooper was never found. Authorities scoured the dense wilderness, checked riverbanks, and monitored small airstrips, but no trace of the man or the money surfaced. In 1980, a young boy digging along the Columbia River discovered a small bundle of deteriorated US$20 bills that matched the ransom serial numbers. How the money ended up there remains one of the many unanswered questions in this case.

Over the decades, countless theories have been proposed about Cooper’s identity and fate. Some believe he didn’t survive the jump – facing brutal weather, dense terrain, and the difficulty of using an unsteerable parachute. Others argue he was a skilled paratrooper or survivalist, pointing to the precision of his demands. While the FBI investigated numerous suspects, none fit all the evidence, and the man’s true identity remains unknown.

In 2016, the FBI officially closed its investigation, admitting that after decades of chasing leads, the case was “exhausted”. Still, the mystery of D.B. Cooper has lived on in popular culture, sparking countless books, films and amateur investigations. To this day, he is viewed by many as a symbol of rebellion and ingenuity, thumbing his nose at the system and vanishing into history. Every year, on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, there’s a party at the General Store in Ariel, Washington, in honour of D.B. Cooper, the skyjacker that got away. [Ed: That’s America in a nutshell.]

Interestingly, Cooper exploited the Boeing 727’s unique feature: its rear airstair, which could be deployed mid-flight. To prevent future hijackings of this nature, the FAA mandated the development of a mechanical device called the “Cooper vane”, a small, aerodynamic latch installed outside the rear stairwell of an aircraft that is pushed into a position by air pressure when the plane is flying, preventing the staircase from being lowered.

So, was D.B. Cooper a daring outlaw who got away with the perfect crime? Or did he meet a grim end in the forests of the Pacific Northwest? The chances are … we’ll never know.

Story Idea: Nils Benson
________________________________

References

wikipedia.org/wiki/D._B._Cooper
theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/jul/13/db-cooper-planes-parachutes-and-armed-robbery-netflix-take-on-the-master-criminal-who-became-a-folk-hero
Video: The Search For D. B. Cooper, LEMMiNO on YouTube

Images

1. Composite sketches created by the FBI of the unknown hijacker of Northwest Orient Flight 305. Credit: FBI Sketch Artist Roy Rose
2. Cooper's ticket cost US$20
3. Portland to Seattle is a 30 minute trip
4. Seattle Times, 25 November 1971
5. D.B. Cooper fascinates the media
6. Cooper's black J.C. Penney tie with mother-of-pearl tie clip
7. Some of the Cooper's stolen US$20 bills found by a young boy in 1980
8. Some of the many suspects
9. Boeing 727 with the aft airstair open
10. A Cooper vane in the unlocked position
11. D.B. Cooper merchandise became popular soon after the skyjacking
12. Annual D.B. Cooper party at the Ariel General Store