D. B. Cooper

D. B. Cooper
A 1972 FBI composite drawing of the hijacker
Disappeared	November 24, 1971 (52 years ago)
Status	Missing / Unidentified
Other names	Dan Cooper
Known for	Hijacking a Boeing 727 and parachuting from the plane midflight before disappearing
Criminal status	At large, believed dead
Criminal charge	Air piracy and violation of the Hobbs Act
Capture status	Fugitive, believed dead
Wanted by	FBI
Wanted since	November 24, 1971
Website	www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/db-cooper-hijacking

Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305

N467US, the aircraft involved in the hijacking
Hijacking
Date	November 24, 1971
Summary	Hijacking
Site	Between Portland, Oregon, U.S., and Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Boeing 727-51
Operator	Northwest Orient Airlines
Registration	N467US
Flight origin	Portland International Airport
Destination	Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
Occupants	42
Passengers	36 (including hijacker)
Crew	6
Fatalities	0
Missing	1
Survivors	41

D. B. Cooper, also known as Dan Cooper, was an unidentified man who hijacked Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305, a Boeing 727 aircraft, in United States airspace on November 24, 1971. During the flight from Portland, Oregon, to Seattle, Washington, Cooper told a flight attendant he had a bomb, demanded $200,000 in ransom (equivalent to approximately $1,500,000 in 2024)^[1][2] and requested four parachutes upon landing in Seattle. After releasing the passengers in Seattle, Cooper instructed the flight crew to refuel the aircraft and begin a second flight to Mexico City, with a refueling stop in Reno, Nevada. About thirty minutes after taking off from Seattle, Cooper opened the aircraft's aft door, deployed the staircase, and parachuted into the night over southwestern Washington. Cooper's true identity and whereabouts have never been determined conclusively.

In 1980, a small portion of the ransom money was found along the banks of the Columbia River near Vancouver, Washington. The discovery of the money renewed public interest in the mystery but yielded no additional information about Cooper's identity or fate, and the remaining money was never recovered. For forty-five years after the hijacking, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) maintained an active investigation and built an extensive case file but ultimately did not reach any definitive conclusions. The crime remains the only unsolved case of air piracy in the history of commercial aviation. The FBI speculates Cooper did not survive his jump for several reasons: the inclement weather, Cooper's lack of proper skydiving equipment, the forested terrain into which he jumped, his lack of detailed knowledge of his landing area and the disappearance of the remaining ransom money, suggesting it was never spent. In July 2016, the FBI officially suspended active investigation of the case, although reporters, enthusiasts, professional investigators and amateur sleuths continue to pursue numerous theories for Cooper's identity, success and fate.

Cooper's hijacking—and several imitators during the next year—immediately prompted major upgrades to security measures for airports and commercial aviation. Metal detectors were installed at airports, baggage inspection became mandatory and passengers who paid cash for tickets on the day of departure were selected for additional scrutiny. Boeing 727s were retrofitted with eponymous "Cooper vanes", designed to prevent the aft staircase from being lowered in-flight. By 1973, aircraft hijacking incidents had decreased, as the new security measures dissuaded would-be hijackers whose only motive was money.