Larger than Life

This is one of those wonderful larger than life mysteries, surpassing even the most daring movie scripts, that remain unsolved even after decades and only fuel the fame of the legendary perpetrator, an obvious devotee of the doctrine of ``individual expropriation``...

On November 24, 1971, a character with a completely random face, expression, and appearance bought a one-way ticket from Portland to Seattle under the name Dan Cooper. He sat down in his seat along with 35 other passengers and after a while called the stewardess to give her a message put on paper. The stewardess, accustomed to guys who let themselves in in various ways, paid no attention, so Dan had to insist. To the stewardess's surprise, there was no invitation for a drink but a bomb threat. Dan showed her the bomb (or at least something that looked like a bomb), mentioned that he had a contact lighter in his hand and that the message should go to the pilots.

It turned out that Cooper was a modest hijacker of a plane, demanding $200,000 (about 1.2 million in today's money) in $20 bills, 4 parachutes and refueling the plane when it landed in Seattle. In return, he would release the passengers. The pilots were notified of this and informed the air traffic control, which in turn informed the FBI. They were advised to act according to the hijacker's demands. There was not much time to fulfill the hijacker's demands, about two hours of flight, but despite this - the police managed to record the serial numbers of the banknotes and send one fake parachute among the four.

After landing, Cooper proved to be a true hijacker, a true man, and freed all the hostages. Not sure if they even knew they had been kidnapped. That's what you call a hijacking with style.

The plane was refueled and took off again, this time to Reno, Nevada, at Cooper's request. The hijacker gave very strange and specific instructions, the plane's speed was 320 km/h (slightly above the minimum required to maintain flight), an altitude of 3000m, he requested that the artificial pressure not be activated and that the wheels be lowered. The pilots had no choice and agreed.

Later it became clear why he requested those things at all and why he chose a Boeing B-727 for the hijacking. Namely, that type of plane, due to its engine configuration, had an auxiliary exit with steps in the back, quite suitable for Cooper's intention to jump with a parachute. Cooper ordered whiskey and cigarettes and calmly sat down in his seat. After some time, he put on two parachutes, took the money, ordered the emergency exit to be opened and jumped - into the legends...Several F-106 fighters were already following the plane at that time, but in vain, they saw nothing except that the stairs to the emergency exit of the passenger plane were open. Later, the media would call the hijacker D.B. Cooper because that name seemed somehow sexier to them.

The plane landed, all the crew members were in good order, and somewhere in the forests of Washington state, the most impudent hijacker in the world had probably landed. Despite hundreds of police, federal agents, soldiers and volunteers combing the area day and night, no trace was found, not even a parachute or anything else.

To this day, it is not known who the hijacker was and how he ended up, despite the exhaustive investigation, the detailed search through the forests and mountains, and the media hysteria. Various theories emerged over time, there were many suspects but nothing concrete. The only clue appeared in 1980 when three packages with a total of 5,000 dollars were found on the bank of a river and the serial numbers matched the stolen money. That proved that... nothing proved, it only fueled speculation that continues to this day.

It was claimed that Cooper was an ex-special agent because of his knowledge and courage, others that he was an amateur, others that he died during the jump, others that they saw him in a random place years after the event... whatever the truth is, one cannot help but wonder why in such cases one simply ``roots`` for the criminal. Personally, I am a fan of the version in which he lived a long and comfortable life without dealing with everyday stresses and in which ``over conversation, coffee and a cigarette`` at a bar he argued with those present about who D.B. Cooper really was...

(Roger Mortis, 052)