Scott directed her to remain in the cockpit for the remainder of the flight and take notes of events as they unfolded. She wrote a note with Cooper's demands, brought it to the cockpit, and informed the flight crew of the situation. Ĭooper closed the briefcase, and told Schaffner his demands. Attached to the cylinders were a wire and a large, cylindrical battery. He opened his briefcase, and she saw two rows of four red cylinders, which she assumed was dynamite. In neat, all-capital letters printed with a felt-tip pen, Cooper had written, "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 quietly asked to see the bomb. Cooper then leaned toward her and whispered, "Miss, you'd better look at that note. Assuming the note was a lonely businessman's phone number, Schaffner dropped the note unopened into her purse. Shortly after takeoff, Cooper handed a note to flight attendant Florence Schaffner, sitting in the jump seat directly behind Cooper. With a crew of six and 37 passengers aboard, Flight 305 left Portland on-schedule at 2:50 pm PST. Cooper took seat 18-E in the last row, and ordered a drink: bourbon and 7-Up. Carrying a briefcase and a brown paper bag, Cooper boarded Flight 305, a Boeing 727-100 ( FAA registration N467US). Eyewitnesses described Cooper as a white male in his mid-40s, with dark hair and brown eyes, wearing a black or brown business suit, a white shirt, a thin black tie, a black raincoat, and brown shoes. On his ticket, the man listed his name as "Dan Cooper". Using cash, the man bought a one-way ticket on Flight 305, a thirty-minute trip north to "Sea-Tac" ( Seattle–Tacoma International Airport). 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. By 1973, aircraft hijacking incidents had decreased, as the new security measures successfully dissuaded would-be hijackers whose only motive was money. Boeing 727s were retrofitted with eponymous " Cooper vanes", specifically designed to prevent the aft staircase from being lowered in-flight. Metal detectors were installed, baggage inspection became mandatory, and passengers who paid cash for tickets on the day of departure were selected for additional scrutiny. In July 2016, the FBI officially suspended active investigation of the NORJAK (Northwest hijacking) case, although reporters, enthusiasts, professional investigators, and amateur sleuths continue to pursue numerous theories for Cooper's identity, success, and fate.Ĭooper's hijacking-and several imitators in the following year-led rapidly to major changes for commercial aviation and stricter airport security measures. The FBI speculates Cooper did not survive his jump, for several reasons: the inclement weather on the night of the hijacking, Cooper's lack of proper skydiving equipment, the heavily wooded area into which he jumped, his apparent lack of detailed knowledge of his landing area, and the disappearance of the remaining ransom money, suggesting it was never spent. The crime remains the only unsolved case of air piracy in the history of commercial aviation. įor 45 years after the hijacking, the Federal Bureau of Investigation maintained an active investigation and built an extensive case file, but ultimately did not reach any definitive conclusions. The hijacker identified himself as Dan Cooper, but a reporter confused his name with another suspect and the hijacker subsequently became known as "D. The discovery of the money renewed public interest in the mystery, but yielded no additional information about the hijacker's identity or fate, and the remaining money was never recovered. In 1980, a small portion of the ransom money was found along the banks of the Columbia River. The hijacker has never been found or conclusively identified. About 30 minutes after taking off from Seattle, the hijacker opened the aircraft's aft door, deployed the staircase, and parachuted into the night over southwestern Washington. After releasing the passengers in Seattle, the hijacker instructed the flight crew to refuel the aircraft and begin a second flight to Mexico City, with a refueling stop in Reno, Nevada. During the flight from Portland, Oregon, to Seattle, Washington, the hijacker told a flight attendant he was armed with a bomb, demanded $200,000 in ransom (equivalent to $1,400,000 in 2022), and requested four parachutes upon landing in Seattle. Cooper is a media epithet for an unidentified man who hijacked Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305, a Boeing 727 aircraft, in United States airspace on November 24, 1971. N467US, the aircraft involved in the hijackingīetween Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washingtonĭ.
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