1971, a man by the name of Dan Cooper, later the media would refer to him as D.B. Cooper, hijacked a Boeing 727 between Portland and Seattle. After a stop at SEATAC, he collected the ransom of $200,000 and 4 parachutes. Jumping from the plane over southwestern Washington, D.B. Cooper was never found, nor has all the money been recovered. It is believed that DB Cooper did not survive his jump from the airplane.
There was an extensive manhunt, and a 45 year long FBI investigation, but this crime remains the only unsolved air piracy in commercial aviation history. The FBI officially suspended active investigation on the case in July, 2016, but they ask that any physical evidence of the money or parachutes be submitted for analysis.
The investigation produced 66 unidentified fingerprints on the airplane. The agents discovered Cooper’s black clip on tie and his tie clip; along with two of the four parachutes. One of which was opened and two shroud lines cut from the canopy.
The precise area to search was difficult to determine, as even a small difference in the aircraft’s speed or any conditions outside at the time, could have changed his landing point considerably. Another variable was the amount of time he was in freefall before pulling his ripcord, if he even pulled it.
Upon recreation of the event, it was determined that at approximately 8.13pm, D.B. Cooper had jumped from the plane, and it was a heavy rainstorm in that area at that time. So it’s very possible, that if Cooper survived, he could have been “blown off course” and landed farther away than what was projected.
Whatever happened to D.B. Cooper? What happened to the money? Some of the money was recovered in 1980, when it was found by a young boy on the bank of the Columbia River. Unfortunately people have searched for the person known as D.B. Cooper and the money he had received. What do you think happened?
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