D.B. Cooper Pt. 1

On November 24th, 1971, an enigmatic figure later known to the world as "Dan Cooper" committed a daring act of air piracy that has intrigued the public for decades.

On November 24, 1971, a man identifying himself as "Dan Cooper" hijacked a Northwest Orient Airlines flight from Portland to Seattle.

A calm and collected Dan Cooper approached the Northwest Orient Airlines counter at Portland International Airport. He paid $20 for a one-way ticket to Seattle, signed his name as Dan Cooper, and boarded the Boeing 727 flight 305, choosing a seat in the last row in coach, strategically far from the other 36 passengers.

Cooper boarded the plane, took control of the flight, and demanded a ransom of $200,000 and parachutes. He released the passengers but kept the flight crew hostage.

Within an hour of takeoff, Cooper showed a bomb to flight attendant Florence Schaffner. The man in seat 18C revealed red sticks surrounded by wires in his briefcase, convincing Schaffner of the bomb's legitimacy. He then passed her a note with a list of demands: $200,000, four parachutes, and a fuel truck standing by in Seattle to refuel the aircraft for a trip towards Mexico.

After his demands were delivered to the FAA and law enforcement, Cooper released the passengers in exchange for the ransom and parachutes but retained the flight crew, now directed by him.

After refueling in Seattle, Cooper jumped out of the plane's rear stairway with the ransom money, disappearing without a trace.

Tina Mucklow, another flight attendant, remained on the plane with the flight crew, led by Captain William Scott. After negotiations regarding the plane's condition for continued fli ...

The disappearance of the notorious skyjacker known as "D.B. Cooper" remains one of the most enduring mysteries in American criminal history. Despite the FBI's extensive search efforts and investigation, Cooper's true identity and fate continue to elude law enforcement.

In the immediate aftermath, the FBI launched an extensive search operation to try to locate Cooper.

Immediately following the hijacking, the FBI, along with local police, deployed an extensive ground search operation that included hundreds of soldiers and law enforcement personnel. They combed the forests and terrain where Cooper was believed to have landed, particularly around the towns of Woodland and Ariel, Washington. Despite the manpower and resources invested—which included door-to-door canvassing in nearby towns and the use of helicopters until poor weather conditions grounded them—no evidence of Cooper's whereabouts was uncovered.

The FBI had difficulty tracking any evidence, including letters from the case, and spent thousands of man-hours on the ground and in the air without finding conclusive results. Agents even sent about 200 soldiers from Fort Lewis Army Base to Ariel for an extensive search. After months, with no evidence to point to Cooper's fate, they were forced to assume he was still at large.

Investigators, led by FBI agent Ralph Himmelsbach, focused on gathering as much information as possible, interviewing the flight crew members, including Florence Schaffner and Tina Mucklow, utilizing their testimonies to create a composite sketch of Cooper.

Over the years, the FBI pursued numerous leads and investigated hundreds of potential suspects.

Throughout the investigation, the FBI considered at least 800 suspects, including individuals with backgrounds that might befit a hijacker of Cooper’s profile, such as former U.S. paratroopers and skille ...

The enigmatic tale of "D.B. Cooper," the pseudonym used by the infamous airplane hijacker, continues to be one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in the annals of American crime. Despite extensive efforts to identify him and determine his fate, Cooper's true identity and the details of what transpired after the daring heist remain a well-kept secret.

To this day, the identity of "D.B. Cooper" remains unknown, and the details of his fate after the hijacking are still unclear.

For decades, an open case file on the hijacking has sat on the desks of the FBI, asserting the agency's enduring hope of resolving the mystery. The scarcity of physical evidence, coupled with Cooper’s meticulous orchestration of the crime, renders the case almost impenetrable. While various self-proclaimed letters from Cooper have surfaced, delivered to newspapers in the crime's aftermath, they have yielded nothing concrete towards unmasking the hijacker's identity or equipment his whereabouts.

Various theories and speculation about Cooper's true identity and what happened to him after the jump have emerged over the years, but none have been conclusively proven.

The search for Cooper seemingly hit a brick wall, with suggestions oscillating between the possibility of him remaining sequestered away, living his life in secrecy, or brazenly taunting authorities by living openly. This very uncertainty has only emboldened the public imagination, giving rise to a myriad of theories and ponderings that thicken the plot but remain unverified.

The enduring mystery and unanswered questions surrounding "D.B. Cooper" have only served to cement his status as a legendary figure in American history.

These persistent conundrums, the published letters, and the nat ...

In 1980, nearly a decade after the DB Cooper hijacking, a portion of the ransom money was unexpectedly discovered on the banks of the Columbia River, sparking new theories but providing few definitive answers.

In 1980, nearly a decade after the hijacking, a portion of the ransom money was discovered on the banks of the Columbia River.

While playing at Tina Bar Beach along the Columbia River in February 1980, 8-year-old Brian Ingram stumbled upon three bundles of tattered $20 bills buried in the sand, which totaled $5,800. The serial numbers on these weathered banknotes were matched to those given to DB Cooper during the 1971 hijacking.

The discovery of the money raised new questions about what happened to Cooper after his jump, and where the rest of the ransom might be.

However, the discovery did not lead to any breakthroughs in the case. Investigators who searched the surrounding area near Tina Bar after Ingram's discovery found no other evidence. The FBI speculated that the money could have traveled to the Columbia River from the Lewis River, the latter flowing past the town of Ariel, which was initially suspected to be Cooper's landing zone.

The recovery of the money, while significant, ultimately did not provide any conclusive clues about Cooper's identity or fate.

The condition of the bills was so poor that no fingerprints or usable forensic evidence could be extracted. Lead investigator Himmelsbach retire ...