D B Cooper

953 Words4 Pages
One of the most well known skyjackings is that of Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305. This skyjacking was pulled off by a man named D.B. Cooper. The hijacking of Flight 305 has led to a 41 year old case by the FBI and several death bed confessions by people claiming to be D.B. Cooper. On November 24, 1971, shortly after takeoff from Seattle, Washington, a man in seat 18c of Northwest Orient Airlines handed the flight attendant a note that started one of the most famous cases in FBI history (Pasternak). The man’s name, at least according to his ticket, was Dan Cooper (Mysterious Disappearances in U.S. History), and the note claimed that he had a bomb and that he would detonate it unless his demands were met (Pasternak). Cooper demanded $200,000, four parachutes, and “no funny stuff” (Brad Meltzer's Decoded). At the Seattle-Tacoma Airport, in Tacoma, Washington, he released thirty-six passengers and two crew members once his demands were met (Pasternak). After taking off again Cooper ordered the plane to fly at a low altitude towards Mexico. At 8:13pm pressure gauges recorded his jump over the Lewis River from 10,000ft into a thunderstorm with over a hundred mile per hour winds and negative temperatures wearing only a thin suit, wrap-around sunglasses, and a rain coat (Brad Meltzer's Decoded). Many people believe that this was a suicidal jump and that Cooper died that night (Mysterious Disappearances in U.S. History). A reporting error in this high interest case mixed up his name forever immortalizing him as D.B. Cooper (Mysterious Disappearances in U.S. History). The skyjacking of Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305 was the perfect crime in theory, whether or not Cooper survived is a different story. The Federal Berea of Investigation was immediately put on this case to find and arrest D.B. Cooper. The FBI believed that he didn’t survive the jump due

More about D B Cooper

Open Document