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50 years ago today, on the 24th of November 1971, a man going by the name of Dan Cooper boarded a Boeing 727 airliner at Portland International Airport bound for Seattle. Shortly after takeoff, he passed a note to a flight attendant indicating that he was carrying a bomb in his briefcase and saying that he would blow up the plane unless a ransom of $200,000 was paid. After negotiation, the plane landed at Seattle, the ransom was provided and all the passengers and most of the flight attendents were released.

Cooper demanded that the plane fly to Mexico City but after being told that it didn't have enough fuel for that flight, it was agreed that it would fly to Reno instead. While en route, Cooper jumped out of the plane via the rear stairs using a paracute that was supplied along with the bag containing the ransom money.

Despite the plane being tracked by at least two air force jets, no trace of Dan Cooper was ever found. To this day it remains one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in the aviation world. Numerous suspects were interviewed but Cooper was never identified. Some of the money was recovered from a riverbank a few years ago, but the rest was never found. Most law enforcement officials believe (publicly at least) that Cooper did not survive the jump from the plane, though no body was ever found. Having said that, the drop zone was in a fairly remote forested area inhabited by bears, so it is possible that if he died in the escape attempt, his remains may have been eaten, but there would still be some evidence present, not least of which was the paracute itself.

Did Cooper really perish in the paracute jump, or are the FBI just saying that in order to save face, given their totally ineffectual efforts to solve the case?
We'll probably never know...

Needless to say there is a wikipedia page on this incident with much more information for anybody wishing to learn more about this fascinating incident;

and a number of Youtube documentaries, of which this is one of the best;

220px-DBCooper.jpeg
 
Darkprincess69 said:
50 years ago today, on the 24th of November 1971, a man going by the name of Dan Cooper boarded a Boeing 727 airliner at Portland International Airport bound for Seattle. Shortly after takeoff, he passed a note to a flight attendant indicating that he was carrying a bomb in his briefcase and saying that he would blow up the plane unless a ransom of $200,000 was paid. After negotiation, the plane landed at Seattle, the ransom was provided and all the passengers and most of the flight attendents were released.

Cooper demanded that the plane fly to Mexico City but after being told that it didn't have enough fuel for that flight, it was agreed that it would fly to Reno instead. While en route, Cooper jumped out of the plane via the rear stairs using a paracute that was supplied along with the bag containing the ransom money.

Despite the plane being tracked by at least two air force jets, no trace of Dan Cooper was ever found. To this day it remains one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in the aviation world. Numerous suspects were interviewed but Cooper was never identified. Some of the money was recovered from a riverbank a few years ago, but the rest was never found. Most law enforcement officials believe (publicly at least) that Cooper did not survive the jump from the plane, though no body was ever found. Having said that, the drop zone was in a fairly remote forested area inhabited by bears, so it is possible that if he died in the escape attempt, his remains may have been eaten, but there would still be some evidence present, not least of which was the paracute itself.

Did Cooper really perish in the paracute jump, or are the FBI just saying that in order to save face, given their totally ineffectual efforts to solve the case?
We'll probably never know...

Needless to say there is a wikipedia page on this incident with much more information for anybody wishing to learn more about this fascinating incident;

and a number of Youtube documentaries, of which this is one of the best;

View attachment 1092776
Click to expand...
Fascinating! And the story was referenced in the recent “Loki” tv series
 
By the way, I was always a bit surprised how often the public opinion was "lenient" with many criminals when they were "friendly", "tricky", "funny" or at least always trying never to hurt anyone in their criminal acts.

Although being myself an always law abiding typical German "smart ass" ...

(probably the most criminal thing I ever did in my life was in 1988 riding the New Yorker subway several times without payment on a holiday journey together with two other German students - the damned New Yorker ticket selling machine in the subway station in front of our hotel was broken; in Germany it probably would have been repaired within hours! We really thought about founding a German ticket repair company for New York's subway stations but there were too many criminals in those times! :p),

... I must admit, I sometimes try NOT to admire such persons like these two ones who obviously did many things right in their life (lives?) although starting with criminal acts:


 
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montycrusto said:
Fascinating! And the story was referenced in the recent “Loki” tv series
Click to expand...
An interesting re-enactment of the incident, although in reality, it was pitch dark when Cooper jumped, not broad daylight as in the Loki clip :)
 
Darkprincess69 said:
50 years ago today, on the 24th of November 1971, a man going by the name of Dan Cooper boarded a Boeing 727 airliner at Portland International Airport bound for Seattle. Shortly after takeoff, he passed a note to a flight attendant indicating that he was carrying a bomb in his briefcase and saying that he would blow up the plane unless a ransom of $200,000 was paid. After negotiation, the plane landed at Seattle, the ransom was provided and all the passengers and most of the flight attendents were released.

Cooper demanded that the plane fly to Mexico City but after being told that it didn't have enough fuel for that flight, it was agreed that it would fly to Reno instead. While en route, Cooper jumped out of the plane via the rear stairs using a paracute that was supplied along with the bag containing the ransom money.

Despite the plane being tracked by at least two air force jets, no trace of Dan Cooper was ever found. To this day it remains one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in the aviation world. Numerous suspects were interviewed but Cooper was never identified. Some of the money was recovered from a riverbank a few years ago, but the rest was never found. Most law enforcement officials believe (publicly at least) that Cooper did not survive the jump from the plane, though no body was ever found. Having said that, the drop zone was in a fairly remote forested area inhabited by bears, so it is possible that if he died in the escape attempt, his remains may have been eaten, but there would still be some evidence present, not least of which was the paracute itself.

Did Cooper really perish in the paracute jump, or are the FBI just saying that in order to save face, given their totally ineffectual efforts to solve the case?
We'll probably never know...

Needless to say there is a wikipedia page on this incident with much more information for anybody wishing to learn more about this fascinating incident;

and a number of Youtube documentaries, of which this is one of the best;

View attachment 1092776
Click to expand...
Even back then, those jets flew awfully high. He would have parachuted into very cold and very thin air. He could have blacked out and been unable to pull the rip cord, or he could have frozen on the way down. It is worth noting that numerous people trying to evade border security (often migrants) have died in the wheel wells of planes trying to reach foreign airports. There was a guy who parachuted from the edge of space, but he wore a specifically designed suit and a specifically designed parachute. That said, J. Edgar Hoover (who was in his 70's but still running the FBI then, and who notoriously denied the existence of the Mafia) would certainly cover up an embarrassing failure.
 
Frank Petrexa said:
Even back then, those jets flew awfully high. He would have parachuted into very cold and very thin air. He could have blacked out and been unable to pull the rip cord, or he could have frozen on the way down. It is worth noting that numerous people trying to evade border security (often migrants) have died in the wheel wells of planes trying to reach foreign airports. There was a guy who parachuted from the edge of space, but he wore a specifically designed suit and a specifically designed parachute. That said, J. Edgar Hoover (who was in his 70's but still running the FBI then, and who notoriously denied the existence of the Mafia) would certainly cover up an embarrassing failure.
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If I remember correctly, D. B. Cooper had the plane fly low enough so that her could safely open the rear door and jump. The 727 had a rear door that passengers could board the plane and also exit it.
 
Frank Petrexa said:
Even back then, those jets flew awfully high. He would have parachuted into very cold and very thin air. He could have blacked out and been unable to pull the rip cord, or he could have frozen on the way down. It is worth noting that numerous people trying to evade border security (often migrants) have died in the wheel wells of planes trying to reach foreign airports. There was a guy who parachuted from the edge of space, but he wore a specifically designed suit and a specifically designed parachute. That said, J. Edgar Hoover (who was in his 70's but still running the FBI then, and who notoriously denied the existence of the Mafia) would certainly cover up an embarrassing failure.
Click to expand...
While the cruising altitude of the 727 would have been around 30,000 or more, Cooper instructed the pilots to fly at below 10,000 feet and not to pressurise the cabin. This would be vital in order for him to be able to make a successful parachute jump. He also requested that the rear stairs be open throughout the flight and that the landing gear would be down at all times in order to keep the speed down to a safe level for a jump. Whoever Cooper actually was, it is very clear that he knew exactly what he was doing, that he understood aircraft operations and was very familiar with the Boeing 727 in particular, because when the captain told him that it would be impossible to take off with the rear stairs deployed, he corrected the captain by stating that it was not impossible at all. This has led many to believe that Cooper may have had some connections with the CIA as they are known to have regularly used the 727 in this configuration to drop agents and equipment behind enemy lines in Vietnam. It is also clear that he had at least a good working knowledge of how to use a parachute, which might also hint at either a military or intelligence background.

The factors weighing against a successful jump are that it occured in total darkness in quite bad weather conditions (it was very cold and raining heavily - I would expect that jumping out of a plane at over 200mph into a rainstorm would be a pretty miserable experience).
 
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Darkprincess69 said:
While the cruising altitude of the 727 would have been around 30,000 or more, Cooper instructed the pilots to fly at below 1,0000 feet and not to pressurise the cabin. This would be vital in order for him to be able to make a successful parachute jump. He also requested that the rear stairs be open throughout the flight and that the landing gear would be down at all times in order to keep the speed down to a safe level for a jump. Whoever Cooper actually was, it is very clear that he knew exactly what he was doing, that he understood aircraft operations and was very familiar with the Boeing 727 in particular, because when the captain told him that it would be impossible to take off with the rear stairs deployed, he corrected the captain by stating that it was not impossible at all. This has led many to believe that Cooper may have had some connections with the CIA as they are known to have regularly used the 727 in this configuration to drop agents and equipment behind enemy lines in Vietnam. It is also clear that he had at least a good working knowledge of how to use a parachute, which might also hint at either a military or intelligence background.

The factors weighing against a successful jump are that it occured in total darkness in quite bad weather conditions (it was very cold and raining heavily - I would expect that jumping out of a plane at over 200mph into a rainstorm would be a pretty miserable experience).
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I made a model of a Boeing 727 and was very happy to discover it featured a hinged staircase at the rear.. I didn’t know it was ever used in-flight! :eek:
 
Darkprincess69 said:
While the cruising altitude of the 727 would have been around 30,000 or more, Cooper instructed the pilots to fly at below 1,0000 feet and not to pressurise the cabin. This would be vital in order for him to be able to make a successful parachute jump. He also requested that the rear stairs be open throughout the flight and that the landing gear would be down at all times in order to keep the speed down to a safe level for a jump. Whoever Cooper actually was, it is very clear that he knew exactly what he was doing, that he understood aircraft operations and was very familiar with the Boeing 727 in particular, because when the captain told him that it would be impossible to take off with the rear stairs deployed, he corrected the captain by stating that it was not impossible at all. This has led many to believe that Cooper may have had some connections with the CIA as they are known to have regularly used the 727 in this configuration to drop agents and equipment behind enemy lines in Vietnam. It is also clear that he had at least a good working knowledge of how to use a parachute, which might also hint at either a military or intelligence background.

The factors weighing against a successful jump are that it occured in total darkness in quite bad weather conditions (it was very cold and raining heavily - I would expect that jumping out of
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I also think that there is a reason that paratroops use specially designed planes. I don't dispute your contention about the CIA. But airspeed is an issue, turbulence is an issue, and flying over mountainous terrain at 1000 feet is an issue for the pilot (whom Cooper would have to trust at some point and who would have to be ready at any moment to elevate the plane over obstacles and would overall have to be damned good). Cooper would have to be trained--as you say, have done it before.
The one other question is that if he did survive, did the inflation at the time render it all futile in the end--his fortune was whittled away by the economy (inflation was still high into the '80's, just not astronomical). It would be tough to invest it (a guy walks into a bank or brokerage with a suitcase full of bills--I assume there wasn't time to mark them). That would be real irony. Maybe the bears did get him and used the money themselves.
 
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