Mystery remains of what happened to D.B. Cooper?
As Thanksgiving approaches, so does the anniversary of America's only unsolved airline hijacking forty years ago when a man boarded a flight to Seattle wearing a dark sports jacket, a clip-on tie and horn-rimmed sunglasses.
He took a seat in row 18E, at the very back of the Boeing 727. He ordered a vodka drink and lit a cigarette.
As the plane began to take off, he passed a note to the flight attendant that read, "Miss, I have a bomb here. I want you to sit by me."
Author Geoffrey Gray recounts the events of the hijacking in latest book on the subject, Skyjack: The Hunt for D.B. Cooper.
"His demands were very specific. He wanted $200,000 in American currency," Gray tells television interviewers. “And four parachutes – two front parachutes and two back parachutes."
The plane landed in Seattle, and the hijacker's demands were met on the tarmac.
The passengers were let off.
The stewardess, a pilot, a copilot and a flight engineer remained on the plane with him. He ordered them to fly to Mexico City, which required them to refuel in Reno, Nev.
"Around midnight, the plane landed in Reno, the aft stairs dangling in the back, sparks flew, and FBI agents raided this plane," Gray says.
The hijacker, a parachute and all the money had vanished.
Somewhere between Seattle and Reno, whoever D.B. Cooper was escaped.
The manhunt for Cooper was one of the biggest in the nation's history, Gray says. He says one of the first goals was determining just where Cooper landed. The search area was remote land.
"There are no roads. There are no lights. It is just woods," Gray says.
Investigators were able to determine that the hijacker jumped from the plane at 10,000 feet between 8:12 p.m. and 8:17 p.m. The search zone was harder to pinpoint, however, given the speed of the plane and the width of the flight path.
People began to search for traces of Cooper — and not just the FBI, Gray says.
"It was treasure hunters, amateur sleuths, reporters — just people curious to see what they might be able to find," he says.
Who was the hijacker? That remains a mystery and a question.
"I believe that the actual hijacker was somebody who was not a hero, who was a loser, who was a loner, who was depressed, who was after — in his last gasp trying to make something of his life — the ability to achieve one fine thing," he says.
Did he even survive the jump?
Gray believes he did.
In the FBI files, he found that agents interviewed experts who said surviving the jump was possible.
The mystery remains.
By David Wilkening
David
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