FBI composite of “Dan Cooper”

Vanished in Mid Air: D. B. Cooper

Welcome on this Weird Wednesday! Today we’re going to take off in a plane, but land without one…somewhere over the vast Pacific Northwest. Sound fun? Then put those tray tables up, because we’re heading out.

It’s a strange phenomenon to have a person who’s famous for being unidentified. Everybody knows who they are, precisely because nobody knows who they are. “Dan Cooper” is one of those people. The name was an alias, and was further misreported by the press as D. B. Cooper. So who was he? Well, let’s take a look.

On Nov 24, 1971, the day before Thanksgiving, a man boarded Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305 for a short hop between Portland, OR, and Seattle, WA. This man, holding a ticket under the name “Dan Cooper,”  passed a flight attendant a note saying he had a bomb, and asking for what today would be $1.6 million and four parachutes. (Why four? Possibly Cooper wanted to be sure he was given working parachutes, by insinuating he was going to take a hostage with him—a main and a backup parachute for each of them.)

Cooper proved a gentleman highjacker: when the plane landed in Seattle, and the $200,000 ransom was paid, Cooper let the passengers go. He then asked the flight crew to take him to Mexico City. But partway through that second flight, after ordering all crew to the cockpit, Cooper opened a door and extended an airstair.

Around 8 p.m., in the dark of night, Cooper parachuted out somewhere over Washington, with the vast Pacific Northwest forest below him. And from there, he vanished.

We may not know Cooper’s real name, but we know what kind of man he was, at least. Cooper was organized, calm, and knowledgeable about planes and their operation. For example, he chose one of the few commercial planes that was able to lower an airstair in flight, and from which parachuting is possible. He told the pilot to fly at an altitude suitable for skydiving. Cooper displayed a supposed bomb rather than a weapon someone could more easily take from him. 

Cooper was polite and careful, nonviolent, and very good at vanishing. There have been many suspects over the years, but no one has ever been proven to have been the mysterious hijacker. 

Of course, it’s possible that’s because Cooper died that night, and in the vast wilderness, his body was never found. Certainly people do go missing in the PNW quite easily.

There were also weaknesses in Cooper’s plan. He jumped in the dark, in driving rain, freezing cold, and high winds, over a forest. He was not wearing proper gear for the conditions, though he may have been carrying some small items, like goggles, in a paper bag. And as it turned out, one of the backup parachutes was a non-functional teaching model, and Cooper apparently failed to recognize this.

Some of the ransom money found in 1980

However, nothing about the jump from the plane was definitively fatal. Later copycat hijackers made similar jumps and survived. Maybe only some money was lost in the harsh conditions, and not the hijacker. Maybe the rest of the money is still in a safe deposit box somewhere.

In response to a rash of skyjackings, airport security was increased: bags were searched for bombs or weapons, and planes were altered so that stairs could not be lowered in flight. The world was changed by D. B. Cooper, and we have no idea who he was.

And now for some sky-high writing prompts!

• A flight for two. What if Cooper had jumped with a hostage? The way the story unfolded in real life, there were many reasons not to do this. Once out of the plane, Cooper didn’t need a hostage. He was untouchable by the authorities, at least until he left the forest and was recognized. Plus, a hostage in the air would only complicate the jump and landing, especially if the hostage didn’t survive, and Cooper ended up facing murder charges. But you could write a story where a hijacker decided to jump tandem with a flight attendant, copilot, or passenger. Maybe he wanted the notoriety. Or maybe the hostage was the focus of the heist the whole time—not a robbery, but a kidnapping, with a little getaway money included.

• Bigfoot country. Paranormal explanations for Cooper’s vanishing come in a few flavors. First, aliens are very good at making people disappear. So are cryptids: the PNW is Bigfoot territory! But you could also write a story where a hijacker made it seem like he jumped from a plane, when in fact he teleported (via tech, superpower, or magic) to some small town in Iowa just in time for Thanksgiving dinner. No wonder they couldn’t find him! Another fun paranormal take might be a time travel story where someone goes back to the hijack flight in an effort to finally ID Cooper and see what became of him.

• Partner in crime. Authorities reasoned Cooper did not have a partner on the ground, because he had no way of measuring exactly where the plane was when he jumped, and therefore, didn’t know where he’d land. But what if he had help on the plane? You could write a story where the flight attendant who stays with your hijacker throughout the flight is actually in on the scheme. She could give Cooper all the info from the cockpit, and help make sure the jump goes well. Then she could misdirect investigators by lying about key details. How would she get away with it? Would she need to quit her job and go on the run with her partner? Or might someone stealing that much money have a motive to make sure his helper exited the plane without a parachute?

• Look over there. What if the hijacking was not the most important thing going on that night? That is, what if the whole thing was a distraction for some other crime in the same area? A bank robbery or art heist, or some sort of theft at an airport—anything that would benefit from the authorities focusing on something else. You could write a gang of thieves planning an audacious crime, where the money from the hijacking is just a bonus.

• Murder most foul. What if D. B. Cooper vanished because he was murdered? Say he landed safely and started making his way out of the forest with the money. Maybe he had an accomplice who was hungry for the cash. Maybe he randomly met someone who noticed he was carrying $200,000 in a bag. Or maybe the killer didn’t even know about the money—the PNW has its share of serial killers who pick up hitchhikers on the road. You could write a story where the hijacker’s luck only holds out long enough for him to put his feet on the ground—after that, he’s in more danger than he was jumping out of the plane.

Thanks for spending your Weird Wednesday here. Wherever you’re off to next, I hope you land safely.

Sources & further reading:

FBI website on D. B. Cooper hijacking

NORJAK: Northwest Hijacking (Cooper case)

D. B. Cooper: Wikipedia

D. B. Cooper in Popular Culture: Wikipedia

r/dbcooper: Reddit