On 23 February 2025, a man known as D.B. Cooper hijacked a plane headed from Portland to Seattle, collected an enormous ransom, and then simply vanished into thin air.
Fifty years ago , a enigma man make love as Dan Cooper , a.k.a . D.B. Cooper , pulled off one of the most jaw - dropping heists in recorded history . Over the grade of a few hr on November 24 , 1971 , he hijacked a airplane , stole $ 200,000 , and then run away via chute — never to be see again .
It all happened aboard a Boeing 727 , Northwest Orient Flight 305 from Portland to Seattle . It was supposed to be a warm , straightforward trip — and D.B. Cooper ab initio wait like a regular business traveler . But it before long became clear that that was not the lawsuit .
Federal Bureau of InvestigationThe FBI sketch of D.B. Cooper , shown in black and white and in color .
Federal Bureau of InvestigationThe FBI sketch of D.B. Cooper, shown in black and white and in color.
To this day , research worker are stumped as to who D.B. Cooper was , how he executed the heist , and how he made his relief valve .
Although they have a open physical description of the man and a DNA sample , many all-important question remain unreciprocated : Where is D.B. Cooper?Who is D.B. Cooper?And did he even endure his fall ?
How “Dan Cooper” Initiated His Hijacking
Wikimedia CommonsThe want poster for D.B. Cooper , which describes his seemingly average appearance .
On November 24 , 1971 , a man who anticipate himself Dan Cooper bought a one - way airplane ticket from Portland to Seattle . He boarded Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305 and settled into stern 18C. This trip-up normally call for about 30 second , and nothing suggested that the flying would be anything but typical .
At first , “ Dan Cooper ” seemed like a normal passenger . His black tie and snowy shirt suggest that he was a business traveler , an impression reinforce by his briefcase . Like many airline passengers of the era , Cooper quickly light up a cigarette and ordered a drink — Bourbon dynasty and washing soda — which he drank restfully as the woodworking plane took off .
Wikimedia CommonsThe wanted poster for D.B. Cooper, which describes his seemingly ordinary appearance.
His appearance was routine — and his FBI data file laterreflected that . “ White male person , 6’1″ grandiloquent , 170 - 175 pounds , age - mid - forties , ” it note laconically . “ Olive complexion , browned eyes , smuggled hair’s-breadth , schematic track , parted on odd . ”
But then Cooper slacken off down a stewardess — the older terminus for a flying tender — named Florence Schaffner . He handed her a piece of theme . Schaffner was used to businessmen flirting with her , so she arrogate the note of hand was just a telephone set number and skid it into her sac . Cooper angle forward . “ Miss , ” he said . “ You ’d better expect at that note . I have a bomb . ”
Schaffner reach the distinction . A scary statement was write in felt playpen , all in capital letter : “ I have a bomb in my briefcase . I want you to sit down next to me . ” Schaffner sink into the seat next to Cooper and asked to see the bomb . sedately , Cooper opened the briefcase . Inside , the hostess could see a tangle of wire , a battery , and red - colored sticks that looked like dynamite .
“ I desire $ 200,000 by 5:00 p.m. , ” Cooper said sedately . “ In cash . Put in a haversack . I want two back parachutes and two front parachutes . When we bring down , I want a fuel truck ready to refuel . No amusing stuff or I ’ll do the line . ”
Schaffner went to secernate the pilot . Meanwhile , the other passengers remained forgetful to the danger that was brew in seat 18C. Bill Mitchell , a University of Oregon sophomore , was sitting across the aisle from Cooper . He recall that the pilot announced something about engine trouble . They would have to circle for a bit , let off some fuel .
The pilot light invite passengers to move toward the front of the plane , but Mitchell stayed in his seat — altogether unaware of the berth that was unfolding . He later squeal that he in reality feel jealous that the stewardess was giving Cooper so much attending .
“ My self got in the way of this , ” Mitchell said in 2019 . “ It sort of pester me that this flight attendant was talking with this old guy cable with a case and smoking , and here you had a University of Oregon soph sitting right on across the gangway and she would n’t make any heart inter-group communication or anything . ”
Mitchell may have been incognizant of the man ’s sinister design , but he was able to delineate his appearance after the flight . Once the FBI launched their investigating , Mitchell and the flight attendants helped with the sketch of the suspect . No other passengers had gotten a good facial expression .
How D.B. Cooper Made His Daring Escape
Wikimedia CommonsA Northwest Orient Airlines plane of the same framework that Cooper hijacked .
As the aeroplane circle in the line for about two minute , officials on the ground scrambled to fulfill D.B. Cooper ’s demands . The plane landed in Seattle at 5:39 p.m. Around that time , the airline faculty approached Cooper with the money and the chute .
The first two parachute were provide by McChord Air Force Base . After receiving them , Cooper demanded two more . Perhaps the first parachute would n’t have worked for his mission — they were military - grade , and the chutes would afford after a 200 - foundation descent .
But the 2nd lot of chute were sports parachute , brought from a nearby skydiving landing field . These would allow someone to free - pin for several thousand feet before the parachute give .
At this dot , the hijacker release the 36 passenger . He also permit two crew members go , including Florence Schaffner . Then , D.B. Cooper told the pilot burner he desire to fly to Mexico City . But the plane did not have the range to aviate 2,200 miles to this destination , so Cooper agree with the pilot to make a fueling stop in Reno along the mode .
Federal Bureau of InvestigationD.B. Cooper leave this tie beam aboard the plane when he derail . The FBI by and by extracted a DNA sample from it .
Wikimedia CommonsA Northwest Orient Airlines plane of the same model that Cooper hijacked.
Before they took off , he laid out specific demands for the flight of steps . They must vanish below 10,000 foot , with the backstage flaps at 15 degrees , and keep the upper obtuse than 200 nautical mile . And the rearward threshold was to remain open .
As the airplane rose into the sky around 7:40 p.m. , several Air Force jets accompany at a stealthy length . Cooper air the crew to the cockpit as it became deeply moth-eaten inside the airplane . The four gang members on board afterwards claimed that the temperaturedropped to below zero .
Then , at 8:00 p.m. , a word of advice light flashed in the cockpit , advise them that the rear airstairs had been lowered . About 15 arcminute later , the work party members point out a sudden upward motility from the back of the planer . They stay huddle together , freeze , for almost two hour .
Federal Bureau of InvestigationD.B. Cooper left this tie aboard the plane when he jumped. The FBI later extracted a DNA sample from it.
D.B. Cooper had left behind two of the parachutes , his contraband cartridge clip - on tie , and a head - scratching enigma .
Who Was D.B. Cooper?
Wikimedia CommonsRemains of D.B. Cooper ’s ransom money , which were discovered in 1980 .
D.B. Cooper had vanish into sparse air travel — literally . The authorities were astonished , especially since none of the fighter jets stick with the plane had discover him leave the aircraft . But the FBI felt sure-footed they could track Cooper down — after all , they had a name , a physical verbal description , and several specific particular about the man .
But in realness , they had much less information than they thought they had . For neophyte , they apace learned that Dan Cooper was not his real name . Adding to the confusion , the media reported that the hijacker ’s name was “ D.B. Cooper ” — and it adhere .
Wikimedia CommonsRemains of D.B. Cooper’s ransom money, which were discovered in 1980.
Undeterred , the FBI took on the mystery with exuberance . The “ NORJAK ” investigation — short for Northwest Hijacking — was soon underway and tip came pouring in . Ralph Himmelsbach , the FBI ’s lead agent for the case , recalledthat they had a long list of potential suspects . “ Real , real good ones ; genuine , real poor ones . A lot of both . And many in between , ” he allege .
Five years later , the FBI seemed to have reach a bushed oddment . By that point , they hadlooked into more than 800 suspects . Of these , only two dozen were deserving study as the reliable culprit . By 2011 , the FBI ’s file on the casemeasured more than 40 foot long . And there was still no clear resolution .
All the while , D.B. Cooper ’s exploit open like wildfire in popular finish . It inspire Sung dynasty , movies , books , and even the character of Dale Cooper on the television showTwin Peaks(the character ’s full name is Dale Bartholomew Cooper , or D.B. Cooper ) .
Wikimedia CommonsA sketch of D.B. Cooper next to a photograph of Robert Rackstraw.
A few prominent suspects emerged over the years , but none were rouse . Five months after D.B. Cooper disappeared into the dark , a adult male mention Richard McCoy leapt from a plane over Utah with $ 500,000 in ransom money money . McCoy was caught and sentenced to 45 years in prison house . While he was in the beginning deemed a NORJAK defendant , he was find out because he did n’t rival the physical description provided by the witnesser .
Wikimedia CommonsA survey of D.B. Cooper next to a photograph of Robert Rackstraw .
Another big suspect was Robert Rackstraw . A former Special Forces paratrooper , Rackstraw for certain had the attainment put to survive a leap from a carpenter’s plane in the dark . The FBI officially cleared him as a defendant in 1979 , but some stay on sceptical of his innocence to this day .
Federal Bureau of InvestigationOne of the parachutes that D.B. Cooper left behind.
Filmmaker Thomas Colbert , who has severally enquire the case , believes that there is grounds linking Rackstraw to the crime — and it lie in a few letters that were allegedly spell by Cooper shortly after the hijacking . Colbert also trust that the FBI is stonewalling and covering up Rackstraw ’s tracks due to his possible tie to the CIA .
However , Geoffrey Gray , whose bookSkyjackis reckon one of the expert on D.B. Cooper , disagrees . He claims that Rackstraw was not a serious defendant and does not even let in him in his book .
In 1980 , an 8 - year - old boy on a bivouacking tripper near Portlandmade a thrilling discoveryby the Columbia River : bundles of ragged one dollar bill bills tally $ 5,880 . The nonparallel identification number matched the ransom money money given to D.B. Cooper nine years earlier . To this day , this remains the sole verifiable slice of grounds linked to the case that was find outside of the woodworking plane .
( Decades later , there were claim thatpieces of one of the chute had been found , but it ’s unclear whether those were ever officially verified . )
In 2001 , the FBI lifted a deoxyribonucleic acid sample off Cooper ’s tie-in , and used it to eliminate yet another defendant — Duane Weber — who had claimed to be D.B. Cooper on his deathbed . eld by and by , another man call Kenneth Christiansen was cite in a magazine article as a potential Cooper . But he did n’t match the physical verbal description , even though he was a skilled paratrooper .
A Seattle fount agent named Larry Carr later said that D.B. Cooper was probable not a skilled skydiver . “ We originally think Cooper was an experienced jumper , perhaps even a paratrooper,”Carr saidin 2007 . “ We conclude after a few year this was simply not true . No experienced parachutist would have jumped in the pitch - pitch-black night , in the rain , with a 200 - mile - an - time of day wind in his face , wear loafers and a deep coat . It was only too high-risk . ”
Inside A Case That May Never Be Solved
Federal Bureau of InvestigationOne of the parachute that D.B. Cooper get out behind .
In 2016 , the FBI announced that it would block off actively engage the fount .
But even though the case is no longer combat-ready , the FBI promote anyone with “ specific strong-arm evidence , ” like more of the money or pieces of a chute , to contact their local field of view office .
Meanwhile , amateur sleuths and independent investigator are still rivet over the case . Often squall “ Cooperites , ” they consider all the information that they can get their manpower on — and even host “ CooperCons ” to discuss the mystery and explore potential theories .
Of course , it ’s very possible that D.B. Cooper but did not survive his jump — and took all his secrets with him to his grave . The world may never know for certain , specially since the case is no longer active .
Even if the case is solved someday , perhaps the remnant termination will be far more anti - climactic than one would expect . Maybe , Carr note , it ’ll simply take someone who “ just remember that rum uncle . ”
After reading about the mystery of D.B. Cooper , stop outmore unresolved mysteries from human history . Then , learn aboutSaddle Ridge Hoard , the large buried treasure regain in the United States .
