D.B. Cooper: The Skyjacker Who Parachuted Into a Legend

On November 24, 1971, a man calling himself Dan Cooper hijacked a Boeing 727, extorted $200,000, and parachuted into a stormy night over the Pacific Northwest, vanishing without a trace. The FBI’s most extensive manhunt turned up almost nothing but decaying cash and an enduring mystery.

The Polite Hijacker With a Bomb

He bought a one-way ticket from Portland to Seattle, wearing a business suit and a black clip-on tie. After takeoff, he handed a note to a flight attendant: “I have a bomb in my briefcase.” He was calm, ordered a bourbon and soda, and even gave the crew their stolen cash back as a tip.

His demands were specific: $200,000 in unmarked $20 bills and four parachutes. While authorities scrambled in Seattle, he let all 36 passengers go. Then he gave the pilots a new, bizarre destination: Mexico City, with a very specific flight plan.

The Jump Into Oblivion

He instructed the crew to fly low and slow, with the rear staircase lowered. Somewhere over the dense, rainy forests of southern Washington, Dan Cooper stepped into the black void. The plane was flying at 10,000 feet through a thunderstorm with winds near 100 mph.

The pilots felt a change in air pressure. When they landed in Reno, the hijacker, the money, and the parachutes were gone. The FBI found only his clip-on tie and a few cigarette butts. The man had evaporated into the storm.

The Ghostly Clue and a Thousand Suspects

For 9 years, the case was cold. Then, in 1980, a boy digging on a Columbia River sandbar found $5,800 of the ransom money, rotting in a bundle. The serial numbers matched. It was the only physical evidence ever found.

The FBI pursued over 1,000 suspects, from a disgruntled Boeing employee to a paranoid schizophrenic. Each lead dissolved. Was he a skilled paratrooper who survived? A fool who splattered into the wilderness? The lack of a body fueled endless theories.

Why the Legend Refuses to Die

The case was officially closed in 2016, but the myth only grows. He’s the subject of songs, movies, and an annual festival in the town where he might have landed. He pulled off the perfect crime and then became a ghost.

Today, the D.B. Cooper hijacking remains the only unsolved case of air piracy in U.S. history. It’s a weird, dark fairy tale about a man who bought a ticket, walked into the sky, and left behind nothing but questions and a few moldy bills on a riverbank.