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D.B. Cooper: Did He Make It?

© Patrick Worden

On the day before Thanksgiving, in 1971, the world's first skyjacking, and so far the only unsolved one, unfolded in the skies over the Pacific Northwest.

He didn't call himself D. B. Cooper, that should be made clear. That was a mistake made by a cub reporter that stuck. No, the man in seat 18e of Northwest Airlines flight 305 had signed in as Dan Cooper. To say that this was likely an alias would be belaboring the obvious. Whoever it was that jumped out of the back of that Boeing 727 with $200,000 strapped to his chest seemed to have quite literally thought of everything. An alias would be par for the course. So who was he? He was a white male, forty to fifty years old, olive skinned and dark of hair, slightly balding. He had in all likelihood extensive parachuting experience, which meant either ex-military or sport jumper. It can be assumed that the FBI paid particular attention to those milieus. No one matching his description turned up missing after late 1971. "Dan Cooper" had vanished.

The facts: Northwest Airlines flight 305 departed Portland, Oregon en route to Seattle, Washington in the early afternoon of 24 November, 1971. Just minutes into the flight, the man in seat 18e, after drinking a couple of whiskey drinks for which he paid cash, handed stewardess Tina Mucklow a note for the captain. In the note he claimed to have a bomb, threatened to use it, and directed the pilot to continue on to Seattle. More instructions would be given on the ground.

At 1730 hours local, the Boeing 727 landed in Seattle. The man calling himself Dan Cooper handed Tina Mucklow a series of new, pre-prepared notes which spelled out his demands. Two hundred thousand dollars in twenties, and four parachutes, in exchange for everyone on the plane save Mucklow and the flight deck crew. After the exchange was made on the tarmac, Cooper wanted the plane to take off again, stop in Reno, Nevada to refuel, then head to Mexico.

He gave detailed instructions as to flight characteristics. The aircraft was to remain below 10,000 feet, maintain minimal airspeed, and keep flaps and landing gear lowered. At about 1930 hours, his demands had been met and the 727 was airborne, enroute to Reno. Less than a half hour later, he ordered Mucklow forward and locked himself in the rear compartment. Within minutes, an onboard warning light indicated that the rear cargo door had been opened. The world had seen the last of D.B. Cooper.

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