One Step Closer to Discovering the Fate of D.B. Cooper.
Children playing outside their home on the Washington-Oregon border uncovered a parachute that might belong to the famed airplane hijacker D.B. Cooper, leading the FBI one step closer to the only successful hijacker in history. Link
For those unfamiliar, the mystery of D.B. Cooper is one of the most intriguing and inspiring tales of the 20th Century. A detailedfactual explanation of the mystery of D.B. Cooper can be found here. Link. However here are the more intriguing parts of the tail.
In 1971, Cooper boarded a Boeing 727-100 in Portland headed to Seattle. Shortly after take off, he handed the stewardess a note announcing that he was hijacking the plane and that he had a bomb in his suitcase. A subsequent note stated that he was demanding $200,000 in unmarked bills and four parachutes to be delivered upon the plane landing in Seattle.
Once landed, Cooper instructed that all the passengers leave the flight and kept only the four person flight crew. Upon delivery of the money and chutes, Cooper demanded that the flight head toward Mexico at a low speed of 170 knots, an altitude under 10,000 feet, and that the plane be left unpressurized. The FBI had intended to follow the plane with Air Force jets and raid the plane upon a refuel. Once in the air, however, Cooper ordered the stewardess to the front of the plane and the crew then reported noticing a change in cabin pressure as Cooper let down the aft stairs and jumped out never to be seen again.
The FBI was left with no leads after Cooper jumped and no evdience of his body was found at the Washington-Oregon border where he jumped. Over the years minor clues to the fate of D. B. Cooper have arisen but nothing substantial enough to lead the FBI to the identity or whereabouts of Cooper.
* In 1978, a placard describing how to lower the aft stairs of a Boeing 727 was found by a hunter in the projected drop zone of Cooper.
* In 1980, a satchel containing $5,880 in deteriorating $20 bills was discovered waterlogged in the Columbian River, all of the money matched the recorded serial numbers. None of the rest of the $200,000 has ever shown up in circulation.
* And now, his parachute was found buried within the range of his drop zone.
Debate has long surrounded about whether or not he survived the jump at that speed and over therugged terrain of the Oregon border. The money being found long had given the impression that he had in fact, not lived because a hijacker would never leave his money behind. It has been suggested by a blandlife editor that D.B. Cooper did it merely to prove to himself that he could and never intended to use the money.
The amazing part about his feat was how precise he was in his instructions to the pilot, indicating flight speed, altitude, and flap degree. The plane he boarded was the only one in service that contained a non-automatically opening aft door. Once open the door stayed open and could not be closed. Cooper requested specifically civilian chutes and not military chutes, so that he would maintain control of the ripcord. Cooper’s flight path was specifictly dictated to the pilot upon entering the sky and he understood the flight vector enough to modify the flight upon the conditions of the air.
For what it is worth, D.B. Cooper is a story of an individual that left nothing to chance and meticulously pulled off a stunt that has since to be duplicated.
In 1971, Mr. Cooper borded a Boeing 727-100 in Portland for a flight headed to Seattle.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
my question is whether or not he is still alive, he would be at least 80 years old by now, what an amazing story to tell your grand children (think BIG FISH).
Once again…speaking on behalf of the completely ignorant readers here (Tia and I) could we have a little background on DB??
check out the wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D.B._Cooper
The coolest part is the Mormon copycat a few years later…
Awesome story - I for one believe that this one WILL be solved. I also believe that DB will be the one to reveal his true identity to us. The FBI claim that there was no way he could have survived or that an experienced jumper would never attempt such a leap have always come off as very thin. Trust me, history is replete with stories of humans surviving impossible feats - and even more of criminals getting over on the FBI - I can’t wait to know!