D. B. Cooper is an unidentified man who hijacked Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305, a Boeing 727 aircraft, in United States airspace on the 24th of November 1971.
At 14:58, a man using the alias D.B. Cooper hijacked an aircraft traveling from Portland International Airport (PDX/KPDX) to Seattle (SEA/KSEA), threatening to detonate a bomb. While the jet was taxiing in Portland, Cooper, seated in the last row, passed a note to a flight attendant stating, "I have a bomb in my briefcase. I will use it if necessary. I want you to sit next to me. You are being hijacked." Cooper demanded a ransom of $200,000 (equivalent to $1,450,000 today) and four parachutes upon arrival in Seattle. By asking for two sets of parachutes, Cooper suggested he might take hostages, deterring the authorities from providing faulty equipment.
The hijacker directed the flight crew to refuel the plane and proceed on a second flight to Mexico City (MEX/MMMX), with a stop for refueling in Reno, Nevada (RNO/KRNO). Roughly 30 minutes after departing from Seattle, the hijacker opened the plane's aft door, extended the airstair, and parachuted into the night over southwestern Washington. The hijacker remains unidentified and unlocated to this day.
In 1980, a portion of the ransom money was discovered on the banks of the Columbia River near Vancouver, Washington. This find reignited public interest in the case but did not provide further insight into the hijacker's identity or what became of him, and the rest of the money was never found. Initially identifying himself as Dan Cooper, a miscommunication by a reporter led to the hijacker being erroneously referred to as "D. B. Cooper".
For 45 years following the hijacking, the Federal Bureau of Investigation actively investigated and compiled a substantial case file but failed to draw any conclusive results. The incident remains the only unresolved case of air piracy in commercial aviation history. The FBI conjectures that Cooper likely did not survive his parachute jump due to several factors: adverse weather conditions on the night of the hijacking, his inadequate skydiving gear, the dense forest he descended into, his seeming unfamiliarity with the landing zone, and the vanishing of the remaining ransom money, indicating it was never used. In July 2016, the FBI formally closed the active investigation of the NORJAK case, yet journalists, enthusiasts, professional detectives, and hobbyist investigators still explore various hypotheses regarding Cooper's identity, success, and ultimate fate.
For 45 years following the hijacking, the Federal Bureau of Investigation actively investigated and compiled a substantial case file but failed to draw any conclusive results. The incident remains the only unresolved case of air piracy in commercial aviation history. The FBI conjectures that Cooper likely did not survive his parachute jump due to several factors: adverse weather conditions on the night of the hijacking, his inadequate skydiving gear, the dense forest he descended into, his seeming unfamiliarity with the landing zone, and the vanishing of the remaining ransom money, indicating it was never used. In July 2016, the FBI formally closed the active investigation of the NORJAK case, yet journalists, enthusiasts, professional detectives, and hobbyist investigators still explore various hypotheses regarding Cooper's identity, success, and ultimate fate.
Aircraft Information:
Airline: Northwest Orient Airlines
Code: NW/NWA
Aircraft: Boeing 727-51
Registration: N467US
Serial Number: 18803
First Flew:09/04/1965.
Age at accident: 6 Yrs. 8 Mts
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