D.B.Cooper

D. B. Cooper is the name popularly used to refer an unidentified man who hijacked a Boeing 727 aircraft in the airspace between Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington, USA on November 24, 1971, extorted USD $200,000 in ransom, and parachuted to an uncertain fate. Despite an extensive manhunt and an exhaustive (and ongoing) FBI investigation, the perpetrator has never been located or positively identified. To date, the case remains the only unsolved airline hijacking in American aviation history.

The suspect purchased his airline ticket under the alias Dan Cooper, but due to a press miscommunication, he became known in popular lore as "D.B. Cooper." Hundreds of leads have been pursued in the ensuing years, but no conclusive evidence has ever surfaced regarding Cooper's true identity or whereabouts, and the bulk of the ransom money has never been recovered. Numerous theories, of widely-varying plausibility, have been proposed by experts, reporters, and amateur enthusiasts.

Published reports indicate that from the beginning, FBI investigators considered it unlikely that Cooper survived his risky and ill-advised jump. “Diving into the wilderness without a plan, without the right equipment, in such terrible conditions, he probably never even got his 'chute open,” said Special Agent Larry Carr, a long-time member of the investigation team who became its leader in 2006.

Nevertheless, the case remains active; and while the agency is reluctant to commit substantial resources to a four-decade-old investigation, it continues to solicit creative ideas and new leads from the public. “Maybe a hydrologist can use the latest technology to trace the $5,800 in ransom money found in 1980 to where Cooper landed upstream", Carr suggested. "Or maybe someone just remembers that odd uncle.”