D.B. Cooper is the alias of an unidentified man who hijacked Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305, a Boeing 727, on November 24, 1971, in U.S. airspace. During the flight from Portland, Oregon, to Seattle, Washington, he informed a flight attendant that he had a bomb and demanded $200,000 in ransom (equivalent to about $1,500,000 in 2024) and four parachutes. Upon landing in Seattle, he released the passengers in exchange for the ransom and parachutes, instructed the flight crew to refuel the plane, and directed them to fly to Mexico City with a refueling stop in Reno, Nevada. About 30 minutes after departing Seattle, he opened the aircraft's aft door, deployed the staircase, and parachuted into the night over southwestern Washington. Cooper was never found or conclusively identified.
He had used the name Dan Cooper to purchase his one-way ticket in Portland, but a reporter mistakenly called him "D.B. Cooper," and the name stuck.
In 1980, a portion of the ransom money was discovered along the banks of the Columbia River near Vancouver, Washington, rekindling public interest in the case but providing no new leads on Cooper's identity or fate. The rest of the money remains missing.
For 45 years, the FBI actively investigated the case, compiling an extensive file but ultimately reaching no definitive conclusions. The hijacking remains the only unsolved case of air piracy in commercial aviation history. The FBI believes Cooper did not survive the jump due to the bad weather, his inadequate clothing and lack of proper skydiving gear, the dense forest where he likely landed, his apparent lack of knowledge about the landing area, and the fact that the ransom money was never spent. In July 2016, the FBI officially suspended the active investigation of the NORJAK (Northwest hijacking) case, though reporters, enthusiasts, professional investigators, and amateur sleuths continue to explore numerous theories about Cooper's identity, success, and fate.
Cooper's hijacking, along with several copycat incidents in the following year, led to significant security upgrades in airports and commercial aviation. Metal detectors were installed, baggage inspection became mandatory, and passengers paying cash for tickets on the day of departure faced additional scrutiny. Boeing 727s were retrofitted with "Cooper vanes," devices designed to prevent the aft staircase from being lowered in-flight. By 1973, these security measures had reduced the number of aircraft hijackings, deterring those motivated by money.
Hijacking
On Thanksgiving Eve, November 24, 1971, a man carrying a black attaché case approached the flight counter of Northwest Orient Airlines at Portland International Airport. He used cash to buy a one-way ticket on Flight 305, a thirty-minute trip to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac). He gave his name as "Dan Cooper." Eyewitnesses described Cooper as a white male in his mid-40s, with dark hair and brown eyes, wearing a business suit, white shirt, thin black tie, black raincoat, and brown shoes. Cooper boarded Flight 305, a Boeing 727-100, and took seat 18-E in the last row. He ordered a bourbon and 7-Up.
Flight 305 had a crew of six: 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. With 36 passengers aboard, the flight left Portland on schedule at 2:50 pm PST. Shortly after takeoff, Cooper handed a note to flight attendant Schaffner, who assumed it was a phone number and put it in her purse. Cooper leaned toward her and whispered, "Miss, you'd better look at that note. I have a bomb."
Schaffner opened the note, which was neatly printed in all capital letters with a felt-tip pen: "Miss—I have a bomb in my briefcase and want you to sit by me." She returned the note to Cooper, sat down as requested, and asked to see the bomb. Cooper opened his briefcase, revealing two rows of four red cylinders, wires, and a large cylindrical battery, which resembled a bomb.
Cooper closed the briefcase and relayed his demands. Schaffner wrote them down, took the note to the cockpit, and informed the flight crew. Captain Scott directed her to stay in the cockpit and take notes. He then informed Northwest flight operations in Minnesota of the hijacker's demands: "$200,000 in a knapsack by 5:00 pm, two front parachutes, and two back parachutes, all in negotiable American currency." By requesting two sets of parachutes, Cooper implied he might take a hostage, discouraging authorities from providing non-functional equipment.
With Schaffner in the cockpit, Mucklow sat next to Cooper to act as a liaison. Cooper made additional demands: upon landing in Seattle, fuel trucks should meet the plane, passengers should remain seated while the money was brought aboard, and he would release the passengers after receiving the money. The parachutes would be the last items brought aboard.
Captain Scott informed Seattle–Tacoma Airport air traffic control of the situation. Local police and the FBI were contacted, and passengers were told their arrival in Seattle would be delayed due to a "minor mechanical difficulty." Northwest Orient's president authorized payment of the ransom and instructed employees to comply with Cooper's demands. For approximately two hours, Flight 305 circled Puget Sound, allowing time for the ransom and parachutes to be assembled and emergency personnel to be mobilized.
During the flight, Cooper demanded that Mucklow remain by his side. She later said he seemed familiar with the local terrain, noting landmarks like Tacoma and correctly identifying McChord Air Force Base's proximity to Seattle-Tacoma Airport. She described him as calm and polite, not nervous or cruel.
While circling Seattle, Mucklow chatted with Cooper, who explained that he had no specific grudge against Northwest Airlines; the flight simply suited his needs. He asked about her background and offered her a cigarette, which she accepted despite having quit smoking.
FBI records indicate Cooper spoke briefly to an unidentified passenger while the plane circled Seattle. Passenger George Labissoniere reported that a man wearing a cowboy hat questioned Mucklow about the delay, which initially amused Cooper but later irritated him. Labissoniere persuaded the man to return to his seat.
Mucklow's account differed, stating that a passenger asked for a magazine and took a copy of The New Yorker. Cooper remarked, "If that is a sky marshal, I don't want any more of that," but Mucklow reassured him there were no sky marshals on the flight. Despite his brief interaction with Cooper, "the cowboy" was never identified or interviewed by the FBI.
The $200,000 ransom, consisting of 10,000 unmarked $20 bills from Seattle First National Bank, was photographed on microfilm by the FBI. Seattle police obtained the parachutes from a local skydiving school and a local stunt pilot.
Passengers Released
At around 5:24 PST, Captain Scott was informed that the parachutes had been delivered to the airport and notified Cooper that they would be landing soon. At 5:46 PST, Flight 305 landed at Seattle-Tacoma Airport. With Cooper's permission, Scott parked the aircraft on a partially lit runway, away from the main terminal. Cooper demanded that only one airline representative approach the plane with the parachutes and money, and specified that the only entrance and exit would be through the aircraft's front door via the mobile air stairs. Al Lee, Northwest Orient's Seattle operations manager, was designated to be the courier. To avoid confusion, Lee changed into civilian clothes for the task.
With the passengers remaining seated, a ground crew attached the mobile staircase. Following Cooper's instructions, Mucklow exited the aircraft through the front door and retrieved the ransom money. She then carried the money bag past the seated passengers to Cooper in the last row.
Cooper agreed to release the passengers. As they deplaned, Cooper inspected the money. Mucklow, attempting to lighten the mood, jokingly asked Cooper if she could have some of the money. Cooper agreed and handed her a packet of bills, but she immediately returned it, explaining that accepting gratuities was against company policy. Cooper had earlier tried to tip the flight attendants, but they had declined for the same reason.
With the passengers safely deplaned, only Cooper and the six crew members remained aboard. In accordance with Cooper's demands, Mucklow made three trips outside the aircraft to retrieve the parachutes, bringing them to him in the rear of the plane. While she did this, Schaffner asked Cooper if she could retrieve her purse, stored in a compartment behind his seat. Cooper agreed, reassuring her, "I won't bite you." Flight attendant Hancock then asked if the flight attendants could leave, to which Cooper replied, "Whatever you girls would like," allowing Hancock and Schaffner to deplane. When Mucklow brought the final parachute to Cooper, she also gave him printed instructions for using them, but Cooper said he didn't need them.
A problem with the refueling process caused a delay, requiring a second truck and then a third to complete the refueling. During this delay, Mucklow reported that Cooper complained about the money being delivered in a cloth bag instead of a knapsack, as he had directed, forcing him to improvise a new way to transport it. Using a pocketknife, Cooper cut the canopy from one of the reserve parachutes and stuffed some of the money into the empty parachute bag.
An FAA official requested a face-to-face meeting with Cooper aboard the aircraft, but Cooper denied the request. He became impatient, saying, "This shouldn't take so long," and, "Let's get this show on the road." He then gave the cockpit crew his flight plan and directives: a southeast course toward Mexico City at the minimum airspeed possible without stalling the aircraft—approximately 100 knots (115 mph)—at a maximum altitude of 10,000 feet. Cooper also specified that the landing gear must remain deployed, the wing flaps must be lowered 15 degrees, and the cabin must remain unpressurized.
First Officer Rataczak informed Cooper that this configuration limited the aircraft's range to about 1,000 miles, necessitating a second refueling before entering Mexico. After discussing options, Cooper and the crew agreed on Reno-Tahoe International Airport as the refueling stop. Cooper further directed the aircraft to take off with the rear exit door open and its airstair extended. Northwest's home office objected, stating this was unsafe. Cooper insisted, "It can be done, do it," but then relented and said he would lower the staircase once they were airborne. He demanded that Mucklow remain aboard to assist with the operation.
Back in the Air
Around 7:40 pm, Flight 305 took off with only Cooper, Mucklow, Captain Scott, First Officer Rataczak, and Flight Engineer Anderson aboard. Two F-106 fighters from McChord Air Force Base and a Lockheed T-33 trainer, diverted from an unrelated Air National Guard mission, followed the 727. All three jets maintained "S" flight patterns to stay behind the slow-moving 727 and out of Cooper's view.
After takeoff, Cooper instructed Mucklow to lower the aft staircase. She expressed fear of being sucked out of the aircraft. The flight crew suggested she retrieve an emergency rope from the cockpit to tie herself to a seat, but Cooper rejected this, not wanting her to go to the front or the flight crew to come back. She continued to express her fear and asked Cooper to cut some cord from one of the parachutes to create a safety line. He said he would lower the stairs himself and instructed her to go to the cockpit, close the curtain partition between the Coach and First Class sections, and not return.
Before she left, Mucklow pleaded with Cooper to take the bomb with him. Cooper responded he would either disarm it or take it with him. As she walked to the cockpit and turned to close the curtain partition, she saw Cooper standing in the aisle tying what appeared to be the money bag around his waist. From takeoff to when Mucklow entered the cockpit, four to five minutes had elapsed. For the rest of the flight to Reno, Mucklow remained in the cockpit and was the last person to see the hijacker.
Around 8:00 pm, a cockpit warning light indicated the aft staircase had been deployed. The pilot used the cabin intercom to ask Cooper if he needed assistance, but Cooper's last message was a one-word reply: "No." The crew's ears popped from the drop in cabin air pressure as the stairs opened. At approximately 8:13 pm, the aircraft's tail section suddenly pitched upward, forcing the pilots to trim and return the aircraft to level flight. In his interview with the FBI, Co-pilot Bill Rataczak said this sudden upward pitch occurred while the flight was near the suburbs north of Portland.
With the aft cabin door open and the staircase deployed, the flight crew remained in the cockpit, unsure if Cooper was still aboard. Mucklow used the cabin intercom to inform Cooper they were approaching Reno and needed to raise the stairs so the airplane could land safely. She repeated her requests as the pilots made the final approach to land, but neither Mucklow nor the flight crew received a reply from the hijacker.
At 11:02 pm, with the aft staircase still deployed, Flight 305 landed at Reno–Tahoe International Airport. FBI agents, state troopers, sheriff's deputies, and Reno police established a perimeter around the aircraft. Fearing the hijacker and the bomb were still aboard, they did not approach the airplane. Captain Scott searched the cabin, confirmed Cooper was no longer aboard, and after a 30-minute search, an FBI bomb squad declared the cabin safe.
Investigation
In addition to recovering 66 latent fingerprints aboard the airliner, FBI agents found Cooper's black clip-on tie, tie clip, and two of the four parachutes, one of which had been opened and had three shroud lines cut from the canopy. FBI agents interviewed eyewitnesses in Portland, Seattle, and Reno, and developed a series of composite sketches.
Local police and FBI agents immediately began questioning possible suspects. Acting on the possibility the hijacker may have used his real name (or the same alias in a previous crime), Portland police discovered and interviewed a Portland citizen named D. B. Cooper. Although the Portland Cooper had a minor police record, he was quickly eliminated as a suspect. In his rush to meet a deadline, reporter James Long confused this man with the name used by the hijacker. United Press International wire service reporter Clyde Jabin republished Long's error, and as other media sources repeated the error, the hijacker's pseudonym became "D. B. Cooper."
Defining the precise search area was challenging due to numerous variables and parameters. The jet's airspeed estimates varied, environmental conditions along the flight path fluctuated, and only Cooper knew how long he remained in free-fall before pulling his ripcord. The Air Force F-106 pilots did not see anyone jumping from the airliner, nor did their radar detect a deployed parachute. Additionally, a black-clad individual jumping into the moonless night would be difficult to see, given the limited visibility, cloud cover, and lack of ground lighting. The T-33 pilots did not make visual contact with the 727.
On December 6, 1971, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover approved the use of an Air Force SR-71 Blackbird to retrace and photograph Flight 305's flight path, attempting to locate items Cooper carried during his jump. The SR-71 made five flights to retrace the route, but due to poor visibility, the photography attempts were unsuccessful.
In an experimental recreation, flying the same aircraft used in the hijacking in the same flight configuration, FBI agents pushed a 200-pound sled out of the open airstair and were able to reproduce the upward motion of the tail section and brief change in cabin pressure described by the flight crew at 8:13 pm. Initial extrapolations placed Cooper's landing zone within an area on the southernmost outreach 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 concentrated on Clark and Cowlitz counties, encompassing the terrain immediately south and north of the Lewis River in southwest Washington. FBI agents and sheriff's deputies searched large areas of the forested terrain on foot and by helicopter. Door-to-door searches of local farmhouses were also conducted. Other search parties ran patrol boats along Lake Merwin and Yale Lake, the reservoir immediately to its east. Neither Cooper nor any of the equipment he presumably carried was found.
Using fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters from the Oregon Army National Guard, the FBI coordinated an aerial search along the entire flight path (known as Victor 23 in U.S. aviation terminology but "Vector 23" in most Cooper literature) from Seattle to Reno. Although numerous broken treetops and several pieces of plastic and other objects resembling parachute canopies were sighted and investigated, nothing relevant to the hijacking was found.
Soon after the spring thaw in early 1972, teams of FBI agents, aided by some 200 soldiers from Fort Lewis, along with United States Air Force personnel, National Guardsmen, and civilian volunteers, conducted another thorough ground search of Clark and Cowlitz Counties for 18 days in March and then another 18 days in April. Electronic Explorations Company, a marine salvage firm, used a submarine to search the 200-foot depths of Lake Merwin. Two local women stumbled upon a skeleton in an abandoned structure in Clark County; it was later identified as the remains of Barbara Ann Derry, a teenage girl who had been abducted and murdered several weeks before. Ultimately, the extensive search and recovery operation uncovered no significant material evidence related to the hijacking.
Based on early computer projections produced for the FBI, Cooper's drop zone was initially estimated to be between Ariel 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 probably jumped over the town of La Center, Washington.
In 2019, the FBI released a report detailing the burglary of a grocery store about three hours after Cooper jumped, near Heisson, Washington. Heisson, an unincorporated community, was within the calculated drop zone Northwest Airlines presented to the FBI. In the report, the FBI noted the burglar took only survival items, such as beef jerky and gloves.
Search for Ransom Money
A month after the hijacking, the FBI distributed lists of the ransom serial numbers to financial institutions, casinos, racetracks, and other businesses that routinely conducted large cash transactions, as well as to law enforcement agencies around the world. Northwest Orient offered a reward of 15% of the recovered money, up to a maximum of $25,000. In early 1972, U.S. Attorney General John N. Mitchell released the serial numbers to the general public. Two men used counterfeit $20 bills printed with Cooper serial numbers to swindle $30,000 from Newsweek reporter Karl Fleming 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 to the first person to turn in a ransom bill to the newspaper or any FBI field office. In Seattle, the Post-Intelligencer made a similar offer with a $5,000 reward. These offers remained in effect until Thanksgiving 1974. Although several near matches were reported, no genuine bills were found. In 1975, Northwest Orient's insurer, Global Indemnity Co., complied with an order from the Minnesota Supreme Court and paid the airline's $180,000 claim on the ransom money (equivalent to $1,019,221 in 2023).
Later Developments
Later analysis indicated that the original landing zone estimate was inaccurate. Captain Scott, who was flying the aircraft manually due to Cooper's speed and altitude demands, later determined his flight path was farther east than initially thought. Additional data from various sources, particularly Continental Airlines pilot Tom Bohan who was flying four minutes behind Flight 305, indicated the wind direction factored into drop-zone calculations had been wrong by as much as 80°. This and other supplemental data suggested the actual drop zone was south-southeast of the original estimate, in the drainage area of the Washougal River.
In 1986, FBI Agent Ralph Himmelsbach wrote, "I have to confess, if I were going to look for Cooper... I would head for the Washougal." The Washougal Valley and its surroundings have been repeatedly searched over the years, but no discoveries traceable to the hijacking have been reported. Some investigators speculate that the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens may have obliterated any remaining physical clues.
Investigation Suspended
On July 8, 2016, the FBI announced that the active investigation of the Cooper case was suspended, citing the need to deploy investigative resources and manpower on issues of greater and more urgent priority. Local field offices would continue to accept any legitimate physical evidence, specifically related to the parachutes or the ransom money, that may emerge in the future. The 66-volume case file compiled over the 45-year investigation would be preserved for historical purposes at FBI headquarters in Washington, DC, and on the FBI website. All evidence is open to the public. The crime remains the only unsolved case of air piracy in commercial aviation history.
Physical Evidence
During their forensic search of the aircraft, FBI agents found four major pieces of evidence directly linked to Cooper: a black clip-on tie, a mother-of-pearl tie clip, a hair from Cooper's headrest, and eight filter-tipped Raleigh cigarette butts from the armrest ashtray.
Clip-On Necktie
FBI agents found a black clip-on necktie in seat 18-E, where Cooper had been seated. Attached to the tie was a gold tie-clip with a circular mother-of-pearl setting in the center. The FBI determined the tie had been sold exclusively at JCPenney department stores but had been discontinued in 1968.
By late 2007, the FBI had built a partial DNA profile from samples found on Cooper's tie in 2001. However, the FBI acknowledged there was no evidence linking Cooper to the source of the DNA sample. FBI Special Agent Fred Gutt stated, "The tie had two small DNA samples, and one large sample... it's difficult to draw firm conclusions from these samples." The FBI also made public a file of previously unreleased evidence, including Cooper's airplane ticket, composite sketches, fact sheets, and posted a request for information about Cooper's identification.
In March 2009, a group of "citizen sleuths" using GPS, satellite imagery, and other technologies unavailable in 1971 began reinvestigating components of the case. Known as the Cooper Research Team (CRT), the group included paleontologist Tom Kaye from the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture in Seattle, scientific illustrator Carol Abraczinskas, and metallurgist Alan Stone. Although the CRT obtained little new information about the buried ransom money or Cooper's landing zone, they found, analyzed, and identified hundreds of organic and metallic particles on Cooper's tie.
Using electron microscopy, the CRT identified Lycopodium spores, likely from a pharmaceutical source. The team also found minute particles of unalloyed titanium on the tie, along with particles of bismuth, antimony, cerium, strontium sulfide, aluminum, and titanium-antimony alloys. These metal and rare-earth particles suggested Cooper may have worked for Boeing or another aeronautical engineering company, at a chemical manufacturing plant, or at a metal fabrication and production facility.
The material with the most significance, explained Kaye, was the unalloyed titanium. During the 1970s, the use of pure titanium was rare and would only be used in aircraft fabrication facilities or at chemical companies combining titanium and aluminum to store extremely corrosive substances. The cerium and strontium sulfide were used by Boeing's supersonic transport development project, and by Portland factories in which cathode ray tubes were manufactured, such as Teledyne and Tektronix. Cooper researcher Eric Ulis speculated that the titanium-antimony alloys are linked to Rem-Cru Titanium Inc., a metals manufacturer and Boeing contractor.
Hair Samples
FBI agents found two hair samples in Cooper's seat: a single strand of limb hair on the seat and a single strand of brown Caucasian head hair on the headrest. The limb hair was destroyed after the FBI Crime Laboratory determined the sample lacked enough unique microscopic characteristics to be useful. However, the FBI Crime Laboratory determined the head hair was suitable for future comparison and preserved it on a microscope slide. During attempts to build Cooper's DNA profile in 2002, the FBI discovered the hair sample had been lost.
Cigarette Butts
In the armrest ashtray of seat 18-E, FBI agents found eight Raleigh filter-tipped cigarette butts. These were sent to the FBI Crime Laboratory to search for fingerprints, but investigators were unable to find any and returned the butts to the Las Vegas field office. In 1998, the FBI sought to extract DNA from the cigarette butts, but discovered they had been destroyed while in the custody of the Las Vegas field office.
Recovered Ransom Money
On February 10, 1980, eight-year-old Brian Ingram was vacationing with his family on the Columbia River at a beachfront known as Tina (or Tena) Bar, about 9 miles downstream from Vancouver, Washington, and 20 miles southwest of Ariel. As he raked the sandy riverbank to build a campfire, he uncovered three packets of the ransom cash, totaling about $5,800. The bills had disintegrated from lengthy exposure to the elements but were still bundled in rubber bands. FBI technicians confirmed the money was indeed a portion of the ransom: two packets of 100 twenty-dollar bills each, and a third packet of 90, all arranged in the same order as when given to Cooper.
The discovery caused new conjecture and ultimately raised more questions than it answered. Initial statements by investigators and scientific consultants assumed the bundled bills washed freely into the Columbia River from one of its many connecting tributaries. An Army Corps of Engineers hydrologist noted the bills had disintegrated in a "rounded" fashion and were "matted together," indicating they "had been deposited by river action," as opposed to having been buried deliberately. The finding supported the hypothesis that Cooper had landed near the Washougal River, which merges with the Columbia upstream from the discovery site, and not in or near Lake Merwin, the Lewis River, or any of its tributaries feeding the Columbia River downstream from Tina Bar.
The "free-floating" hypothesis neither explained the ten bills missing from one packet nor how the three packets remained together after separating from the rest of the money. Physical evidence was incompatible with geological evidence; Himmelsbach wrote that free-floating bundles would have washed up on the bank "within a couple of years" of the hijacking; otherwise, the rubber bands would have long since deteriorated. Geological evidence suggested the bills arrived at Tina Bar after 1974, the year of a Corps of Engineers dredging operation on that stretch of the river. Geologist Leonard Palmer of Portland State University found two distinct layers of sand and sediment between the clay deposited on the riverbank by the dredge and the sand layer in which the bills were buried, indicating the bills arrived long after dredging had been completed.
In late 2020, analysis of diatoms found on the bills suggested the bundles found at Tina Bar were not submerged in the river or buried dry at the time of the hijacking in November 1971. Only diatoms that bloom during springtime were found, indicating the money had entered the water at least several months after the hijacking.
In 1986, after protracted negotiations, the recovered bills were divided equally between Brian Ingram and Northwest Orient's insurer Royal Globe Insurance; the FBI retained 14 examples as evidence. Ingram sold fifteen of his bills at auction in 2008 for about $37,000 (equivalent to $52,000 in 2023).
The Columbia River ransom money remains the only confirmed physical evidence from the hijacking found outside the aircraft.
Parachutes
During the hijacking, Cooper demanded and received two main parachutes and two reserve parachutes. The reserve parachutes were provided by a local skydiving school, while the main parachutes came from a local pilot, Norman Hayden. Earl Cossey, the parachute rigger who packed all four parachutes, described the main parachutes as emergency bailout parachutes, which are designed to open immediately upon pulling the ripcord and cannot be steered. When the plane landed in Reno, FBI agents found that Cooper left behind one reserve parachute, which had been opened with three shroud lines cut, and one intact main parachute. The unused main parachute was identified as a Model NB6 (Navy Backpack 6) and is now displayed at the Washington State Historical Society Museum.
One of the reserve parachutes given to Cooper was an unusable training parachute meant for classroom demonstrations, with its internal canopy sewn together. This "dummy" parachute was not found on the plane after it landed in Reno, leading the FBI to speculate that Cooper was not an experienced parachutist. Despite this, neither parachute harness provided to Cooper had the D-rings necessary to attach reserve parachutes, meaning he couldn't have used the "dummy" parachute as a reserve anyway. Cossey speculated that Cooper removed the canopy and used the empty container as an extra money bag, a theory supported by flight attendant Tina Mucklow, who recalled Cooper attempting to pack money inside a parachute container.
In November 1978, a deer hunter found a 727 instruction placard for lowering the aft airstair near a logging road about 13 miles east of Castle Rock, Washington, along Flight 305's basic flight path.
Theories, Hypotheses, and Conjecture
During the 45-year investigation, the FBI periodically released working hypotheses and tentative conclusions based on witness testimony and scarce physical evidence.
Sketches
The FBI developed sketches of Cooper using eyewitness testimony from passengers and crew. The first sketch, Composite A, completed a few days after the hijacking, was criticized by witnesses for being an inaccurate likeness. This led to the creation of a second sketch, Composite B, in late 1972, which aimed to better depict Cooper's age, skin tone, and face shape. However, it was also deemed inaccurate for portraying Cooper as "angry" or "nasty." In January 1973, a revised Composite B sketch was finalized and was considered by the FBI to be the definitive likeness of Cooper.
Suspect Profiling
Flight attendants Schaffner and Mucklow, who interacted most with Cooper, provided nearly identical descriptions: around 5 feet 10 inches tall, mid-40s, short black hair, 170–180 lb, with an olive skin tone and no discernible accent. Bill Mitchell, a University of Oregon student who sat across from Cooper, described him as slightly smaller, at 5 feet 9 inches to 5 feet 10 inches, and "slight" in build. Another passenger, Robert Gregory, believed Cooper to be of Mexican-American or American Indian descent.
Cooper's familiarity with the Seattle area and possible military background were noted, along with his likely desperate financial situation. The FBI's suspect profile suggested Cooper was a military-trained parachutist due to his comfort with military-style parachutes and his age, making him an outlier in the sport-skydiving community. The profile also speculated that Cooper exercised regularly, was not a heavy drinker, smoked about one pack of cigarettes a day, and was more intelligent than a common criminal. Cooper's actions suggested he was a lone operator, possibly drawing his alias from the Dan Cooper comic series, which featured a parachuting hero.
Knowledge and Planning
Cooper's detailed knowledge of aviation, the local terrain, and the 727's capabilities suggested careful planning. He chose a seat in the rear cabin to monitor the situation and minimize the risk of being approached. Cooper's demand for four parachutes implied he might compel a hostage to jump with him. His choice of a bomb prevented any multidirectional rushes against him.
Cooper took steps to avoid leaving evidence, retrieving all notes written by or for him and demanding Mucklow return his empty matchbook. However, he left behind his clip-on tie. Cooper's familiarity with the 727's aft airstair, a feature secret to most civilians but known to military personnel, and his specific request for a 15° flap setting demonstrated his aviation knowledge. His familiarity with parachutes suggested some level of training, though opinions on his expertise vary. Larry Carr, who directed the investigation from 2006 to 2009, speculated that Cooper might have been an Air Force aircraft cargo loader, familiar with parachutes but lacking the expertise for a safe jump.
Cooper's Fate
From the outset, FBI agents doubted that Cooper survived his jump. Their conclusions were based on several factors: Cooper’s apparent lack of skydiving experience, inadequate equipment for the jump and survival, adverse weather conditions on the night of the hijacking, the challenging wooded terrain he jumped into, his unfamiliarity with the landing area, and the fact that the ransom money remained unused.
Firstly, Cooper seemed to lack the necessary skydiving skills and experience for the type of jump he attempted. "We originally thought Cooper was an experienced jumper, perhaps even a paratrooper," said Carr. "We concluded after a few years this was simply not true. No experienced parachutist would have jumped in the pitch-black night, in the rain, with a 172 mph wind in his face, wearing loafers and a trench coat. It was simply too risky" . Skydiving instructor Earl Cossey, who provided the parachutes, argued that Cooper would not have needed extensive experience to survive the jump, stating, "anyone who had six or seven practice jumps could accomplish this". However, Cossey also noted that jumping at night drastically increased the risk of injury, and without jump boots, Cooper would likely have suffered severe ankle or leg injuries upon landing.
Secondly, Cooper did not appear to have the necessary equipment for the jump or for survival in the wilderness. He did not bring or request a helmet and jumped into a 15°F wind at 10,000 feet in November over Washington State without proper protection against the extreme wind chill. Although the contents of Cooper's small paper bag are unknown, the FBI speculated that it contained items Cooper needed for his jump, such as boots, gloves, and goggles.
Thirdly, Cooper did not seem to have an accomplice waiting on the ground to help him escape. Such a plan would have required precise timing and the flight crew's cooperation to follow a predetermined flight path, but Cooper did not give the crew a specific path. Moreover, the flight crew proposed—and Cooper agreed—to alter the flight path and fly from Seattle to Reno for refueling. Cooper had no way to update an accomplice about his changed plans, and the low cloud cover and lack of visibility further complicated his ability to determine his location, establish a bearing, or see his landing zone.
Finally, the ransom money was never spent, and the recovered portion was found unused. "Diving into the wilderness without a plan, without the right equipment, in such terrible conditions, he probably never even got his chute open," said Carr. FBI agent Richard Tosaw theorized that Cooper became incapacitated from hypothermia during his jump, landed in the Columbia River, and drowned. However, FBI agents were not unanimous in their assessments of Cooper's fate. A senior FBI agent anonymously stated in a 1976 article in The Seattle Times, "I think [Cooper] made it. I think he slept in his own bed that night. It was a clear night. A lot of the country is pretty flat... he could have just walked out. Right down the road. Hell, they weren't even looking for him there at the time. They thought he was somewhere else. He could just walk down the road".
Conclusive evidence of Cooper's death has not been found. In the months following Cooper's hijacking, five men attempted copycat hijackings, all of whom survived their parachute escapes. The survival of the copycats—several of whom faced circumstances similar to Cooper's jump—prompted FBI lead case agent Ralph Himmelsbach to reconsider his views on Cooper's chances for survival. Himmelsbach cited three examples of hijackers who survived jumps in similar conditions: Martin McNally, Frederick Hahneman, and Richard LaPoint.
Hijacker Martin McNally jumped using only a reserve chute, without protective gear, at night, over Indiana. Unlike Cooper, who appeared to be familiar with parachutes, McNally had to be shown how to put on his parachute. Additionally, McNally's pilot increased the airspeed to 320 knots, nearly twice the airspeed of Flight 305 at the time of Cooper's jump. Despite the violent jump, McNally landed unharmed except for some superficial scratches and bruises.
Frederick Hahneman, a 49-year-old hijacker, jumped at night into a Honduran jungle from a 727 in Pennsylvania and survived. Richard LaPoint hijacked a 727 in Nevada and, wearing only trousers, a shirt, and cowboy boots, jumped into the freezing January wind over northern Colorado and landed in the snow. In 2008, Himmelsbach admitted that he initially thought Cooper had only a fifty-percent chance of survival but later revised his assessment.
By 1976, most published legal analyses concluded that the impending expiration of the statute of limitations for prosecuting the hijacker would make little difference. Since the statute's interpretation varies from case to case and from court to court, a prosecutor could argue that Cooper forfeited legal immunity on any of several valid technical grounds. In November 1976, a Portland grand jury returned an indictment in absentia against "John Doe, a.k.a. Dan Cooper" for air piracy and violation of the Hobbs Act. The indictment formally allowed prosecution to continue should the hijacker be apprehended at any time in the future.
Suspects
Between 1971 and 2016, the FBI investigated over a thousand "serious suspects," including numerous publicity seekers and deathbed confessors.
Ted Braden
Theodore Burdette Braden Jr. (1928–2007) was a Special Forces commando during the Vietnam War, a master skydiver, and a convicted felon. Many within the Special Forces community believed he was Cooper, both at the time of the hijacking and in the years that followed. Born in Ohio, Braden joined the military at 16 in 1944, serving with the 101st Airborne during World War II. He became one of the military's top parachutists, representing the Army in international skydiving tournaments. His military records list him as having completed 911 jumps. During the 1960s, Braden was a team leader in the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group (MACVSOG), a classified Green Beret unit conducting unconventional warfare operations during the Vietnam War. He also served as a military skydiving instructor, teaching HALO jumping techniques to Project Delta members. Braden spent 23 months in Vietnam, carrying out classified operations in North and South Vietnam, as well as Laos and Cambodia.
In December 1966, Braden deserted his unit in Vietnam to serve as a mercenary in the Congo. He was soon arrested by CIA agents and returned to the United States for a court-martial. Despite committing a capital offense by deserting in wartime, Braden received an honorable discharge and was prohibited from re-enlisting in exchange for his silence about the MACVSOG program.
Braden was profiled in the October 1967 issue of Ramparts magazine, where fellow Special Forces veteran and journalist Don Duncan described him as having a "secret death wish" and a tendency to place himself in unnecessary danger but always getting away with it. Duncan also claimed Braden was involved in shady deals to make money during his time in Vietnam. After his military discharge in 1967, Braden's life details are largely unknown, but at the time of the hijacking, he was a truck driver for Consolidated Freightways, headquartered in Vancouver, Washington, near the suspected drop zone of Ariel, Washington. In the early 1970s, the FBI investigated Braden for allegedly stealing $250,000 in a trucking scam, but he was never charged. In 1980, he was indicted for driving an 18-wheeler full of stolen goods from Arizona to Massachusetts, but the outcome is unknown. Two years later, Braden was arrested in Pennsylvania for driving a stolen vehicle with fictitious plates and no driver's license. He eventually served time in federal prison during the late 1980s, but the precise crime is unknown.
Despite his skills as a soldier, Braden was not well-liked and was described by a family member as "the perfect combination of high intelligence and criminality." From his covert operations experience in Vietnam, he likely had classified knowledge about jumping from a 727. Physically, Braden's military records list him as 5 ft 8 in, shorter than the height description of at least 5 ft 10 in given by the flight attendants, but he may have appeared taller in shoes. He had a dark complexion from years of outdoor military service, short dark hair, a medium athletic build, and was 43 at the time of the hijacking—features that matched descriptions of Cooper.
Kenneth Peter Christiansen
In 2003, Minnesota resident Lyle Christiansen watched a television documentary about the Cooper hijacking and became convinced that his late brother Kenneth (1926–1994) was Cooper. After futile attempts to convince the FBI and author and director Nora Ephron, he contacted private investigator Skipp Porteous in New York City. In 2010, Porteous published a book suggesting Christiansen was the hijacker. The next year, an episode of the History series Brad Meltzer's Decoded summarized the circumstantial evidence linking Christiansen to the Cooper case.
Christiansen enlisted in the Army in 1944 and trained as a paratrooper. World War II ended before he was deployed in 1945, but he made occasional training jumps while stationed in Japan during the late 1940s. After leaving the Army, he joined Northwest Orient in 1954 as a laborer stationed at Northwest Airlines' Far East stopover on Shemya Island in the Aleutians. He later became a flight attendant and then a purser based in Seattle. Christiansen was 45 at the time of the hijacking but was shorter (5 ft 8 in) and thinner (150 pounds) than eyewitness descriptions of Cooper. He smoked, as did the hijacker, and had a fondness for bourbon, the drink Cooper requested. Stewardess Florence Schaffner told author Geoffrey Gray that photos of Christiansen matched her memory of the hijacker better than other suspects, but she could not conclusively identify him.
Despite the publicity from Porteous's book and the 2011 television documentary, the FBI maintains that Christiansen cannot be considered a prime suspect due to the poor match to eyewitness physical descriptions and a complete lack of direct incriminating evidence.
Jack Coffelt
Bryant "Jack" Coffelt (1917–1975) was a con man, ex-convict, and purported government informant who claimed to have been the chauffeur and confidant of Abraham Lincoln's last undisputed descendant, great-grandson Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith. In 1972, Coffelt claimed he was Cooper and tried to sell his story to a Hollywood production company through an intermediary, a former cellmate named James Brown. He said he landed near Mount Hood, about 50 miles southeast of Ariel, injuring himself and losing the ransom money. Photos of Coffelt resembled the composite drawings, although he was in his mid-fifties in 1971. He was reportedly in Portland on the day of the hijacking and sustained leg injuries around that time, consistent with a skydiving mishap.
The FBI reviewed Coffelt's account and concluded that it differed in several details from non-public information, deeming it a fabrication. Brown continued promoting the story long after Coffelt died in 1975. Multiple media outlets, including CBS's 60 Minutes, considered and rejected it.
Lynn Doyle Cooper
Lynn Doyle "L. D." Cooper (1931–1999), a leather worker and Korean War veteran, was proposed as a suspect in July 2011 by his niece, Marla Cooper. As an eight-year-old, she recalled Cooper and another uncle planning something "very mischievous" involving the use of "expensive walkie-talkies" at her grandmother's house in Sisters, Oregon, 150 miles southeast of Portland. The next day, Flight 305 was hijacked; although the uncles were ostensibly turkey hunting, L. D. Cooper returned home wearing a bloody shirt, which he attributed to an auto accident. Marla also claimed that her parents came to believe L. D. was the hijacker. She recalled that her uncle, who died in 1999, was obsessed with the Canadian comic book hero Dan Cooper and had one of his comic books thumbtacked to his wall, despite not being a skydiver or paratrooper.
In August 2011, New York magazine published an alternative witness sketch based on Flight 305 eyewitness Robert Gregory's description, depicting horn-rimmed sunglasses, a "russet"-colored suit jacket with wide lapels, and marcelled hair. The article noted that L. D. Cooper had wavy hair that appeared marcelled. The FBI announced that no fingerprints were found on a guitar strap made by L. D. Cooper. One week later, they added that his DNA did not match the partial DNA profile obtained from the hijacker's tie but acknowledged that there is no certainty the hijacker was the source of the organic material from the tie.
Barbara Dayton
Barbara Dayton (1926–2002), a recreational pilot and University of Washington librarian who was named Robert Dayton at birth, served in the U.S. Merchant Marine and then the Army during World War II. After discharge, Dayton worked with explosives for construction and aspired to a professional airline career but could not obtain a commercial pilot's license.
Dayton had gender reassignment surgery in 1969, changing her name to Barbara. She claimed to have staged the hijacking two years later, presenting as a man, to "get back" at the airline industry and the FAA, whose insurmountable rules and conditions prevented her from becoming an airline pilot. Dayton said the ransom money was hidden in a cistern near Woodburn, Oregon, south of Portland. She eventually recanted the entire story after learning hijacking charges could still be brought and did not match the physical description closely.
William Gossett
William Pratt Gossett (1930–2003) was a Marine Corps, Army, and Army Air Forces veteran with service in Korea and Vietnam. His military experience included jump training and wilderness survival. Gossett was obsessed with the Cooper hijacking. According to lawyer Galen Cook, who collected information on Gossett, he once showed his sons a key to a Vancouver, British Columbia, safe deposit box containing the ransom money.
The FBI has no direct evidence implicating Gossett and cannot reliably place him in the Pacific Northwest at the time of the hijacking. Special Agent Carr stated, "There is not one link to the D. B. Cooper case other than the statements [Gossett] made to someone."
Joe Lakich
Joe Lakich (1921–2017), a retired U.S. Army Major and Korean War veteran, became a Cooper suspect due to his work in a manufacturing environment where he would have been exposed to materials like the uncommon metals found on Cooper's tie. Lakich's daughter, Susan Giffe, was killed less than two months before the hijacking due to a botched FBI hostage negotiation. Lakich and his wife sued the FBI, with an Appeals Court ruling in their favor, holding the FBI acted negligently during the hostage negotiation.
When the hijacking occurred, Lakich was a production supervisor at an electronics capacitor factory in Nashville, likely exposed to materials found on the tie. Cooper’s comment to flight attendant Tina Mucklow about having a "grudge" suggested to some that it was Lakich's anger toward the FBI for their failed efforts in rescuing his daughter.
John List
John Emil List (1925–2008) was an accountant and war veteran who murdered his wife, three teenage children, and his 85-year-old mother in Westfield, New Jersey, fifteen days before the Cooper hijacking. He withdrew $200,000 from his mother's bank account and disappeared. The timing of his disappearance, multiple matches to the hijacker's description, and the reasoning that "a fugitive accused of mass murder has nothing to lose" brought him to the attention of the Cooper task force. After his capture in 1989, List denied involvement in the hijacking. No substantial evidence implicates him, and the FBI no longer considers him a suspect. List died in prison in 2008.
Ted Mayfield
Theodore Ernest Mayfield (1935–2015) was a Special Forces veteran, pilot, competitive skydiver, and skydiving instructor. He served prison time in 1994 for negligent homicide after two of his students died when their parachutes failed to open. He was later found indirectly responsible for thirteen additional skydiving deaths due to faulty equipment and training. In 2010, he was sentenced to three years' probation for piloting an airplane 26 years after losing his pilot's license and rigging certificates. Mayfield was repeatedly suggested as a suspect early in the investigation, according to FBI Agent Ralph Himmelsbach. He was ruled out partly because he telephoned Himmelsbach less than two hours after Flight 305 landed in Reno to volunteer advice on standard skydiving practices and possible landing zones, as well as information on local skydivers.
Richard McCoy Jr.
Richard McCoy Jr., an Army veteran who served in Vietnam as both a demolition expert and a helicopter pilot with the Green Berets, transitioned into a warrant officer role in the Utah National Guard post-military service. He had a passion for recreational skydiving and aimed to become a Utah State Trooper. On April 7, 1972, McCoy executed one of the most infamous "copycat" hijackings by boarding United Airlines' Flight 855 in Denver, Colorado. Armed with what appeared to be a hand grenade and an unloaded pistol, later revealed to be a paperweight, he demanded parachutes and $500,000. Following the delivery of the ransom at San Francisco International Airport, McCoy redirected the aircraft to Provo, Utah, where he bailed out, leaving behind his hijacking instructions and fingerprints. He was apprehended two days later with the ransom money and subsequently sentenced to 45 years in prison. McCoy managed to escape from Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary two years later but was later killed in a shootout with FBI agents.
In the ongoing search for D.B. Cooper, McCoy was posthumously considered a potential match by some, citing similarities in modus operandi and family claims regarding personal items found on the hijacked plane. However, the FBI, noting disparities in age, physical description, skydiving proficiency, and alibi evidence, does not consider McCoy a suspect in the Cooper case.
Vincent C. Petersen
Vincent C. Petersen was identified as a person of interest in the Cooper investigation due to his association with a company manufacturing a rare titanium antimony alloy, discovered through analysis of Cooper's tie.
Sheridan Peterson
Sheridan Peterson, a former Marine and Boeing technical editor, garnered suspicion due to his adventurous background, physical resemblance, and teasing remarks to the media. However, subsequent DNA analysis ruled him out as a match for Cooper.
Robert Rachstraw
Robert Wesley Rackstraw, a Vietnam War veteran and pilot, drew attention due to his resemblance to composite sketches of Cooper and his military background. Despite suspicions, he was eliminated as a suspect in 1979, although renewed interest in 2016 led to further investigations, including the discovery of potential evidence and a confession letter. Rackstraw vehemently denied involvement.
Walter R. Reca
Walter R. Reca, proposed as a suspect based on recorded conversations and confessions to friends and family, faced skepticism due to inconsistencies in his story, geographical discrepancies, and differences in physical description compared to the FBI's profile of Cooper. The FBI, while not commenting on individual suspects, stated that no evidence had definitively linked any individual to the crime.
In November 2018, The Oregonian published an article suggesting William J. Smith, a World War II veteran from Bloomfield, New Jersey, as a potential suspect in the D.B. Cooper case. Smith, who passed away in 2018, enlisted in the United States Navy after high school and volunteered for combat air crew training. Following his discharge, he worked for the Lehigh Valley Railroad and was affected by the Penn Central Transportation Company's bankruptcy in 1970, the largest in U.S. history at the time. The article proposed that this financial setback, coupled with a perceived grudge against the corporate and transportation sectors, could have motivated Smith to commit the hijacking, especially given his sudden need for money. Smith was 43 years old at the time of the hijacking, and his high school yearbook listed an Ira Daniel Cooper among alumni killed in World War II, potentially inspiring the pseudonym used by the hijacker.
The article highlighted that Smith's naval aviation experience would have provided him with knowledge of airplanes and parachutes, while his railroad background would have helped him locate railroad tracks and possibly escape via train after landing. The analyst who researched Smith also noted that aluminum chips found on the clip-on tie could have originated from a locomotive maintenance facility, linking back to Smith's work experience. Additionally, Smith's familiarity with the Seattle area may have been acquired through his friend Dan Clair, stationed at Fort Lewis during the war. Smith and Clair later worked together at Conrail in Newark's Oak Island Yard, where Smith retired as a yardmaster. A photograph of Smith on the Lehigh Valley Railroad website was noted to bear a "remarkable resemblance" to FBI sketches of Cooper.
The FBI declined to comment on tips related to Smith, maintaining their standard practice regarding ongoing investigations.
Similar Hijackings
D.B. Cooper was one of the first to attempt air piracy for personal gain. Eleven days before Cooper's hijacking, Canadian Paul Joseph Cini hijacked an Air Canada DC-8 over Montana but was overpowered by the crew when he put down his shotgun to strap on his parachute. Inspired by Cooper's apparent success, fifteen similar hijackings were attempted in 1972, but all were unsuccessful.
Aftermath
Despite the initiation of the federal Sky Marshal Program in the previous year, 31 hijackings occurred in U.S. airspace in 1972, with 19 aimed at extorting money. In 15 of these cases, the hijackers also demanded parachutes. To enhance security, the FAA began requiring airlines to search all passengers and their bags in early 1973, despite legal challenges citing Fourth Amendment concerns. Only two hijackings were attempted in 1973, both by psychiatric patients; one intended to crash the airliner into the White House to kill President Nixon.
Aircraft Modifications
Due to the spate of "copycat" hijackings in 1972, the FAA mandated the installation of a spring-loaded device, known as the "Cooper vane," on the exterior of all Boeing 727 aircraft to prevent lowering of the aft airstair during flight. This device automatically rotates into position at flight speeds to secure the door. Additionally, peepholes were mandated in all cockpit doors to allow crew to observe passengers without opening the door.
Subsequent History of N467US
The hijacked 727-100 aircraft was sold to Piedmont Airlines in 1978, re-registered as N838N, and continued in domestic carrier service. In 1984, it was acquired by Key Airlines, re-registered as N29KA, and used in the Air Force's civilian charter fleet. It was ultimately scrapped for parts in 1996 in a Memphis aircraft boneyard.
Death of Earl J. Cossey
Earl J. Cossey, who packed the parachutes given to Cooper, was found dead in his home in Woodinville, Washington, in 2013. His death was ruled a homicide, but authorities found no reason to link it to the Cooper case, attributing it to burglary.
In Popular Culture
Despite being dubbed a "rotten sleazy crook" by Himmelsbach, Cooper's bold crime inspired a cult following expressed in song, movies, and literature. "D. B. Cooper, Where Are You?" t-shirts were sold in novelty shops, and Cooper-themed promotions are held in the Pacific Northwest. An annual CooperCon convention, founded in 2018, gathers researchers and enthusiasts, replacing the former D. B. Cooper Days celebration. Cooper's story has been featured in various TV series and films, including Prison Break, Justified, Breaking Bad, and Loki, as well as in the book The Vesuvius Prophecy by Greg Cox.
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