When a man
named DB Cooper hijacked a Boeing 727, and was given $200,000, he proceeded to
jump out of the plane with a parachute. Despite an intensive search by
authorities, he was never found. Let’s begin at the beginning which is usually
the best place to start. A tall, nattily attired man with an ordinary looking briefcase
boarded Northwest Orient Airlines flight 305 from Portland to Seattle. This was
on Nov. 24, 1971. Soon after the plane took off, the man gave a note to a
stewardess informing her that he had a bomb and that he wanted $200,000 in
unmarked bills, and four parachutes. After touching down in Seattle, the pilot
took the plane airborne again and flew, as he was told- low and slow over a
heavily forested area between Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington. That is
where the man who was later identified in press reports as "D.B.
Cooper", jumped out of the plane. The man with the cash and parachutes and
was never seen again but some of the money that had been marked was found. What
happened to Mr. Cooper? This has been speculated on for years. Was he killed
after jumping? If so, why was his body or remains never found? Did he perhaps
‘plant’ some money and take off with the rest of it to spend at his leisure,
confusing the authorities and those others out there looking for him? Surely
after a while, the stores and other places where they were told to carefully
look for any of the bills stopped examining each and every bill they received
as a payment. There is something intriguing about a man who could actually pull
off such a caper. He becomes a folk hero to some. No one knows for sure what
really happened and we may never know.
