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What Happened to the Guy Who Jumped Out of a Plane and Was Never Sean Again

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D.B. Cooper: How a thief jumped out of a airplane and vanished into thin air

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D.B. Cooper committed i of the most famous heists in American history. This true story is packed full of unanswered questions and strange mysteries.

Cooper hijacked a plane at 30,000 feet and forced information technology to land in Seattle to pick up $200,000 —which in today's currency, would exist around $2,000,000 — and 4 parachutes. He then jumped out of the plane with the coin, never to be seen again.

Did he survive the leap from the airplane? Did he proceed to live a long and full life afterward? Was he mentally ill, or a criminal genius?

In this episode of The Art Of The Leave, we asked all of these questions — and even plant some answers. We spoke to experts on the subject to learn more than about what happened on that stormy night in November of 1971 and the mysteries that followed.

The Art Of The Exit past Yahoo Finance is a truthful crime podcast that goes inside the most notorious heists in history. Listen here, and subscribe for a new episode coming next calendar week.

"There is the myth of the Cooper example, and the facts of the Cooper case," Geoffrey Grey, who studied the Cooper story for years and somewhen turned it into a acknowledged book, says in the episode. "I think he was someone who was super troubled. He was not some sort of cowboy or counterculture figure."

The year is 1971. Richard Nixon is president. The U.S. is still in Vietnam, and the Space Race is in full swing. Paranoia in the nation is at an all-fourth dimension loftier but ironically, aerodrome security is extremely lax these days. You could smuggle only about anything onto a airplane back so, and that brings us to the drome in Portland, Oregon, on Thanksgiving Eve.

In that location's a thirty-infinitesimal flight set to head north to Seattle when a human being named Dan Cooper purchases a i-way ticket for $20. He uses cash. Cooper's appearance has been described as ordinary for that fourth dimension period except for what onlookers described as "manic behavior." He wears a basic suit with a clip-on tie. He makes information technology to his seat while chain-smoking cigarettes without removing his sunglasses. He makes those around him uncomfortable even earlier the plane takes off.

After the flying bellboy, Florence Schaffner, drops a bourbon and soda at Cooper's seat, he hands her a note. Men passing notes to women was common then. Schaffner stuffs it in her pocket, thinking it is just some other man taking a pass at her. She is wrong. "Yous'll want to read my notation, miss," Cooper says. "I have a flop in my briefcase."

Flight attendant Flo Schaffner, one of the crew members of the hijacked Northwest Airlines flight 305, tells reporters that she initially thought the hijacker was trying to hustle her when he gave her a note stating "I have a bomb." The 1971 skyjacking became one of the country's most mysterious crimes, as the hijacker, one D.B. Cooper, disappeared without a trace after jumping out of the 747 airplane with $200,000 cash and four parachutes.
Flying attendant Flo Schaffner, one of the coiffure members of the hijacked Northwest Airlines flight 305, tells reporters that she initially thought the hijacker was trying to hustle her when he gave her a note stating "I have a bomb." (Source: Getty Images)

The folklore of the story tends to lean more on Cooper as a hero instead of villain. It's easy to go caught upwardly in the cinematic side of the story, especially remembering how everything seemed to fall perfectly into place for him to escape.

"I'd say he'south more than lucky than genius," Tom Kaye said in the podcast. "He was a gentlemen though. He tried tipping the flight attendants after he got the money. He wasn't a hardened criminal. This seemed like something he was forced into doing. A do-or-die scenario."

Map spots the area where some several thousand dollars of the D.B. Cooper hijack was found 2/10/80 by Brian Ingram, 8, while on a family outing. (Source: Getty)
Map spots the surface area where some several thousand dollars of the D.B. Cooper hijack was found 2/10/80 past Brian Ingram, viii, while on a family unit outing. (Source: Getty)

The question at the foundation of the story is: Was Cooper some sort of vigilante? Or was he a madman who got lucky? Did he even survive when he jumped out of a moving passenger plane?

No matter where you land, it is irrefutable that this story is anything less than boggling.

(Original Caption) The badly decomposed $20 dollar bills were shown to newsmen after check of their serial numbers showed that they were identical to the bills given to hijacker D.B. Cooper on November 24, 1971. The money was found by Brian Ingram, 8, who was searching for firewood while on a family outing with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Harold Dwayne Ingram of Vancouver, Washington. The money was found on the north shore of the Columbia River, partially buried in the sand.
The badly decomposed $20 dollar bills were shown to newsmen afterward check of their serial numbers showed that they were identical to the bills given to hijacker D.B. Cooper on November 24, 1971. (Source: Getty)

Listen to his story on The Art Of The Go out now on Apple tree Podcasts or Google Podcasts

Full transcript of the episode below:

Alex Sugg (00:02): On November 24th, 1971 a homo cheated expiry. Not only did he outsmart an entire system, but he also got really rich in the process. For over 40 years people take been searching for him, but his truthful identity remains a mystery to this day. He jumped from a airplane that night, having become the first and simply successful air robber in history, and has never been seen once again. How has he continued to slip through our fingers for over four decades, and what happened that night on the aeroplane? This is the story of DB Cooper. From Yahoo Finance, this is the Fine art of the Leave. I'thou Alex Sugg.

AS (01:03): So, let me give you some context. The twelvemonth is 1971. Richard Nixon is president. The U.Due south. is notwithstanding in Vietnam, and the Space Race is in total swing. Paranoia in the nation is at an all-time high only ironically, airport security is extremely lax these days. You could smuggle just about anything onto a plane back then, and that brings u.s. to the airdrome in Portland, Oregon on Thanksgiving Eve. There'south a 30-minute flight fix to head due north to Seattle when a man named Dan Cooper purchases a i-way ticket for $twenty. He uses greenbacks. Cooper's advent has been described as ordinary for that time period except for what onlookers described as, "manic behavior." He wore a bones suit with a prune on necktie. He makes it to his seat and concatenation smoked cigarettes without removing his sunglasses. He made those around him uncomfortable even before the plane took off.

AS (02:06): After the flight attendant Florence Schaffner drops a bourbon and soda at Cooper's seat, he hands her a note. Men passing notes to women was mutual then. Schaffner stuffed it in her pocket, thinking it was just some other man taking a pass at her. She was wrong. "You'll want to read my note, miss," Cooper said. "I have a flop in my briefcase." Schaffner unfolds the paper which reads something like, "I want $200,000 dollars and ii sets of parachutes." He later took the note back from her as to not leave whatever prove behind. He was good at roofing his tracks. Cooper's demands were expected in Seattle when they landed. He threatened that if the demands were non met, he would accident up the airplane. "No funny business," he repeated.

Every bit: 02:56 After Schaffner read the note, Cooper asked her to sit adjacent to him. He opened his briefcase to prove a mess of cables and red cylinders. He and so restates his demands. He wants $200,000 dollars, which in today's currency would exist effectually $2 million dollars, and four parachutes, and a fuel truck set to fuel the plane upon arriving in Seattle. They were not going to stay on the ground. She took his demands and shared them with the pilots. This was the outset of a very, very long flying.

Geoffrey Gray: 03:36 Now enter the air terminal in Portland, Oregon.

As: 03:41 I spoke with Geoffrey Gray, a former reporter who spent years studying this instance which he afterwards turned into a bestselling book.

GG: 03:49 You have a passenger who immediately gets noticed by some other passengers, and why? He's very fidgety, he'due south chain smoking, he's in a suit and tie. He'south sitting off to the corner. He looks basically, according to the FBI report, like a troubled dude. The flight itself takes off as scheduled well-nigh two:47, I call back, in the afternoon to Seattle. Just a 30-minute ride. Super, super brusk flying, and he's 1 of the last passengers to board. Once again, there was just something up with this guy in the back, and he's property an attache case. He had sunglasses on. He looks similar a weird person.

AS 04:26 So you said there was a vibe most him earlier he got on the plane, and then once he got on, he was noticeable to those effectually him in a negative context. He was giving off a vibe like he'south a little chip weird or something is going on with him. So people noticed him before the flight.

GG: 04:44 Absolutely, and that'south one of the things that you observe in the DB Cooper case is there's the myth of the Cooper case, and the facts of the Cooper case. One of the things that I was able to stumble on later getting admission to these original FBI case files was the actual 302s, the actual reports of passengers. They immediately noticed him, or some of them, in Portland before the plane even started.

Every bit: 05:08 Florence Schaffner, she gets the annotation. She opens it, she tells the pilots what's going on. Can yous tell me a petty fleck about what is happening with the other passengers onboard? What is the mood on the aeroplane? Are they aware of what's going on? Is it a full general, almost like a hold up, everyone is enlightened that it's a hostage situation? Or, is information technology more independent than that?

GG: 05:32 Yes. You know, the mood on the plane was, "What's going on here? We have no idea. Why are we circumvoluted for iii hours? I just want to go dwelling and to my family." The pilots made up some excuses over why they were being held up, and really what was going on on the ground was a roundup of parachutes and cash to meet the hijacker's demands. It was incredible that nobody really picked upward on it until well after. It was incredible, and maybe for a proficient reason, that there was really no panic.

Every bit: 06:01 Right.

GG: 06:02 At this time, nobody was actually aware that there was a guy peradventure with a bomb in the back threatening to not only blow the airplane upwardly, but bribe on the passengers, and spring out with parachutes.

AS: 06:fourteen Why was this flight chosen? Was there a reason?

GG: 06:19 You lot have to ask Cooper why he chose this specific flight, but the general consensus is that it was a Boeing 727, which had aft stairs, stairs in the back, that yous could really release during flight and spring out of folks did in Vietnam with the same plane.

As: 06:36 That leads me to some other question of, he must exist keenly aware of how planes work. It'due south clear that he has background in planes. That must narrow the search pretty dramatically, right?

GG: 06:49 No. Cooper displayed knowledge of aircraft and cognition of parachutes, but unfortunately you lot think that that would narrow downwards the search, just to what degree did he have the knowledge? Was he a licensed airplane pilot? Was he a manager? It's still unclear. Was he a professional person parachutist, or was he in the Special Forces or the armed services? There's some clues but the clues were not specific enough to really become a specific kind of profile.

AS: 07:18 Is there a run a risk that he died from the jump, that he possibly didn't go far? I hateful, it seems unlikely only because they would accept recovered a body, just is there whatsoever possibility of that? I'm non sure if he knew the atmospheric condition conditions or what was going on that nighttime, if you lot've dug that research upwardly.

GG: 07:37 Yep. So this is the fundamental question in the Cooper case is, did he make it, or did he even survive the bound, or is he hanging from a tree in the Peachy Pacific Northwest? In that location's two schools of thought. People who follow this case, there'south one campsite or the other. I'm of the opinion that the drop zone of the flying was really not quite in a forested expanse, but it was farther south in wine country, the Livermore Valley and that Cooper could have likely survived the jump. Furthermore, experts say that if he did do the jump with the parachute that he had, at the very least he could have cleaved a leg. Information technology was not quite as perilous of a spring every bit we all imagine.

Equally: 08:21 After circumvoluted the air for hours, Cooper jumped from the aeroplane and escaped. The fourth dimension and location of when he jumped couldn't exist confirmed by anyone onboard, making his landing zone almost impossible to pinpoint. As Geoff said, the fundamental question at the base of this whole story is, did he survive that jump? If he died upon landing or if he got caught in a tree, wouldn't somebody have institute a trace of that by now? All signs pointed to the idea that he did in fact survive that nighttime, and even more and then that he continued living and hiding for the next few decades. I had to ask Geoff the obvious question. Who do you think did it? Who do you think is DB Cooper?

GG: 09:12 Who's DB Cooper? Well, I remember he'south somebody who was super troubled. I don't retrieve that he was a heroic cowboy or a counterculture effigy. I think that he was somebody suffering from severe paranoid schizophrenia or depression. I call back that anyone who hijacks a plane, it'south an act of both murder, an human activity of suicide, there's so much going on there that the stable don't really exercise information technology, and don't actually always practice it for money likewise. In that location'south this subconscious motivation. And then, I'm looking for somebody that fits that category. Somebody who is gear up to only check out of life, and it's more than of a tragic hero. I wouldn't phone call him that, I don't call back he'south a hero. He's someone who put lives at risk. He'south a criminal. He's a unsafe person, just I put him more than in the tragic psychological depressive loner state.

AS: ten:12 Was Cooper mentally unwell? Was he depressed? It's an extremely plausible assumption that Geoff made about Cooper. I mean, what does it take for somebody to commit a law-breaking like this? I accept to admit, I become caught upward in the cinematic sides to this story pretty ofttimes myself. It'south way easier for me to frame Cooper in a brave or valiant calorie-free, merely this was a criminal offence that put real people at hazard. A guy had a flop on an airplane. The realization that this person was willing to lose life over this is a pretty sobering mode to remember this story. No thing how miraculous the whole result may seem. After the break, nosotros'll expect at the just pieces of testify found in the case, and we learn about how Cooper treated his hostages.

AS: 11:09 Initially, information technology was believed that Cooper's bound from the plane was in a remote expanse of Southwest Washington. This region was searched on foot and helicopter without a trace of Cooper or his parachute. The exact location of where he jumped has endless variables fastened. The aircraft'due south speed and the conditions conditions alone are enough to make this landing site a full mystery, not to mention, no i onboard had precise timing of when he jumped at all. What makes this case so interesting to me are the seemingly perfect circumstantial and ecology elements it took to pull this off. It feels so unlikely that every chemical element of that night aligned to assist Cooper pull off this amazing crime, merely the alternating is equally unlikely. If Cooper did die that night, how is it possible to take no bear witness of a body or a parachute all these years after?

—

Tom Kaye: 12:sixteen Tom Kaye.

Alex Sugg: 12:17 Hey, Tom. This is Alex. Tom Kaye is a paleontologist from Arizona. He was hired by the FBI to examine prove they believed was connected to Cooper. This is him telling me about a bird skeleton he'southward been researching for the past couple of weeks.

TK: 12:32 Bird fossil. Information technology was ane.2 inches long, the whole skeleton. So the question was, was the thing running when it was out of the egg, or was it nest bound and taken care of by the parents?

Equally: 12:42 In that location's never merely i possibility with Tom, and that's what makes him expert at what he does. He doesn't leap to conclusion without facts to back information technology up. It's a smashing strength when you're looking at all of the outcomes to business relationship for in the Cooper case.

TK 12:57 No, the DB Cooper case is an interesting sideline because of all of the mysteries. This one has some rare characteristics. Number one, it actually happened. The fact that this happened and that it'south the merely unsolved skyjacking in United states of america history makes it unique. Also the fact it was long enough ago that they couldn't apply modernistic forensic techniques to the case, but non so long agone that show is gone. Evidence is still available.

As: 13:31 Okay. Then when you were working on it, what exactly were you doing?

TK: xiii:36 Well originally I was contacted because the FBI had never analyzed the money that was buried. So as a paleontologist, I study things that have been cached in the basis for a long time. Then although the connection doesn't brand sense at kickoff, when you lot explain it that manner, it makes a little more sense.

AS: thirteen:54 What were some of the interesting findings you lot had with it?

TK: xiii:54 Well there were three bundles of cash. They were $xx dollar bills, and they knew it was Coopers money because the serial numbers lined upward. The money remains probably one of the bigger mysteries in the Cooper case considering nosotros tin't connect the dots between where he jumped in Ariel, Washington 20 miles away and how y'all end up on and there'south money under the sand.

AS: 14:15 What pct would you say is likely that he survived the jump out of the plane?

TK: fourteen:20 Nosotros'd say at this betoken in the game very probable. Then back in the mean solar day, jumping out of a plane at 200 miles an 60 minutes seemed like it would shred the parachute, or you would get disoriented. It was dark out, there was clouds, it was raining. Then there was a lot of reasons back and so to say that he didn't get in. When you leap out of an airplane at 200 miles an hour, the chute does non open correct away. Information technology does what nosotros call squidding. So you'd tedious down there. You could brand that jump, but I call up he's more lucky than genius. He was not the first guy to jump out of an airplane similar that, he wasn't the last. So he gets all the credit simply he by no ways thought it up all on his ain. He may have, but there was other people that've done information technology before him. They just all got caught or died in the process.

TK: 15:08 I think he was luckier than smart. He took some precautions only didn't take others. He was a gentleman though. He had food brought in for the pilots knowing it was going to be a long trip. He tried to tip the flying attendants, and they turned it down. They turned down the money. When he got the money he was so happy he tried to give them some, and they said, "No, we can't have tips," which they were chided on afterwards maxim, "You should have gotten some of the money back." So, he did not act like a hardened typical criminal that didn't care about anybody. He really seemed that this was something he was forced into doing. It was a do or dice scenario.

As: fifteen:54 Tom Kaye, thank you so much for your time.

Alex Sugg: 16:14 This case leaves a lot to mystery. In my findings, I realized that when you don't accept a person simply just a profile, it's easy to assume dissimilar things near it. Some people believe Cooper was a mentally sick man who lost control and recklessly committed this crime. Others believe he was a sort of vigilante who gave a giant middle finger to the organisation, to the constabulary, and even took the matter of getting rich rapidly into his ain easily. Cooper's story has created a massive range of devoted followers. A simple search online and you lot'll find countless people either challenge to be Cooper, or challenge he was their uncle, or a parent, or some distant friend of the family, et cetera. There are city wide events where sunglasses, a blackness suit, and a prune on tie are the party dress code. In that location's even a music festival based off of his escape. No affair where you lie on the spectrum of Cooper and what kind of homo he was, it's irrefutable that this case be seen as anything less than extraordinary.

AS: 17:27 It'southward amazing that in all this time, no definitive evidence has emerged to bear witness whether Cooper lived or died that night. In July of 2016, the FBI close down its investigation into Cooper indefinitely. It's a symbol of closure. At that place is a very high run a risk we will never know the identity of the man who was DB Cooper. People will continue to search and dig, but information technology would take some extraordinary evidence to show who he was at this indicate. This person who'due south lived among us for 40 years. He could be in your very town. He could exist down your street.

AS: 18:12 All these years afterward living a tranquility life and still looking over his shoulder, wondering if today is the twenty-four hours he really gets defenseless. In a strange style, I don't really want to observe out who he was later all. When it's all said and done, all the correct and the incorrect, the genius or the sheer luck of this story, a part of me thinks keeping DB Cooper'south identity a mystery is meliorate than discovering who he really was all along. This homo will die ane day, but DB Cooper, the myth and the story, will live forever as one of the greatest heists in history.

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Source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/db-cooper-story-experts-125358018.html

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