D.B. Cooper - The Only Ever Unsolved Hijacking

On the 24th of November 1971, an unknown man boarded Northwest Orients flight 305 from Portland. During the flight, he passed a note to the flight attendant Florence Chaffner saying he had a bomb in his briefcase, he showed her the device and stated his demands; four parachutes, a fuel truck waiting for the plane when it landed, and $200,000 in $20 banknotes.

 When the plane landed he ordered the passengers and two of the three flight attendants to leave. Cooper then ordered the plane to fly to Mexico City at 3,000 metres at the lowest airspeed possible without stalling and somewhere near the north of Portland he jumped out.

 The F.B.I. launched a massive man-hunt and the military was called in searching the area on foot and going door to door, but despite their efforts, nothing was discovered. He had bought a plane ticket under the alias Dale or Dan Cooper, and the man who sold him the ticket that day said he was acting suspiciously. Over the police radio, it wasn't initially clear to the officer whether the airline said "D" or "B" hence why the name of the missing man changed to "D.B. Cooper."

D.B. Cooper was described as well-spoken, polite, and calm. He paid for a drinks tab and let the attendant keep his change. His knowledge of the surrounding airforce base and choice of plane hinted that he may have been an air-force veteran and one of the things learned in the investigation was that he was not dressed for low temperatures, or for wind chill factors. This meant he may have not been from a military background. The FBI stated at the time that he could not have survived that jump in what he was wearing. 

 Cooper's money was then found in February 1980 when Brian Ingram and his family were picnicking by the Columbia River. Thinking that his body might be close the FBI searched the beach and dredged the river but found nothing.  On a clip tie that was discovered by the money, there was also a DNA sample found which was later tested but it matched no known person on their database. 

 

 Larry Carr who took over the ongoing investigation in 2008 said he had received thousands of letters and emails from individuals begging him not to carry on trying to solve the mystery, and reminding him that the legend of D.B. Cooper had become something of a folk-tale. Larry was the first to suggest there may be some connection between the assailant and the popular comic book series at the time "Dan Cooper" who was a french space hero and there are many illustrations of him parachuting from planes on the covers.

 One suspect was a man called "Lyn Cooper." His niece Marla Cooper had come forward saying that she had been keeping a 40-year-old family secret and that her uncle was D.B. Cooper. When she was eight years old her uncle came home badly injured a day or two after Thanksgiving in 1971. He claimed that he had been in a car accident. She heard him also tell his family "their money problems are over." Cooper who was dead by this point had worked as an engineering surveyor, which may have made him knowledgeable enough to make a successful landing, The FBI however, were never able to successfully match L.D. Cooper to the hijacking. 

 The case prompted several copy-cat hijackers, especially 2 years after it happened. Fifteen attempts were made but ALL of the perps were captured. This caused security to tighten and luggage began to be screened, and now all Boeing 797s have "Cooper Vanes" placed to prevent the rear stairs from being opened during flight. 

It is the worlds only unsolved hijacking. In July 2016 the FBI announced it was ending active intelligence and investigation of the case, but that the file will remain open...