Dan Cooper, also known as D.B. Cooper, was the nickname of a man whose identity is unknown. On November 24, 1971, he took over Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305, a Boeing 727 plane traveling from Portland, Oregon, to Seattle, Washington. Cooper told the flight crew he had a bomb and asked for $200,000 in ransom (equal to about $1,600,000 in 2025) and four parachutes after landing in Seattle. After letting the passengers leave in Seattle, Cooper told the crew to refuel the plane and begin another flight to Mexico City, with a stop in Reno, Nevada. After taking off from Seattle, Cooper opened the plane’s back door, used the stairs to exit, and jumped out with a parachute into a remote, heavily wooded area of Southwest Washington. Because of a mistake made by a reporter, the hijacker became known as D.B. Cooper; his true identity and what happened to him are still unknown.
In 1980, a small amount of the ransom money ($5,800) was found near the Columbia River in Vancouver, Washington. This discovery made people more interested in the case but did not provide more information. The rest of the money was never found. For 45 years after the hijacking, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) worked on the case and created a large file of evidence, but did not find any clear answers about Cooper’s identity. In 2016, the FBI stopped its active investigation of the case, but reporters, professional investigators, and others continue to search for clues about who Cooper was and what happened to him.
Cooper’s hijacking—and other similar events that happened in the year after—led to important changes in airport and air travel security. Metal detectors were added at airports, baggage checks became required, and passengers who paid cash for tickets on the day of their flight were checked more carefully. The Cooper hijacking is the only known unsolved case of air piracy in the history of commercial aviation.
Hijacking
On November 24, 1971, which was Thanksgiving Eve, a man went to the flight counter for Northwest Orient Airlines at Portland International Airport. He used cash to buy a one-way ticket for Flight 305, a 30-minute trip north to Seattle–Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac). On his ticket, he wrote his name as "Dan Cooper." People who saw him described Cooper as a white man in his mid-40s with dark hair and brown eyes. He wore a black or brown business suit, a white shirt, a thin black tie, a black raincoat, and brown shoes. He carried a black attaché case and a brown paper bag. Cooper boarded Flight 305, a Boeing 727-100 (FAA registration N467US). He sat in seat 18-E, the last row, and asked a flight attendant for a drink: a bourbon and 7-Up.
Flight 305 had 36 passengers and six crew members: Captain William A. Scott, First Officer William "Bill" J. Rataczak, flight engineer Harold E. Anderson, and flight attendants Alice Hancock, Tina Mucklow, and Florence Schaffner. The flight left Portland on time at 2:50 pm PST. Shortly after takeoff, Cooper gave a note to flight attendant Schaffner, who was sitting in the jump seat at the back of the plane, directly behind Cooper. Schaffner thought the note was a phone number and put it in her purse without opening it. Cooper then leaned toward her and whispered, "Miss, you'd better look at that note. I have a bomb."
Schaffner opened the note. It had neat, all-capital letters written with a felt-tip pen. Cooper wrote, "Miss—I have a bomb in my briefcase and want you to sit by me." Schaffner returned the note to Cooper, sat down as he requested, and asked to see the bomb. Cooper opened his attaché case, and Schaffner saw what looked like a bomb: a large cylindrical battery connected with wires to two rows of four red cylinders she thought were dynamite.
Cooper closed the case and told Schaffner his demands. Schaffner wrote a note with Cooper’s demands, took it to the cockpit, and told the flight crew what was happening. Captain Scott told Schaffner to stay in the cockpit and take notes. He then called Northwest flight operations in Minnesota and reported the hijacker’s demands: "[Cooper] requests $200,000 in a knapsack by 5:00 pm. He wants two front parachutes, two back parachutes. He wants the money in negotiable American currency." By asking for two sets of parachutes, Cooper suggested he might take someone with him, which made authorities less likely to give fake equipment.
With Schaffner in the cockpit, flight attendant Mucklow sat next to Cooper to act as a liaison between him and the crew. Cooper made more demands through Mucklow: when the plane landed at Sea-Tac, fuel trucks must meet the plane, and all passengers must stay seated while Mucklow brought the money aboard. Cooper said he would let the passengers go after he had the money. The last items brought aboard would be the four parachutes.
Scott told Sea-Tac air traffic control about the situation, who contacted the Seattle Police Department (SPD) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The passengers were told their arrival in Seattle would be delayed because of a "minor mechanical difficulty." Donald Nyrop, the president of Northwest at the time, approved the ransom payment and told all employees to follow Cooper’s demands. For about two hours, Flight 305 circled Puget Sound in a holding pattern to give the SPD and FBI time to gather the ransom money and parachutes and prepare emergency personnel.
On the plane, Cooper told Mucklow to stay by his side. Mucklow later said Cooper seemed familiar with the local area. While looking out the window, he said, "Looks like Tacoma down there," as the plane flew above it. When Mucklow told Cooper the parachutes were coming from McChord Air Force Base, Cooper correctly noted McChord was only a 20-minute drive from Sea-Tac. She described Cooper’s behavior: "[Cooper] was not nervous. He seemed rather nice and he was not cruel or nasty."
While the plane circled Seattle, Mucklow talked to Cooper and asked why he chose Northwest Airlines to hijack. Cooper laughed and said, "It's not because I have a grudge against your airline, it's just because I have a grudge," before explaining the flight suited his needs. Cooper asked where Mucklow was from; she said she was originally from Pennsylvania but lived in Minneapolis at the time. Cooper said Minnesota was "very nice country." Mucklow asked where Cooper was from, but he became upset and refused to answer. Cooper asked Mucklow if she smoked and offered her a cigarette. Mucklow said she had quit but accepted the cigarette.
FBI records note Cooper spoke briefly to an unidentified passenger while the plane stayed in a holding pattern over Seattle. Passenger George Labissoniere told FBI agents he used the restroom behind Cooper several times. After one visit, he said a passenger wearing a cowboy hat was asking Mucklow about the mechanical problem. Labissoniere said Cooper was at first amused but then told the man to return to his seat. The man ignored Cooper and kept asking Mucklow questions. Labissoniere said he persuaded the man to return to his seat.
Mucklow’s version of the interaction was different. She said a passenger asked her for a sports magazine to read because he was bored. She and the passenger moved to an area behind Cooper, where they both looked for magazines. The passenger took a copy of The New Yorker and returned to his seat. When Mucklow came back to sit with Cooper, he said, "If that is a sky marshal, I don't want any more of that," but Mucklow told him no sky marshals were on the flight. The man who asked questions was not interviewed by the FBI and was never identified.
The $200,000 ransom was received from Seattle First National Bank in a bag weighing about 19 pounds (8.5 kg). This was because the money was made of 10,000 unmarked $20 bills, as Cooper had specifically requested. Most of the money had serial numbers starting with "L," which showed it came from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. The FBI photographed the money on microfilm. The SPD got the two front (reserve) parachutes from a local skydiving school and the two back (main) parachutes from a local stunt pilot.
Around 5:24 pm PST, Captain Scott was told the parachutes had arrived at Sea-Tac and informed Cooper they would land soon. At 5:46 pm PST, Flight 305 landed at Sea-T
Investigation
In addition to 66 hidden fingerprints found on the plane, FBI agents found Cooper’s black clip-on tie, tie clip, and two of the four parachutes. One parachute had been opened and had three of its lines cut. Investigators talked to people who saw the event in Portland, Seattle, and Reno, and created sketches based on their descriptions. Local and federal officials quickly began questioning people who might be involved. In a hurry to meet a deadline, reporter James Long from The Oregon Journal wrote down the name “Dan Cooper” as “D. B. Cooper.” Another reporter, Clyde Jabin from United Press International, repeated this mistake, and as other media outlets shared the error, the name “D. B. Cooper” became widely used.
Because of the possibility that the hijacker used his real name or an alias from a previous crime, Portland police talked to a local man named D. B. Cooper. This man had a small police record but was quickly ruled out as a suspect. Finding the exact area to search was difficult because of many unknown factors. The 727’s speed estimates changed, the weather along the flight path changed depending on the plane’s location and height, and only Cooper knew how long he fell before opening his parachute. Pilots flying an F-106 neither saw anyone jumping from the plane nor detected a parachute with their radar. A person wearing black clothes jumping into the dark night would be hard to see, especially with limited visibility, clouds, and no lights on the ground. Pilots flying a T-33 also did not see the 727.
On December 6, 1971, 12 days after the event, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover approved using a U.S. Air Force SR-71 Blackbird to retrace and photograph the flight path of Flight 305, hoping to find items Cooper carried during his jump. The SR-71 made five flights, but the poor visibility made the photography attempts unsuccessful. In an experiment, FBI agents used the same type of plane as the hijacking and pushed a 200-pound (91 kg) sled out of the plane’s back stairs. This helped them recreate the upward movement of the tail section and the brief change in cabin pressure described by the flight crew at 8:13 pm. Early estimates placed Cooper’s landing area near the southern end of Mount St. Helens, a few miles southeast of Ariel, Washington, near Lake Merwin, an artificial lake formed by a dam on the Lewis River. Search efforts focused on Clark and Cowlitz counties, covering the land immediately south and north of the Lewis River in Southwest Washington. FBI agents and sheriff’s deputies searched large forested areas on foot and by helicopter. They also conducted door-to-door searches of local farmhouses. Other teams used boats to search Lake Merwin and Yale Lake, the reservoir to its east. No evidence of Cooper or his equipment was found.
Using planes and helicopters from the Oregon Army National Guard, the FBI searched the entire flight path known as Victor 23 (called “Vector 23” in most Cooper-related materials) from Seattle to Reno. Although many broken tree tops and pieces of plastic resembling parachute canopies were found and investigated, nothing related to the hijacking was discovered. In early 1972, after the snow melted, FBI agents, soldiers from Fort Lewis, Air Force personnel, National Guardsmen, and volunteers searched Clark and Cowlitz counties for 18 days in March and another 18 days in April. A marine salvage company used a submarine to search 200 feet (61 meters) deep in Lake Merwin. Two local women found a skeleton in an abandoned building in Clark County; it was later identified as the remains of Barbara Ann Derry, a teenager believed to have been kidnapped and killed weeks earlier by Warren Forrest, a suspected serial killer. Despite the extensive search, no significant evidence related to the hijacking was found.
Early computer estimates for the FBI suggested Cooper’s drop zone was between the Lewis River dam to the north and the town of Battle Ground, Washington, to the south. In March 1972, after a joint investigation with Northwest Orient Airlines and the Air Force, the FBI determined Cooper likely jumped over La Center, Washington. In 2019, the FBI released a report about a grocery store burglary that occurred three hours after Cooper jumped near Heisson, Washington. Heisson, an unincorporated community, was within the area Northwest Orient Airlines calculated as the drop zone. The report noted the burglar took only survival items like beef jerky and gloves, but the burglar wore “military type boots with a corrugated [sic] sole,” while Cooper was described as wearing slip-on shoes.
One month after the hijacking, the FBI shared lists of the ransom money’s serial numbers with banks, casinos, racetracks, businesses that handle large cash transactions, and law enforcement worldwide. Northwest Orient Airlines offered a reward of 15% of the recovered money, up to $25,000. In early 1972, U.S. Attorney General John N. Mitchell released the serial numbers to the public. Two men used counterfeit $20 bills with Cooper’s serial numbers to trick a Newsweek reporter named Karl Fleming into giving them $30,000 in exchange for an interview with a man they falsely claimed was the hijacker.
In early 1973, with the ransom money still missing, The Oregon Journal republished the serial numbers and offered $1,000 (equivalent to $7,253 in 2025) to the first person who turned in a ransom bill to the newspaper or an FBI office. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer made a similar offer with a $5,000 reward. These offers remained active until Thanksgiving 1974, but no genuine bills were found. In 1975, Northwest Orient Airlines’s insurance company, Global Indemnity Co., paid the airline’s $180,000 (equivalent to $1,100,000 in 2025) claim on the ransom money.
Flight data analysis showed the first estimated landing zone was incorrect. The pilot, Scott, who was flying the plane manually because of Cooper’s altitude and speed demands, found the flight path was farther east than initially reported. Additional data from Continental Airlines pilot Tom Bohan, who was flying four minutes behind Flight 305, led the FBI to recalculate Cooper’s drop zone. Bohan noticed the FBI’s earlier estimates were based on incorrect wind direction data, making them inaccurate.
Based on Bohan’s data and recalculations, the FBI determined Cooper’s drop zone was likely over the Washougal River watershed. In 1986
Physical evidence
During their search of the aircraft, FBI agents discovered four important pieces of evidence directly connected to D.B. Cooper: a black clip-on tie, a gold tie clip with a mother-of-pearl center, a single hair from Cooper’s headrest, and eight filter-tipped Raleigh cigarette butts in the armrest ashtray.
The black clip-on tie was found in seat 18-E, where Cooper had sat. The tie clip attached to it had a circular mother-of-pearl design. The FBI learned the tie was sold only at JCPenney stores but was no longer available after 1968. In 2007, the FBI created a partial DNA profile from samples on the tie found in 2001, but they could not confirm the DNA matched Cooper. FBI Agent Fred Gutt said, “The tie had two small DNA samples and one large sample… it’s hard to draw clear conclusions from these.” The FBI also shared new evidence, including Cooper’s airline ticket, sketches of his appearance, and a request for help identifying him.
In 2009, a group called the Cooper Research Team (CRT) used GPS, satellite images, and other modern tools to study the case. The team included scientists, a paleontologist, and a metallurgist. They found and analyzed hundreds of tiny organic and metal particles on Cooper’s tie. Using electron microscopy, they identified Lycopodium spores, which likely came from medicine, and particles of pure titanium, bismuth, antimony, cerium, strontium sulfide, aluminum, and titanium-antimony alloys. These materials suggested Cooper might have worked in a Boeing factory, a chemical plant, or a metal production facility.
The most significant finding was the pure titanium, which was rare in the 1970s and used only in aircraft manufacturing or chemical companies. Cerium and strontium sulfide were linked to Boeing’s projects and factories that made cathode ray tubes. Researchers speculated the titanium-antimony alloys might be connected to a company that worked with Boeing.
FBI agents found two hair samples in Cooper’s seat: one strand of limb hair and one strand of brown head hair. The limb hair was destroyed because it lacked unique features for identification, but the head hair was preserved for future testing. In 2002, the FBI discovered the hair sample was missing during their DNA research.
In seat 18-E’s ashtray, FBI agents found eight Raleigh cigarette butts. The butts were sent to the FBI lab, but no fingerprints were found, and they were returned to Las Vegas. In 1998, the FBI tried to extract DNA from the butts but found they had been destroyed while in Las Vegas custody.
On February 10, 1980, an 8-year-old boy named Brian Ingram found three bundles of money totaling about $5,800 near Tina Bar on the Columbia River. The bills had broken down from exposure to the environment but were still tied with rubber bands. FBI experts confirmed the money was part of the ransom: two bundles of $20 bills and one bundle of $90 bills, arranged in the same order as when Cooper received them.
The discovery raised more questions than answers. Investigators initially believed the bills floated into the river from a tributary, but a hydrologist noted the bills were “matted together,” suggesting they were deposited by river currents rather than buried. This supported the idea Cooper landed near the Washougal River, not near Lake Merwin or the Lewis River.
A geologist later found two layers of sand and sediment between the dredged clay and the bills, indicating the money arrived after a 1974 dredging project. In 1986, Brian Ingram and Northwest Orient Airlines’s insurer split the recovered money, with the FBI keeping 14 bills as evidence. Ingram sold 15 of his bills in 2008 for about $37,000. Analysis of diatoms on the bills in 2020 suggested the money was not submerged in the river or buried dry at the time of the hijacking in 1971. Only diatoms from spring blooms were found, meaning the money entered the water months after the hijacking.
During the hijacking, Cooper received two main parachutes and two reserve parachutes. The main parachutes were provided by a pilot named Norman Hayden, and the reserve parachutes came from a skydiving school. A parachute rigger named Earl Cossey packed all four parachutes. He described the main parachutes as emergency bailout types, similar to military parachutes, which open automatically and cannot be steered. When the plane landed in Reno, FBI agents found one reserve parachute and one main parachute left behind. The reserve parachute had been opened, and three of its lines were cut, but the main parachute remained intact.
Theories, hypotheses and conjecture
During the 45 years the FBI investigated the case, they occasionally shared some of their early ideas and possible conclusions based on witness statements and limited physical evidence.
In the first year of the investigation, the FBI used descriptions from passengers and flight crew to create a sketch of the hijacker, known as Composite A. This sketch was completed a few days after the hijacking and released on November 28, 1971. Witnesses joked that Composite A looked like the singer Bing Crosby, as it did not closely resemble the hijacker. They described the sketch as showing a young man with a narrow face, which did not match the hijacker’s appearance or his calm, uninterested expression. Flight attendant Florence Schaffner told the FBI that Composite A was a poor likeness of the hijacker.
After many witnesses said Composite A was not accurate, FBI artists created a second sketch, Composite B, in late 1972. This sketch aimed to better reflect the hijacker’s age, skin tone, and face shape. Witnesses found Composite B more accurate, but they said it looked too angry or rough. One flight attendant said it resembled a "hoodlum," while others noted the sketch showed a man older than the hijacker with lighter skin.
Using feedback about Composite B, FBI artists improved the sketch. On January 2, 1973, the FBI released the revised Composite B as their third sketch of the hijacker. A flight attendant said the revised sketch closely resembled the hijacker, and another said the hijacker would be easily recognized from it. In April 1973, the FBI concluded that the revised Composite B was the best likeness they could create and considered it the official sketch of the hijacker.
Flight attendants Florence Schaffner and Mucklow, who spent the most time with the hijacker, gave nearly identical descriptions: a man in his mid-40s, 5 feet 10 inches to 6 feet tall, weighing 170 to 180 pounds, with olive-toned skin, brown eyes, short black hair, and no noticeable accent. University of Oregon student Bill Mitchell, who sat across from the hijacker during the flight, provided detailed descriptions that matched the flight attendants’ accounts, except he estimated the hijacker’s height as 5 feet 9 inches to 5 feet 10 inches. Mitchell, who was 6 feet 2 inches tall, said he was much taller than the hijacker and described him as "slight." Robert Gregory, another passenger, also described the hijacker as 5 feet 9 inches tall and believed he was of Mexican American or Native American descent.
In May 1973, the FBI released an eight-page profile of the hijacker. The profile suggested he was a military-trained parachutist, not a sports skydiver, because he was familiar with military parachutes and his age would have made him an unusual fit for the sport-skydiving community. Witnesses described the hijacker as athletic, so the FBI thought he likely exercised regularly.
FBI profilers believed the hijacker was a U.S. Air Force veteran familiar with Seattle and the surrounding area. He correctly identified Tacoma as the plane circled Puget Sound and noted the proximity of McChord Air Force Base to Sea-Tac Airport, details most civilians would not know. His behavior—such as his vocabulary, planning, use of aviation terms, and careful retrieval of evidence—led the FBI to conclude he was not a typical criminal but an intelligent, methodical planner who worked independently. The FBI also thought he was in financial trouble, as most people who steal large sums of money do so out of urgent need.
The FBI theorized the hijacker was not a heavy drinker because he spilled his only drink and never asked for more. An alcoholic would likely have been unable to refuse further drinks during the stressful hijacking. By calculating the number of cigarettes he smoked, the FBI estimated he smoked about one pack per day. Some believed his alias, "Dan Cooper," came from a fictional character in a French-language comic book. The comic was not translated into English, but some speculated the hijacker encountered it during a European tour and spoke fluent French. The comic’s popularity in Quebec also led to theories that the hijacker was French Canadian, as many Quebec residents speak English without an accent. The FBI considered this theory plausible because the hijacker used the unusual phrase "negotiable American currency," which suggested a non-U.S. background.
Based on the evidence and the hijacker’s tactics, the FBI thought he planned the hijacking carefully, using detailed knowledge of aviation, the local area, and the Boeing 727’s features. He chose a seat in the last row of the rear cabin to observe others, avoid being approached from behind, and remain unnoticed. To prevent being given sabotaged equipment, he demanded four parachutes, implying he might force hostages to jump with him. The FBI noted that his choice of a bomb, rather than other weapons, prevented others from rushing him.
The hijacker was careful to avoid leaving evidence. Before jumping, he asked flight attendant Mucklow to return any notes he had written or received. Mucklow used the last match from his matchbook to light a cigarette and later tried to throw the matchbook away, but the hijacker made her return it. Despite his efforts, he left his clip-on tie in his seat. The FBI believed he was familiar with the Boeing 727’s capabilities, and the aircraft’s design—specifically its aft airstair and engine placement—was a key reason he chose it.
Suspects
Between 1971 and 2016, the FBI reviewed more than a thousand "serious suspects," including people who sought attention and those who confessed to crimes near the end of their lives.
Theodore Burdette Braden Jr. (1928–2007) was a U.S. Special Forces soldier during the Vietnam War, a skilled skydiver, and a person convicted of a crime. Many people in the Special Forces community believed he was the hijacker known as D.B. Cooper, both at the time of the hijacking and later. Braden was born in Ohio and joined the military in 1944 at age 16, serving with the 101st Airborne during World War II. He became one of the military’s top parachutists, competing in international skydiving tournaments. His military records show he made 911 jumps. In the 1960s, Braden led a team in the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group (MACVSOG), a secret unit of Green Berets that conducted special operations in Vietnam. He also taught skydiving techniques to members of Project DELTA. Braden spent 23 months in Vietnam, working on classified missions in North and South Vietnam, as well as Laos and Cambodia.
In December 1966, Braden left his unit in Vietnam and traveled to the Congo to work as a mercenary. He was arrested by CIA agents and returned to the U.S. for a court-martial. Even though deserting during wartime was a serious crime, Braden received an honorable discharge and was told he could not rejoin the military if he kept the MACVSOG program a secret. Braden was featured in the October 1967 issue of Ramparts magazine, where a journalist described him as someone who "continually places himself in unnecessary danger but always seems to get away with it," referencing his risky behavior during skydiving. The journalist also said Braden was involved in secret deals to earn money during his time in Vietnam.
Little is known about Braden’s life after he left the military in 1967. At the time of the hijacking, he worked as a truck driver for Consolidated Freightways, based in Vancouver, Washington, near the suspected drop zone in Ariel, Washington. In the early 1970s, the FBI investigated Braden for allegedly stealing $250,000 in a trucking scam but never charged him. In 1980, Braden was accused of driving a truck filled with stolen goods from Arizona to Massachusetts, though it is unclear if he was convicted. In 1982, he was arrested in Pennsylvania for driving a stolen car with fake license plates and without a driver’s license. He was later sent to federal prison in the late 1980s, though the exact reason for his imprisonment is unknown.
Despite his skills as a soldier, Braden was not well-liked. A family member described him as having "high intelligence and criminality." From his work in Vietnam, he may have known classified details about jumping from a Boeing 727, possibly having done so during MACVSOG missions. His military records list him as 5 feet 8 inches tall, which is shorter than the 5 feet 10 inches reported by two flight attendants. However, his height in military records was measured without shoes, and he may have appeared taller in shoes. Braden had a dark complexion, short dark hair, a medium build, and was 43 years old at the time of the hijacking, matching descriptions of Cooper.
In 2003, Lyle Christiansen, a resident of Minnesota, saw a television documentary about the Cooper hijacking and believed his late brother, Kenneth (1926–1994), was the hijacker. After failing to convince the FBI and author Nora Ephron, Lyle contacted private investigator Skipp Porteous in New York City. In 2010, Porteous wrote a book suggesting Kenneth Christiansen was the hijacker. The next year, an episode of the History series Brad Meltzer’s Decoded discussed evidence linking Kenneth Christiansen to the case.
Kenneth Christiansen joined the U.S. Army in 1944 and trained as a paratrooper. By 1945, World War II had ended, but he made training jumps while stationed in Japan during the late 1940s. After leaving the army, he worked for Northwest Orient Airlines starting in 1954, first as a laborer and later as a flight attendant and purser based in Seattle.
Christiansen was 45 years old during the hijacking, but he was shorter (5 feet 8 inches) and thinner (150 pounds) than eyewitness descriptions of Cooper. He smoked and liked bourbon, which matched the hijacker’s habits. A flight attendant said photos of Christiansen looked more like the hijacker than other suspects, but she could not confirm his identity. Despite attention from a book and a documentary, the FBI says Christiansen is not a strong suspect due to physical differences and lack of direct evidence.
Bryant "Jack" Coffelt (1917–1975) was a con man, former criminal, and claimed to be a government informant who worked for Abraham Lincoln’s last known descendant, Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith. In 1972, Coffelt said he was Cooper and tried to sell his story to a Hollywood company through a former cellmate named James Brown. Coffelt claimed he landed near Mount Hood, about 50 miles southeast of Ariel, and injured himself, losing the ransom money. Photos of Coffelt resemble the composite drawings of Cooper, though he was older in 1971. He was reportedly in Portland on the day of the hijacking and had leg injuries consistent with a skydiving accident. The FBI reviewed his story and found it did not match known details, calling it a fabrication. Brown continued to promote the story after Coffelt died in 1975, but media outlets like 60 Minutes rejected it.
Lynn Doyle "L. D." Cooper (1931–1999), a leather worker and Korean War veteran, was suggested as a suspect in 2011 by his niece, Marla Cooper. As an 8-year-old, Marla remembered her uncle and another uncle planning something "very mischievous" involving "expensive walkie-talkies" at her grandmother’s house in Sisters, Oregon, 150 miles southeast of Portland. The next day, Flight 305 was hijacked. Though the uncles claimed they were turkey hunting, L. D. Cooper returned home wearing a bloody shirt, saying it was from an auto accident. Later, Marla said her parents believed her uncle was the hijacker. She also said her uncle, who died in 1999, was fascinated by the Canadian comic book The Amazing Spider-Man.
Similar hijackings
Cooper was one of the first people to hijack a plane for personal gain. Eleven days before Cooper's hijacking, a Canadian named Paul Joseph Cini hijacked an Air Canada DC-8 over Montana. However, the crew overpowered him when he stopped to put on a parachute. Inspired by Cooper's actions, 15 similar hijackings (involving demands for money and parachutes) occurred in 1972. These hijackings were all unsuccessful. Out of 31 total hijackings that year, 19 followed Cooper's method. In these cases, five hijackers successfully jumped from the planes and landed safely but were later captured.
- Richard Charles LaPoint, a former U.S. Army soldier from Boston, boarded Hughes Airwest Flight 800 at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas on January 20. He showed what he claimed was a bomb while the plane was on the taxiway and demanded $50,000, two parachutes, and a helmet. After letting 51 passengers and two flight attendants leave the plane, he ordered the plane to head east toward Denver. He then jumped from the plane over the open plains of northeastern Colorado. Authorities found him hours later by tracking the parachute with a tracking device and following his footprints in the snow and mud.
- Richard McCoy Jr., a former U.S. Army Green Beret, hijacked a United Airlines 727-100 on April 7 after it left Denver. He redirected the plane to San Francisco and then jumped from it over Utah with $500,000 in ransom money. He landed safely and was arrested two days later.
- Frederick Hahneman used a handgun to hijack an Eastern Air Lines 727 in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on May 7. He demanded $303,000 and eventually jumped from the plane into his home country, Honduras. A month later, with the FBI searching for him and a $25,000 reward offered, he surrendered at the American embassy in Tegucigalpa. In September 1972, he was given a life sentence. He was released from prison in 1984.
- Robb Heady, a 22-year-old former U.S. Army paratrooper, hijacked United Airlines Flight 239 from Reno to San Francisco on June 2, 1972. He carried his own parachute and used a .357 revolver to demand $200,000 in ransom money. He jumped from the plane and was captured the next morning.
- Martin McNally, an unemployed gas station worker, used a submachine gun on June 23 to take control of an American Airlines 727 traveling from St. Louis, Missouri, to Tulsa, Oklahoma. He redirected the plane eastward to Indiana and jumped from it with $500,000 in ransom money. He lost the money as he left the plane but landed safely near Peru, Indiana. He was captured a few days later in a suburb of Detroit. In a 2020 podcast, McNally said he was inspired by Cooper.
In 1973, airports began checking all luggage, which greatly reduced the number of hijackings. There were no other notable hijackers like Cooper until July 11, 1980, when Glenn K. Tripp took control of Northwest Orient Flight 608 at Seattle-Tacoma Airport. He demanded $600,000, two parachutes, and the killing of his boss. A flight attendant who acted quickly added Valium to Tripp's alcoholic drink. After a 10-hour standoff, Tripp reduced his demands to three cheeseburgers and a vehicle to escape. He was captured later. Tripp tried to hijack the same flight again on January 21, 1983, and asked to be flown to Afghanistan. When the plane landed in Portland, FBI agents shot and killed him.
Aftermath
In 1972, 31 hijackings occurred in U.S. airspace, even though the federal Sky Marshal program had started the year before. Nineteen of these hijackings were aimed at stealing money. In fifteen of those cases, hijackers also asked for parachutes. In early 1973, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) required airlines to check all passengers and their luggage. Although some lawsuits claimed these checks violated the Fourth Amendment rights against unfair searches, federal courts decided the searches were allowed if they applied to everyone and only looked for weapons or explosives. Only two hijackings were attempted in 1973, both by people with mental health issues. One hijacker, Samuel Byck, planned to crash an airplane into the White House to harm President Nixon.
Because of many similar hijackings in 1972, the FAA ordered all Boeing 727 planes to have a special device on their exterior called the "Cooper vane." This device prevents the rear airstair from being lowered during flight. It is made of a flat aluminum blade attached to a pivot. When the plane is not moving, the blade stays out of the way, but during flight, it moves automatically to block the door from opening. The device works on its own and cannot be controlled from inside the plane. As a result of the hijacking, all cockpit doors were required to have small holes called peepholes. These allow the pilots to see passengers without opening the door.
In 1978, the hijacked Boeing 727-100 was sold by Northwest Orient Airlines to Piedmont Airlines. It was given a new registration number, N838N, and used for regular flights. In 1984, the plane was bought by Key Airlines, re-registered as N29KA, and used to transport workers between Nellis Air Force Base and the Tonopah Test Range during the F-117 Nighthawk program. In 1996, the aircraft was dismantled for parts in a Memphis aircraft storage facility.
The flight crew honored Mucklow for her actions during the hijacking. She continued working for the airline for several years. She lived a private life and has only given a few interviews since 2021.
In popular culture
Himmelsbach called Cooper a "rotten sleazy crook," but his unusual crime inspired many people who admire him, and this admiration is shown in songs, movies, and books. Stores sold T-shirts with the message "D. B. Cooper, Where Are You?" Restaurants and bowling alleys in the Pacific Northwest have regular events and sell souvenirs related to Cooper. A yearly celebration called "Cooper Day" has taken place at the Ariel General Store and Tavern every November since 1974, except in 2015, the year its owner, Dona Elliot, died.
An annual meeting known as CooperCon happens every year in late November in Seattle, Washington. The event was started in 2018 by Cooper researcher Eric Ulis and brings together people who study Cooper and those who admire him. It was first held in Vancouver, Washington, but moved to Seattle in 2023. CooperCon took the place of the annual D. B. Cooper Days, which ended when the owner of the Ariel Store Pub died and the pub had to close.