D.B. Cooper

D. B. Cooper is a media epithet for an unidentified man who hijacked Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305, a Boeing 727 aircraft, in United States airspace on November 24, 1971.

During the flight from Portland, Oregon, to Seattle, Washington, the hijacker told a flight attendant he was armed with a bomb, demanded $200,000 in ransom (equivalent to approximately $1,500,000 in 2024 ) and requested four parachutes upon landing in Seattle.

After releasing the passengers in Seattle, the hijacker instructed the flight crew to refuel the aircraft and begin a second flight to Mexico City, with a refueling stop in Reno, Nevada.

About 30 minutes after taking off from Seattle, the hijacker opened the aircraft's aft door, deployed the staircase, and parachuted into the night over southwestern Washington.

The hijacker has never been found or conclusively identified.

The hijacker had identified himself as Dan Cooper in order to buy his one-way ticket in Portland, Oregon, but a reporter confused his name with another suspect and the hijacker subsequently became known as "D. B. Cooper".

On Thanksgiving Eve, November 24, 1971, a man carrying a black attaché case approached the flight counter of Northwest Orient Airlines at Portland International Airport.

Using cash, the man bought a one-way ticket on Flight 305, a thirty-minute trip north to "Sea-Tac" (Seattle–Tacoma International Airport).

On his ticket, the man listed his name as "Dan Cooper".

Eyewitnesses described Cooper as a white male in his mid-40s, with dark hair and brown eyes, wearing a black or brown business suit, a white shirt, a thin black tie, a black raincoat, and brown shoes.

Carrying a briefcase and a brown paper bag, Cooper boarded Flight 305, a Boeing 727-100 (FAA registration N467US).

Cooper took seat 18-E in the last row and ordered a drink, a bourbon and 7-Up, from the flight attendant.

With a crew of six (consisting of Captain William A. Scott, First Officer William "Bill" J. Rataczak, Flight Engineer Harold E. Anderson, and flight attendants Alice Hancock, Tina Mucklow and Florence Schaffner) and 36 passengers aboard, including the hijacker, Flight 305 left Portland on-schedule at 2:50 pm PST.

Shortly after takeoff, Cooper handed a note to flight attendant Schaffner, who was sitting in the jump seat at the rear of the plane, directly behind Cooper.

Assuming the note was a lonely businessman's phone number, Schaffner dropped the note unopened into her purse.

Cooper then leaned toward her and whispered, "Miss, you'd better look at that note. I have a bomb."

Schaffner opened the note.

In neat, all-capital letters printed with a felt-tip pen, Cooper had written, "Miss—I have a bomb in my briefcase and want you to sit by me."

Schaffner returned the note to Cooper, sat down as he requested, and quietly asked to see the bomb.

He opened his briefcase, and she saw two rows of four red cylinders, which she assumed was dynamite.

Attached to the cylinders were a wire and a large, cylindrical battery, which appeared to resemble a bomb.

Cooper closed the briefcase, and told Schaffner his demands.

She wrote a note with Cooper's demands, brought it to the cockpit, and informed the flight crew of the situation.

Captain Scott directed her to remain in the cockpit for the remainder of the flight and take notes of events as they unfolded.

He then contacted Northwest flight operations in Minnesota, and relayed the hijacker's demands: "[Cooper] requests $200,000 in a knapsack by 5:00 pm. He wants two front parachutes, two back parachutes. He wants the money in negotiable American currency."

By requesting two sets of parachutes, Cooper implied that he planned to take a hostage with him, thereby discouraging authorities from supplying non-functional equipment.

With Schaffner in the cockpit, flight attendant Mucklow sat next to Cooper to act as a liaison between him and the flight crew in the cockpit.

He then made additional demands: upon landing in Seattle, the fuel trucks must meet the plane and all passengers must remain seated while she brought the money aboard.

He said he would release the passengers after he had the money.

The last items brought aboard would be the four parachutes.

By 1973, aircraft hijacking incidents had decreased, as the new security measures dissuaded would-be hijackers whose only motive was money.

In 1980, a small portion of the ransom money was found along the banks of the Columbia River near Vancouver, Washington.

The discovery of the money renewed public interest in the mystery, but yielded no additional information about the hijacker's identity or fate, and the remaining money was never recovered.

For 45 years after the hijacking, the Federal Bureau of Investigation maintained an active investigation and built an extensive case file, but ultimately did not reach any definitive conclusions.

The crime remains the only unsolved case of air piracy in the history of commercial aviation.

The FBI speculates Cooper did not survive his jump, for several reasons: the inclement weather on the night of the hijacking, Cooper's unsuitable clothing and lack of proper skydiving equipment, the heavily wooded area into which he jumped, his apparent lack of detailed knowledge of his landing area, and the disappearance of the remaining ransom money, suggesting it was never spent.

In July 2016, the FBI officially suspended active investigation of the NORJAK (Northwest hijacking) case, although reporters, enthusiasts, professional investigators, and amateur sleuths continue to pursue numerous theories for Cooper's identity, success, and fate.

Cooper's hijacking—and several imitators in the following year—immediately prompted major upgrades to security measures for airports and commercial aviation.

Metal detectors were installed at airports, baggage inspection became mandatory, and passengers who paid cash for tickets on the day of departure were selected for additional scrutiny.

Boeing 727s were retrofitted with eponymous "Cooper vanes", specifically designed to prevent the aft staircase from being lowered in-flight.