In 1971, an unidentified passenger (nicknamed Dan Cooper or D. B. Cooper) hijacked a U.S. flight and escaped by parachuting out of the moving plane with $200,000 ransom money. The FBI could not trace the hijacker, resulting in one of the greatest aviation mysteries in U.S. history.

Who was D.B. Cooper (Dan Cooper) 

On November 24, 1971, a man dressed in a suit and tie, bought a $20 ticket for Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305 – Scheduled to take off from Portland, Oregon to Seattle, Washington. The man who appeared to be in his mid-40s and about 6 feet tall (1.83 meters), gave his name as Dan Cooper but was later found to be fake. The unidentified hijacker was quoted as D.B. Cooper in the media.

Flight 305 was approximately one-third full. Dan Cooper ordered a bourbon and soda while waiting for the plane to take off. The flight departed Portland for Seattle at its scheduled time of 2:50 p.m. Pacific Standard Time (PST).

As soon as the plane took off, Dan B. Cooper handed a letter to Florence Schaffner, the flight attendant. Schaffner kept the letter in her purse, unopened, thinking it had the phone number of Dan Cooper. Noticing this, Cooper leaned toward her and whispered that he has a bomb in his briefcase. 

The letter, handed by Cooper, was neatly written in all-capital letters with a felt-tip pen. The exact text of the letter remains unknown because Cooper had eventually taken the note back from Schaffner. Though, Schaffner recalled that the letter mentioned Cooper having a bomb in his briefcase. 

After Schaffner had read the note, Cooper instructed her to sit beside him. Schaffner followed his instructions. Then she softly asked Cooper to show the bomb. Cooper opened his briefcase to show eight red cylinders attached to wires coated with red insulation, and a large cylindrical battery.

Then Cooper closed the briefcase and stated his demands: $200,000 in negotiable American currency; four parachutes (two primary and two as a reserve); and a fuel truck standing by in Seattle to refuel the aircraft upon arrival. Schaffner conveyed Cooper’s instructions to the pilots in the cockpit; when she returned, Cooper was wearing dark sunglasses. 

The pilot, William A. Scott, contacted Seattle–Tacoma Airport air traffic control, which in turn informed local and federal authorities. Northwest Orient’s president, Donald Nyrop, authorized payment of the ransom and ordered all employees to cooperate fully with Cooper’s demands. 

The flight attendants described Cooper as calm, polite, and well-spoken. He ordered a second bourbon and soda, paid his drink tab, and offered to request meals for the flight crew during the stop in Seattle. 

After the flight landed in Seattle, authorities handed over ransom money and parachutes to D.B. Cooper. After this, Cooper released the 36 passengers. However, he instructed two pilots, a flight engineer, and a flight attendant to remain with him on the aircraft. 

Cooper then got the aircraft refueled and commanded the pilots to fly to Mexico City. He asked the pilots to fly the plane under 10,000 feet and keep the speed below 200 knots. 

At about 8:00 pm, when the aircraft was flying near Ariel, Washington to its destination, Mexico City, Dan Cooper lowered the rear steps and parachuted out of the plane to disappear into the darkness.

The FBI launched the investigation into the hijacking case, which came to be known as Northwest Hijacking (NORJAK). The investigation became one of the longest and most exhaustive investigations in the history of the FBI. 

The FBI recovered 66 unidentified latent fingerprints aboard the aircraft. The agency also found Cooper’s black clip-on tie, his tie clip, and two of the four parachutes, one of which had been opened and two suspension lines cut from its canopy. 

The FBI interviewed numerous eyewitnesses in Portland and Reno, and all those who personally interacted with and developed the sketches of Dan B. Cooper. 

During the initial phase of the investigation, the FBI believed Dan Cooper to be an expert paratrooper and probably have served in the military. The agency thought Cooper knew the area well over which he leaped out from the plane. 

However, after a detailed investigation into the case, the FBI changed its theory. They believed Cooper to be an inexperienced skydiver because it was too dangerous to jump from such a height. The agency did not believe Cooper to have survived the risky landing in wet and windy conditions. He was also inappropriately dressed for a successful landing – wearing the loafers and a trench coat.       

The FBI was successful in recovering the DNA sample from Cooper’s tie that he had left behind in the plane before parachuting out of the plane.  

The agency investigated about 800 suspects for the investigation. However, all of them were later let off due to a lack of incriminating evidence.    

In November 1978, a placard printed with instructions for lowering the aft stairs of a 727 aircraft was found by a deer hunter about 13 miles (21 km) east of Castle Rock, Washington, that fell within Flight 305’s basic flight path.

In 1980, the FBI received a big lead into the case. A boy had found a decaying package containing $5,800, all in the denomination of $20 bills, buried along the Columbia River, about 20 miles (32 km) from Ariel. The serial number on the currency matched with the ransom money given to Dan B Cooper. However, even after an extensive search of the area, the FBI could find nothing further.    

As with the aviation mystery of Pan Am Flight 914, D.B. Cooper’s disappearance also remains an enigma.

Movies and books on D.B.Cooper

The D.B. Cooper hijacking case inspired numerous books and movies. Notably, the book by Geoffrey Gray – Skyjack: The Hunt for D. B. Cooper.

The Pursuit of D. B. Cooper, a fictional American movie, was based on the case. The movie directed by Roger Spottiswoode, starred Robert Duvall, Treat Williams, Kathryn Harrold, Paul Gleason, R.G. Armstrong

FBI Closes Dan Cooper Case Files 

In 2016, after investigating the NORJAK for 45 years, The FBI officially closed the case which became one of the longest and most exhaustive U.S. Investigations of all time. 

The real identity of Dan B. Cooper remains shrouded in mystery forever!