D. B. Cooper

File:DB Cooper Wanted Poster.jpg

On Thanksgiving Eve, November 24, 1971, a man carrying a black attaché case approached the flight counter for Northwest Orient Airlines at Portland International Airport. Using cash,{{Cite web |title=D.B. Cooper Hijacking |url=https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/db-cooper-hijacking |access-date=May 6, 2022 |publisher=Federal Bureau of Investigation |language=en-us |archive-date=November 5, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161105094658/https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/db-cooper-hijacking |url-status=live }} the man bought a one-way ticket on {{nowrap|Flight 305}}, a thirty-minute trip north to Seattle–Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac). On his ticket, the man listed his name as "Dan Cooper". 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.{{r|vault_69|page=294}} Carrying a briefcase and a brown paper bag,{{r|vault_69|page=294}} Cooper boarded Flight 305, a Boeing 727-100 (FAA registration N467US). Cooper took seat 18-E in the last row and ordered a drink, a bourbon and 7-Up from a flight attendant.{{cite report |date= November 24, 1971|title= FBI Interview with Florence Schaffner, Nov 24, 1971}}{{cite report |date= June 27, 1972 |title= Acting Director Memo to Seattle SAC, June 27th, 1972 |url= https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/D.B.%20Cooper%20Part%2026/view |publisher= Federal Bureau of Investigation |page= 471 |access-date= October 18, 2022 |archive-date= October 18, 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20221018030831/https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/D.B.%20Cooper%20Part%2026/view |url-status= live }}

With a crew of six (consisting of 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) and thirty-six passengers aboard, including Cooper, Flight 305 left Portland on-schedule at 2:50 pm PST.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=NPAjAAAAIBAJ&pg=6509%2C3689150 |work=Spokesman-Review |location= |agency=Associated Press |title=Hijacked plane makes landing at Seattle airport |date=November 25, 1971|page=1|access-date=September 22, 2018|archive-date=March 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200323165544/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=NPAjAAAAIBAJ&pg=6509%2C3689150 |url-status=live}}{{cite report |date= November 24, 1971 |title= Northwest Airlines Flight Operations Memo from night of hijacking |quote= There are 36 passengers and a crew of 6 |url= https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/d.b.-cooper-part-10/view |publisher= Federal Bureau of Investigation |page= 329 }}{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Shortly after takeoff, Cooper handed a note to flight attendant Schaffner, who was sitting in the jump seat at the rear of the airplane,{{r|vault_64|page=159}} directly behind Cooper. Assuming the note was a lonely businessman's telephone number, Schaffner dropped the note unopened into her purse.{{sfn|Bragg|2005|p=2}} Cooper then leaned toward her and whispered, "Miss, you'd better look at that note. I have a bomb."{{cite news |title=When D.B. Cooper Dropped From Sky: Where did the daring, He jumped off the plane. mysterious skyjacker go? Twenty-five years later, the search is still on for even a trace|last=Steven|first=Richard|date=November 24, 1996|page=A20|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer}}

Schaffner opened the note. In neat, all-capital letters printed with a felt-tip pen,{{cite web |title=Unmasking D.B. Cooper |url=https://nymag.com/nymag/features/39593/index1.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160816131137/http://nymag.com/nymag/features/39593/index1.html |archive-date=August 16, 2016 |access-date=June 28, 2016 |work=New York Magazine|date=October 18, 2007 }} Cooper had written, "Miss—I have a bomb in my briefcase and want you to sit by me."{{cite report |title=FBI Interview with Florence Schaffner, Nov 24, 1971 |date=November 24, 1971}} Schaffner returned the note to Cooper,{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|p=19}} sat down as he requested, and asked quietly to see the bomb. He opened his briefcase, and she saw two rows of four red cylinders, which she assumed were dynamite. Attached to the cylinders were a wire and a large, cylindrical battery, which resembled a bomb.{{efn|name=cylinders}}{{cite web |title=Transcript of Crew Communications |website=n467us.com |url=http://n467us.com/Data%20Files/Logs%2006-20-2008R.pdf |access-date=February 25, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921053644/http://n467us.com/Data%20Files/Logs%2006-20-2008R.pdf |archive-date=September 21, 2013}}

Cooper closed the briefcase and told Schaffner his demands. She wrote a note with Cooper's demands, brought it to the cockpit and informed the flight crew of the situation. Captain Scott directed her to remain in the cockpit for the remainder of the flight and take notes of events as they happened. He then relayed to Northwest flight operations in Minnesota the hijacker's demands: "[Cooper] requests $200,000 in a knapsack by 5:00 pm. He wants two front parachutes, two back parachutes. He wants the money in negotiable American currency."{{sfn|Gray|2011b|pp=41}}{{efn|name=parachutes|Earl Cossey, the skydiving instructor who supplied the parachutes, told some sources three of the four parachutes (one primary and both reserves) were returned to him. The FBI maintained only two parachutes, a primary and a cannibalized reserve, were found aboard the airplane. {{harvnb|Gunther|1985|p=50}}.}} By requesting two sets of parachutes, Cooper implied he planned to take a hostage with him, thereby discouraging authorities from supplying non-functional equipment.{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRM4qS3vfB0 |title=How Dan Cooper JUMPED from an aircraft and the end of aft Air-stairs! |date=January 22, 2021 |last=Mentour Pilot |access-date=2023-04-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240727132852/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRM4qS3vfB0 |archive-date=July 27, 2024 |url-status=live |via=YouTube}}

With Schaffner in the cockpit, flight attendant Mucklow sat next to Cooper to act as a liaison between him and the flight crew.{{cite magazine |last1=Marks |first1=Andrea |title=The Missing Piece of the D.B. Cooper Story |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/db-cooper-tina-mucklow-untold-story-1111944/ |access-date=August 20, 2024 |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=January 12, 2021 |archive-date=January 13, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220113212424/https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/db-cooper-tina-mucklow-untold-story-1111944/ |url-access=subscription }}{{r|vault_64|page=160|quote=Tina said 'do you want me to stay here?' and the man replied, 'yes'.}} Cooper then made additional demands: upon landing at Sea-Tac, fuel trucks were to meet the plane and all passengers were to remain seated while Mucklow brought the money aboard. He said he would release the passengers after he had the money. The last items brought aboard would be the four parachutes.{{r|vault_64|quote= One of the specific demands [Cooper] made was the fuel truck is to come first and start fueling the plane immediately. After fueling is completed and the money is aboard, he indicated the passengers would be released, and the last item to be brought aboard the aircraft would be the chutes, and at that time only the crew members were to be aboard, and they must stay out of the aisle and remain in their seats.|page= 160}}

Scott informed Sea–Tac air traffic control of the situation, who contacted the Seattle Police Department (SPD) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The passengers were told their arrival in Seattle would be delayed because of a "minor mechanical difficulty".{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|p=20}} Donald Nyrop, the president of Northwest at the time, authorized payment of the ransom and ordered all employees to cooperate with the hijacker and comply with his demands.{{sfn|Gray|2011b|pp=47}} For approximately two hours, Flight 305 circled Puget Sound to give the SPD and the FBI sufficient time to assemble Cooper's ransom money and parachutes, and to mobilize emergency personnel.{{sfn|Edwards|2021|pp=19}}

During the flight from Portland to Seattle, Cooper demanded Mucklow remain by his side at all times.{{r|vault_64|page=150|quote= the hijacker insisted she be physically present by his side at all times. She recalled she sat with him almost the entire time of the flight.}} She later said Cooper appeared familiar with the local terrain; while looking out the window, he remarked, "Looks like Tacoma down there", as the aircraft flew above it. When told the parachutes were coming from McChord Air Force Base, Cooper correctly noted McChord was only a twenty-minute drive from Sea-Tac.{{r|vault_64|page=156|quote=She also recalled while they were in the holding pattern prior to landing, he at one time looked out the window and observed 'We're over Tacoma now' and '...she stated she recalled some conversation to the effect the parachutes were coming from McChord Air Force Base. The hijacker remarked that it was about 20 minutes from McChord to the Seattle-Tacoma Airport.'}} She later described the hijacker's demeanor: "[Cooper] was not nervous. He seemed rather nice and he was not cruel or nasty."{{r|vault_53|page=174|quote=He was not nervous. He seemed rather nice and he was not cruel or nasty.}}

While the airplane circled Seattle, Mucklow chatted with Cooper and asked why he chose Northwest Airlines to hijack. He laughed and replied, "It's not because I have a grudge against your airlines, it's just because I have a grudge," then explained the flight simply suited his needs.{{r|vault_64|quote= She asked him why he picked Northwest Airlines to hijack and he laughed and said, 'It's not because I have a grudge against your airlines, it's just because I have a grudge.' He paused and said the flight suited his time, place, and plans.|page=161}} He asked where she was from; she answered she was originally from Pennsylvania, but was living in Minneapolis at the time. Cooper responded that Minnesota was "very nice country."{{r|vault_64|quote= He asked her where she was from and she told him that she was from Pennsylvania, but was living in Minneapolis, Minn. He indicated that Minneapolis, Minn., was very nice country.|page=161}} She asked where he was from, but he became upset and refused to answer.{{r|vault_64|page=160}} He asked if she smoked and offered her a cigarette. She replied she had quit, but accepted the cigarette.{{r|vault_64|quote=Other conversation centered on personal habits such as smoking and he asked her if she did and she said she used to, but had quit, and he offered her a cigarette, which she took and smoked.|page=161}}

FBI records note Cooper spoke briefly to an unidentified passenger while the airplane maintained its holding pattern over Seattle. In his interview with FBI agents, passenger George Labissoniere stated he visited the restroom directly behind Cooper on several occasions. After one visit, Labissoniere said the path to his seat was blocked by a passenger wearing a cowboy hat, questioning Mucklow about the supposed mechanical problem delaying them. Labissoniere said Cooper was initially amused by the interaction, then became irritated and told the man to return to his seat, but "the cowboy" ignored Cooper and continued to question Mucklow. Labissoniere claimed he eventually persuaded "the cowboy" to return to his seat.{{r|vault_67|quote= The cowboy was hassling Tina for information about the mechanical difficulties and generally being a nuisance. The hijacker seemed to enjoy the situation at first but told the cowboy to go back to his seat.|page=170}}

Mucklow's version of the interaction differed from Labissoniere's. She said a passenger approached her and asked for a sports magazine to read because he was bored. She and the passenger moved to an area directly behind Cooper, where they both looked for magazines. The passenger took a copy of The New Yorker and returned to his seat. When Mucklow returned to sit with Cooper, he said, "If that is a sky marshal, I don't want any more of that", but she reassured him there were no sky marshals on the flight.{{r|vault_64|quote=After he was seated and Tina returned to seat 18 D, next to the hijacker, he said, 'If that is a Sky Marshal I don't want any more of that,' and she reassured him that it wasn't and further, that there were no sky marshals on that flight.|page=161}} Despite his brief interaction with Cooper, "the cowboy" was not interviewed by the FBI and was never identified.{{sfn|Edwards|2021|pp=18}}

The $200,000 ransom was received from Seattle First National Bank in a bag weighing approximately {{convert|19|lb|kg|spell=in|round=0.5}}.{{r|vault_11|quote= Seattle First National Bank, Seattle, Washington, who provided the money paid on this case advises that the money in the bag weighed nineteen pounds and the contents measured eleven inches by twelve inches by six and one half inches|page= 123}} The money—10,000 unmarked $20 bills, most of which had serial numbers beginning with "L" (indicating issuance by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco{{cite news |date=December 26, 1971 |title=Please Check Your $20 Bills, FBI Says |url=https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/d.b.-cooper-part-56/view |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220809232101/https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/d.b.-cooper-part-56/view |archive-date=August 9, 2022 |access-date=August 4, 2022 |work=Los Angeles Times}})—was photographed on microfilm by the FBI.{{r|vault_67|quote= microfilm upon which was record[ed] the serial number[s] of all the bills...|page=101}} Seattle police obtained the two front (reserve) parachutes from a local skydiving school and the two back (main) parachutes from a local stunt pilot.{{cite news |last1=Clever |first1=Dick |title=Hijacker Hunt Near Woodland |agency=Seattle Post-Intelligencer |date=November 26, 1971}}

File:Northwest Boeing 727 airstair (1975).jpg with the aft airstair open]]

Around 5:24 PST, Scott was informed the parachutes had been delivered to Sea-Tac and notified Cooper they would be landing soon. At 5:46 PST, Flight 305 landed at Sea-Tac.{{r|vault_64|quote=The Flight landed at Seattle International Airport at 5:46 Pacific time.|page= 163}} With Cooper's permission, Scott parked the aircraft on a partially-lit runway, away from the main terminal.{{r|vault_64|quote=Prior to landing, the captain wanted permission to park his aircraft away from the terminal and the hijacker said okay.|page= 163}} Cooper demanded only one representative of the airline approach the plane with the parachutes and money, and the only entrance and exit would be through the aircraft's front door via mobile stairs.{{r|vault_66|page=15|quote=He requested an unmarked car and a representative of the airline would be allowed to approach the aircraft from a ten o'clock relative position. The only other equipment to go near the aircraft was to be the air stairs and refueling equipment.}}

Northwest's Seattle operations manager, Al Lee, was designated to be the courier. To avoid the possibility Cooper might mistake Lee's airline uniform for a law enforcement officer, he changed into civilian clothes for the task.{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|p=28}} With the passengers remaining seated, a ground crew attached a mobile stair. Per Cooper's directive, Mucklow exited the aircraft through the front door and retrieved the ransom money. When she returned, she carried the money bag past the seated passengers to Cooper in the last row.{{cite report |url=https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/D.B.%20Cooper%20Part%2010/view |title=Cord Zum Spreckel FBI Interview |date=November 26, 1971 |publisher=Federal Bureau of Investigation |page=451 |quote=the blonde stewardess, who had been sitting next to the hijacker, got up and went forward and out of the forward exit of the plane. He said she returned through the same door after several minutes carrying a package which was made of off-white canvas. |access-date=October 18, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221018031102/https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/D.B.%20Cooper%20Part%2010/view |archive-date=October 18, 2022 |url-status=live}}{{r|vault_64|quote=[she] departed the aircraft through the forward door as soon as the stairs were put in place.|page=163}}

Cooper then agreed to release the passengers. As they debarked, Cooper inspected the money. In an attempt to break the tension, Mucklow jokingly asked Cooper if she could have some of it. Cooper readily agreed and handed her a packet of bills, but she immediately returned the money and explained accepting gratuities was against company policy. She said Cooper had tried to tip her and the other two flight attendants earlier in the flight with money from his pocket, but they had each declined, citing the policy.{{r|vault_64|quote=[Mucklow] recalled that she, in an attempt at being humorous, stated to the hijacker while the passengers were unloading that there was obviously a lot of money in the bag and she wondered if she could have some. The hijacker immediately agreed with her suggestion and_took one package of the money, denominations unrecalled by and handed it to her. She returned the money, stating to the hijacker that she was not permitted to accept gratuities or words to that effect. In this connection recalled that at one time during the flight the hijacker had pulled some single bills from his pocket and had attempted to tip all the girls on the crew. Again they declined in compliance with company policy.|page=163}}

With the passengers safely debarked, only Cooper and the six crew members remained aboard.{{r|vault_64|quote=She also recalled that at this time all hostesses and male crew members were still aboard the aircraft.|page=153}} In accordance with Cooper's demands, Mucklow made three trips outside the aircraft to retrieve the parachutes, which she brought to him in the rear of the plane.{{r|vault_64|pages=152–153}} While Mucklow brought aboard the parachutes, Schaffner asked Cooper if she could retrieve her purse, stored in a compartment behind his seat. Cooper agreed and told her, "I won't bite you." Flight attendant Hancock then asked Cooper if the flight attendants could leave, to which he replied, "Whatever you girls would like,"{{cite report |date= November 24, 1971|title= FBI Interview with Alice Hancock, Nov 24, 1971|quote=then Mrs. Hancock went to the back of the plane and approached the hijacker and asked if the stewardesses could go and he said 'whatever you girls would like.'}}{{r|vault_64|quote=[Florence] came back to where the hijacker was seated and asked if she could get her purse and he said that she should come on back, he wouldn't bite her.|page=163}} so Hancock and Schaffner debarked. When Mucklow brought the final parachute to Cooper, she gave him printed instructions for using the parachutes, but Cooper said he didn't need them.{{r|vault_64|quote=At this point she gave him a paper sheet giving instructions on how to jump and he said he didn't need that.|page=163}}

A problem with the refueling process caused a delay, so a second truck and then a third were brought to the aircraft to complete the refueling.{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|pp=35–36}} During the delay, Mucklow said Cooper complained the money was delivered in a cloth bag instead of a knapsack as he had directed, and he now had to improvise a new way to transport the money.{{r|vault_64|quote=He appeared irritated that they did not give him a knapsack.|page=163}} Using a pocket knife, he cut the canopy from one of the reserve parachutes, and stuffed some of the money into the empty parachute bag.{{r|vault_64|quote=he was occupied with one of the parachute packs ... and attempting to in some way attach it to his body. ... Her recollections in this regard were vague.|page=155}}

An FAA official requested a face-to-face meeting with Cooper aboard the aircraft, but Cooper denied the request.{{cite book|last1=Rothenberg|first1 = David|last2=Ulvaeus|first2=Marta|title=The New Earth Reader: The Best of Terra Nova|publisher=MIT Press|year=1999|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|page=[https://archive.org/details/newearthreaderbe0000unse/page/4 4]|isbn=978-0262181952|url=https://archive.org/details/newearthreaderbe0000unse/page/4}} Cooper became impatient, saying, "This shouldn't take so long," and, "Let's get this show on the road."{{Cite magazine |last=Elliott |first=Gina |date=December 6, 1971 |title=CRIME: The Bandit Who Went Out into the Cold |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,877495,00.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240727133302/https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,877495,00.html |archive-date=July 27, 2024 |access-date= |magazine=Time |issn=0040-781X}}{{Cite news|last=Caldwell|first=Earl|date=November 26, 1971|title=Hijacker collects ransom of $200,000; parachutes from jet and disappears|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/11/26/archives/hijacker-collects-ransom-of-200000-parachutes-from-jet-and.html|access-date=January 13, 2022|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=October 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211008121340/https://www.nytimes.com/1971/11/26/archives/hijacker-collects-ransom-of-200000-parachutes-from-jet-and.html|url-status=live}} 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 {{convert|100|kn|round=5}}—at a maximum {{convert|10000|ft|adj=on}} altitude. Cooper also specified the landing gear must remain deployed, the wing flaps must be lowered 15 degrees and the cabin must remain unpressurized.{{sfn|Rothenberg|Ulvaeus|1999|p=5}}

First Officer Rataczak informed Cooper that the configuration limited the aircraft's range to about {{convert|1000|mi}}, so a second refueling would be necessary before entering Mexico. Cooper and the crew discussed options, and agreed on Reno–Tahoe International Airport as the refueling stop.{{Cite web|last=Buergin|first=Miles|date=October 14, 2020|title=Knowing Nevada: Revisiting the Mystery of D.B. Cooper|url=https://mynews4.com/news/knowing-nevada/knowing-nevada-revisiting-the-mystery-of-db-cooper|access-date=January 13, 2022 |publisher=KRNV |archive-date=January 13, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220113212427/https://mynews4.com/news/knowing-nevada/knowing-nevada-revisiting-the-mystery-of-db-cooper|url-status=live}}{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|pp=33–35}} Cooper further directed the aircraft take off with the rear exit door open and its airstair extended.{{sfn|Gray|2011b|pp=74–77}} Northwest officials objected for reasons of safety, but Cooper countered by saying, "It can be done, do it," but then did not insist and said he would lower the staircase once they were airborne.{{sfn|Gray|2011b|pp=74–77}} Cooper demanded Mucklow remain aboard to assist the operation.{{r|vault_64|quote=It was finally agreed...that Mucklow would remain on board to lower the door and stairs after the aircraft was airborne.|page=153}}

File:Northwest_Airlines_Flight_305_Crew.jpg

Around 7:40 pm, Flight 305 took off, with only Cooper, Mucklow, Scott, Rataczak and Flight Engineer Anderson aboard.{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|p=36}} Two F-106 fighters from McChord Air Force Base{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|pp=45-46}} 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,{{r|vault_53|page=141}} and out of Cooper's view. After takeoff, Cooper told Mucklow to lower the aft staircase. She told him and the flight crew she feared being sucked out of the aircraft.{{r|vault_64|quote=She told him that she was fearful of being sucked out of the airplane.|page=156}} The flight crew suggested she come to the cockpit and retrieve an emergency rope with which she could tie herself to a seat. Cooper rejected the suggestion, stating he did not want her going up front or the flight crew coming back to the cabin.{{r|vault_64|quote=The cockpit called and told her to use the escape rope to secure herself when they found out that she was going to lower the ladder once the aircraft is airborne. She related this to the hijacker and he said, 'no,' he didn't want her to go up front or them to come back.|page=164}} She continued to express her fear to him, and asked him to cut some cord from one of the parachutes to create a safety line for her. He said he would lower the stairs himself,{{r|vault_64|quote=She asked him to cut some nylon cord from the parachute for her to use as a safety line when she opened the rear ladder and the hijacker said, 'Nevermind,' that he would do it...|page=164}} instructed her to go to the cockpit, close the curtain partition between the Coach and First Class sections and not return.{{r|vault_64|quote=the hijacker suddenly told her to go forward of the aft compartment, to close the curtain behind her and not to return to the rear compartment again.|page=156}}

Before she left, Mucklow begged Cooper, "Please, please take the bomb with you." Cooper responded that he would either disarm it or take it with him.{{r|vault_64|quote=she pleaded with him to take the bomb with him and he said he would take it with him or disarm it before he leaves.|page=164}} 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.{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|p=42}}{{r|vault_64|quote="the last time she saw him he had a nylon cord tied around his waist and was standing in the isle."|page=164}} 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,{{r|vault_64|quote=Approximately four minutes after take off, he stood up, told her to go to the cockpit|page=164}} and was the last person to see Cooper. Around 8:00 pm, a cockpit warning light flashed, indicating the aft staircase had been deployed. Scott used the plane's intercom to ask Cooper if he needed assistance, but Cooper's last message{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|p=44}} was a one-word reply: "No." The crew's ears popped from the drop in air pressure from the stairs being opened.{{Cite web|last=Perry|first=Douglas|date=November 8, 2021|title=D.B. Cooper at 50: Push to solve case gains steam, but much about famous skyjacking remains a mystery|url=https://oregonlive.com/history/2021/11/db-cooper-at-50-push-to-solve-case-gains-steam-but-much-about-famous-skyjacking-remains-a-mystery.html|url-status=live|access-date=January 13, 2022|website=The Oregonian|archive-date=January 13, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220113213031/https://www.oregonlive.com/history/2021/11/db-cooper-at-50-push-to-solve-case-gains-steam-but-much-about-famous-skyjacking-remains-a-mystery.html}} At approximately 8:13 p.m., the aircraft's tail section suddenly pitched upward, forcing the pilots to trim and return the aircraft to level flight.{{sfn|Bragg|2005|p=4}} In his interview with the FBI, Rataczak said the sudden upward pitch occurred while the flight was near the suburbs north of Portland.{{r|vault_64|quote=Rataczak stated they had not yet reached Portland proper, but were definitely in the suburbs or the immediate vicinity thereof.|page=322}}

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 intercom to inform Cooper they were approaching Reno and that he 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 Cooper.{{r|vault_64|quote=Before descending at Reno, Nev., she called repeatedly over the intercom system to the hijacker to cooperate, that the aircraft must land. The last message was, 'Sir, we are going to land now, please put up the stairs.'|page=164}} At 11:02 pm, with the aft staircase still deployed, Flight 305 landed at Reno–Tahoe International Airport.{{sfn|Edwards|2021|pp=42}} FBI agents, state troopers, sheriff's deputies and Reno police established a perimeter around the aircraft but, fearing the hijacker and the bomb were still aboard, did not approach the plane. Scott searched the cabin, confirmed Cooper was no longer aboard and, after a thirty-minute search, an FBI bomb squad declared the cabin safe.{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|p=48}}

In addition to sixty-six latent fingerprints aboard the plane, FBI agents recovered Cooper's black clip-on tie, tie clip and two of the four parachutes,{{efn|name=parachutes}} one of which had been opened and had three shroud lines cut from the canopy.{{cite news| title = F.B.I. reheats cold case | work = National Post | last = Cowan | first = James | date = January 3, 2008 | url = https://nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=211616 | archive-url = https://archive.today/20080121231748/http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=211616 | url-status = dead | archive-date = January 21, 2008 | access-date = January 9, 2008 }} FBI agents interviewed eyewitnesses in Portland, Seattle and Reno, and developed a series of composite sketches.{{Cite web|url=https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/D-B-Cooper-Part-7-of-7/view|publisher= FBI |work=FBI Records: The Vault |title= D.B. Cooper part 07 of 67|access-date=December 1, 2016|archive-date=December 14, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161214215519/https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/D-B-Cooper-Part-7-of-7/view|url-status=live}}

Local police and FBI agents immediately began questioning possible suspects. In a rush to meet a deadline, reporter James Long of The Oregon Journal recorded the name "Dan Cooper" as "D. B. Cooper".{{cite web |date=July 28, 2016 |title=Reporter who added some swagger to the D.B. Cooper legacy comes clean |url=https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-db-cooper-confession-20160726-snap-story.html |website=Los Angeles Times |access-date=September 23, 2024 |archive-date=July 27, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240727132749/https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-db-cooper-confession-20160726-snap-story.html |url-status=live }}Browning, W. (July 22, 2016). One mystery solved in 'D.B. Cooper' skyjacking fiasco. [https://www.cjr.org/the_feature/db_cooper_mystery_solved.php Columbia Journalism Review] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930040433/https://www.cjr.org/the_feature/db_cooper_mystery_solved.php |date=September 30, 2020 }}, retrieved July 29, 2016. United Press International wire service reporter Clyde Jabin republished Long's error,Guzman, Monica (November 27, 2007). Update: Everyone wants a piece of the D. B. Cooper legend. [http://blog.seattlepi.com/thebigblog/2007/11/27/update-everyone-wants-a-piece-of-the-d-b-cooper-legend/ Seattle Post-Intelligencer archive] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303195334/http://blog.seattlepi.com/thebigblog/2007/11/27/update-everyone-wants-a-piece-of-the-d-b-cooper-legend/ |date=March 3, 2016 }} Retrieved February 25, 2011.{{cite news|url=https://www.cjr.org/the_feature/db_cooper_unsolved_hijacking_mystery.php|title=A reporter's role in the notorious unsolved mystery of 'D.B. Cooper'|last=Browning|first=William|date=July 18, 2016|newspaper=Columbia Journalism Review|location=New York|access-date=July 19, 2016|archive-date=July 21, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160721103728/http://www.cjr.org/the_feature/db_cooper_unsolved_hijacking_mystery.php|url-status=live}} and as other media sources repeated the error,Contemporary stories from the AP and the UPI using the name "D. B. Cooper":
* {{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=vuVNAAAAIBAJ&pg=6384%2C3320413 |work=Free Lance-Star |location=(Fredericksburg, Virginia) |agency=Associated Press |last=Grossweiler |first=Ed |title=Hijacker bails out with loot |date=November 26, 1971 |page=1 |access-date=September 22, 2018 |archive-date=February 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210203230246/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=vuVNAAAAIBAJ&pg=6384%2C3320413 |url-status=live }}
* {{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=bTQVAAAAIBAJ&pg=1933%2C1906592 |work=The Bulletin |location=(Bend, Oregon) |agency=UPI |title=Wilderness area combed for parachute skyjacker |date=November 26, 1971 |page=1 |access-date=September 22, 2018 |archive-date=February 6, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210206125112/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=bTQVAAAAIBAJ&pg=1933%2C1906592 |url-status=live }} the hijacker's pseudonym became "D. B. Cooper".{{sfn|Bragg|2005|p=4}} 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. The Portland Cooper had a minor police record, but was quickly eliminated as a suspect.

File:727db.gif's rear airstair deploying in flight, with Cooper jumping off: The gravity-operated apparatus remained open until the aircraft landed.]]

Due to the number of variables and parameters, precisely defining the area to search was difficult. The jet's airspeed estimates varied, the environmental conditions along the flight path varied with the aircraft's location and altitude,{{r|vault_64||page=300}} and only Cooper knew how long he remained in free-fall before pulling his ripcord. The F-106 pilots neither saw anyone jumping from the airliner, nor did their radar detect a deployed parachute. A black-clad man jumping into the moonless night would be difficult to see, especially given the limited visibility, cloud cover and lack of ground lighting.{{cite news| title = D.B. Cooper legend still up in air 25 years after leap, hijackers prompts strong feelings | work = San Francisco Chronicle | last = Taylor | first = Michael | date = November 24, 1996 }} The T-33 pilots did not make visual contact with the 727.{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|p=47}}

On December 6, 1971, {{Time interval|November 24 1971|December 6 1971}} after the incident, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover approved the use of an Air Force SR-71 Blackbird to retrace and photograph Flight 305's flightpath,{{cite report |date= December 6, 1971 |title= J. Edgar Hoover authorization for SR-71 use |url= https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/D.B.%20Cooper%20Part%2014/view |publisher= Federal Bureau of Investigation |page= 348 |access-date= August 18, 2022 |archive-date= August 18, 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220818013610/https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/D.B.%20Cooper%20Part%2014/view |url-status= live }} and attempt to locate the items Cooper carried during his jump.{{r|vault_60|page= 340 |quote= "Beale Air Force Base, California, had offered, free of charge to the Bureau, use of an SR-71 aircraft to photograph terrain over which the hijacked airplane had flown on its trip to Reno"}} The SR-71 made five flights to retrace Flight 305's route, but due to poor visibility, the photography attempts were unsuccessful.{{r|vault_60|page= 340 |quote= "photographic over-flights using SR-71 aircraft were conducted on five separate occasions with no photographs_obtained due to limited visibility from very high altitude."}}

In an experimental recreation, flying the same aircraft used in the hijacking in the same flight configuration, FBI agents pushed a {{convert|200|lb|adj=on}} 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.{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|pp=80–81}}{{cite report |date= January 14, 1972|title= Seattle SAC Letter to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover |quote= "The reaction was instantaneous and was described by REDACTED as being the same reaction that they had in the airplane when they believe that the hijacker jumped." |url= https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/d.b.-cooper-part-19/view |publisher= Federal Bureau of Investigation |page= 19}} 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.{{cite news| title = 30 years ago, D.B. Cooper's night leap began a legend | work = Seattle Post-Intelligencer | last = Skolnik | first = Sam | date = November 22, 2001 | url = http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-80264926.html | archive-url = https://archive.today/20120906132812/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-80264926.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = September 6, 2012 | access-date = January 9, 2008}} {{Subscription required}} Search efforts concentrated on Clark and Cowlitz counties, encompassing the terrain immediately south and north of the Lewis River in southwest Washington.[http://n467us.com/Data%20Files/Seamless%20Hot%20Zone%20North.jpg Topographic map, northern half of primary search area] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714145420/http://n467us.com/Data%20Files/Seamless%20Hot%20Zone%20North.jpg |date=July 14, 2011 }} Retrieved February 25, 2011.[http://n467us.com/Data%20Files/Seamless%20Hot%20Zone%20South.jpg Topographic map, southern half of primary search area] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714145442/http://n467us.com/Data%20Files/Seamless%20Hot%20Zone%20South.jpg |date=July 14, 2011 }} Retrieved February 25, 2011. FBI agents and sheriff's deputies searched large areas of the largely forested terrain on foot and by helicopter. Door-to-door searches of local farmhouses were also performed. Other search parties ran patrol boats along Lake Merwin and Yale Lake, the reservoir immediately to its east.{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|pp=67–68}} Neither Cooper nor any of the equipment he presumably carried was found.{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|pp=67–68}}

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,{{cite web|title=Aeronautical Information Manual |publisher=Federal Aviation Administration |url=http://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/aim/chap5/aim0503.html |access-date=August 10, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721041334/http://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/aim/Chap5/aim0503.html |archive-date=July 21, 2011 |url-status=dead}} and as "Vector 23" in most Cooper {{Nowrap|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.{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|pp=70–71}}

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.{{sfn|Olson|2010|p=34}} Electronic Explorations Company, a marine-salvage firm, used a submarine to search the {{convert|200|ft|m|adj=on}} depths of Lake Merwin.{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|pp=101–104}} 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 teenaged girl who had been abducted and murdered several weeks before.{{r|vault_53|page=79}}{{Cite web|last=Red|first=Rose|date=February 16, 2008|title=Murder at Old Cedar Creek Grist Mill, Woodland, Washington – Infamous Crime Scenes|url=https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM35ZN_Murder_at_Old_Cedar_Creek_Grist_Mill_Woodland_Washington|access-date=September 27, 2020|website=Waymarking|archive-date=January 17, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210117005255/https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM35ZN_Murder_at_Old_Cedar_Creek_Grist_Mill_Woodland_Washington|url-status=live}} Ultimately, the extensive search and recovery operation uncovered no significant material evidence related to the hijacking.{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|pp=87–89}}

Based on early computer projections produced for the FBI, Cooper's drop zone was first estimated to be between Ariel dam to the north and the town of Battle Ground, Washington, to the south.{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|pp=67}} 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.{{cite report |url=https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/d.b.-cooper-part-74/view |title=Investigate Report sent to J. Edgar Hoover, Director, FBI |date=March 9, 1971 |publisher=Federal Bureau of Investigation |page=122 |access-date=September 5, 2022 |archive-date=September 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220905015702/https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/d.b.-cooper-part-74/view |url-status=live }}{{cite news |date=February 14, 1980 |title=Hijack Probe Expands |publisher=Associated Press |agency=Spokane Chronicle |quote=... in the area near LaCenter, into which Cooper apparently parachuted.}}

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.{{sfn|Edwards|2021|pp=140}} In the report, the FBI noted the burglar took only survival items, such as beef jerky and gloves. However, the report notes that the burglar wore "military type boots with a corregated {{sic}} sole", while Cooper was described as wearing slip-on shoes.{{r|vault_65|page= 124|quote= "At about 11:30 pm, there was a burglary of a grocery store located roughly 10 miles south of the Dam. Survival rations were taken including beef jerky, cigarettes, gloves, etc."}}{{r|vault_65|page=69 |quote=Hijacker wore non-lace type shoes of ankle length.}}

A month after the hijacking, the FBI distributed lists of the ransom serial numbers to financial institutions, casinos, racetracks, businesses with routine transactions involving large amounts of cash, and to law-enforcement agencies around the world. Northwest Orient offered a reward of 15% of the recovered money, 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 a Newsweek reporter named Karl Fleming in exchange for an interview with a man they falsely claimed was the hijacker.[https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/D-B-Cooper-Part-1-of-7/view FBI files on Fleming case, released via Freedom of Information Act] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161214214008/https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/D-B-Cooper-Part-1-of-7/view |date=December 14, 2016 }} Retrieved February 15, 2011.{{cite news |last=Holles |first=Everett R. |date=November 26, 1972 |title=$200,000 hijacking by 'D. B. Cooper' is still a mystery |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/11/26/archives/200000-hijacking-by-d-b-cooper-is-still-a-mystery.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=February 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201110131455/https://www.nytimes.com/1972/11/26/archives/200000-hijacking-by-d-b-cooper-is-still-a-mystery.html |archive-date=November 10, 2020}}

In early 1973, with the ransom money still missing, The Oregon Journal republished the serial numbers and offered $1,000 ({{Inflation|US|1000|1973|fmt=eq}}) 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. The offers remained in effect until Thanksgiving 1974, and though several near matches were reported, no genuine bills were found.{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|p=95}} 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 ({{Inflation|US|180000|1975|fmt=eq|r=-5}}) claim on the ransom money.{{Cite web|title=Northwest Airlines, Inc. v. Globe Indem. Co.|url=https://law.justia.com/cases/minnesota/supreme-court/1975/44904-1.html|access-date=January 14, 2022|website=Justia Law|language=en|archive-date=January 14, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220114004953/https://law.justia.com/cases/minnesota/supreme-court/1975/44904-1.html|url-status=live}}

Analysis of the flight data indicated the first estimated location of Cooper's landing zone was inaccurate. Captain Scott—who was flying the aircraft manually because of Cooper's speed and altitude demands—determined the flight path was farther east than initially reported. Additional data provided by Continental Airlines pilot Tom Bohan—who was flying four minutes behind Flight 305—led the FBI to recalculate their estimates for Cooper's drop zone. Bohan noted the FBI's calculations for Cooper's drop zone were based on incorrectly-recorded wind direction, and therefore the FBI's estimates were inaccurate.{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|pp=111–113}}

Based on Bohan's data and subsequent recalculations of the flight path, the FBI determined Cooper's drop zone was probably over the Washougal River watershed.{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|pp=114–116}} 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."{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|p=115}} The Washougal Valley and the surrounding areas have been repeatedly searched but no discoveries traceable to the hijacking have been reported, and the FBI believes any remaining physical clues were probably destroyed in the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens.Connolly, P. (November 24, 1981). D.B. Cooper: A stupid rascal. [https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1298&dat=19811124&id=IfpNAAAAIBAJ&pg=6868,4075230 The Free Lance-Star] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200929072126/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1298&dat=19811124&id=IfpNAAAAIBAJ&pg=6868,4075230 |date=September 29, 2020 }}, retrieved June 29, 2016.

On July 8, 2016, when Cooper was assumed to be at least 85 years old if alive, the FBI announced 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, related specifically to the parachutes or to the ransom money. The 66-volume case file compiled during the 45-year course of the investigation would be preserved for historical purposes at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., and on the FBI website. All of the evidence is open to the public.{{cite web|url=https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20|title=DB Cooper Vault|work=FBI |publisher=Federal Bureau of Investigation|access-date=July 26, 2018|archive-date=July 27, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180727084915/https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/|url-status=live}}{{cite web |date=July 12, 2016 |title=Update on Investigation of 1971 Hijacking by D.B. Cooper |url=https://www.fbi.gov/seattle/press-releases/2016/update-on-investigation-of-1971-hijacking-by-d.b.-cooper |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160712215844/https://www.fbi.gov/seattle/press-releases/2016/update-on-investigation-of-1971-hijacking-by-d.b.-cooper |archive-date=July 12, 2016 |access-date=July 12, 2016 |publisher=Federal Bureau of Investigation}} The crime remains the only documented unsolved case of air piracy in commercial aviation history.{{cite news |last=Gulliver |first=Katrina |author-link=Katrina Gulliver |date=December 22, 2021 |title=D.B. Cooper's skyjacking continues to fascinate Americans half a century later |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/12/22/db-coopers-skyjacking-continues-fascinate-americans-half-century-later/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=February 3, 2022 |archive-date=December 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211222153021/https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/12/22/db-coopers-skyjacking-continues-fascinate-americans-half-century-later/ |url-status=live }}

During their forensic search of the aircraft, FBI agents found four major pieces of evidence, each with a direct physical link 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.

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 of the clip.{{r|vault_64|page=124|quote="On the seat numbered 18E a black clip-on tie was observed. This black tie contained a tie clasp, yellow gold in color. with a white pearl circular stone in the center." }} The FBI determined the tie had been sold exclusively at JCPenney department stores, but had been discontinued in 1968.{{cite report|title= Letter to Director of FBI|date= February 24, 1972|url= https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/D.B.%20Cooper%20Part%2022/view|publisher= Federal Bureau of Investigation|page= 355|access-date= February 8, 2023|archive-date= March 6, 2023|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230306114245/https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/D.B.%20Cooper%20Part%2022/view|url-status= live}}

By late 2007, the FBI had built a partial DNA profile from samples found on Cooper's tie in 2001. However, the FBI also acknowledged no evidence linked Cooper to the source of the DNA sample. FBI Special Agent Fred Gutt said, "The tie had two small DNA samples, and one large sample ... it's difficult to draw firm conclusions from these samples."{{cite news |last=Cloherty |first= Jack |date=August 9, 2011 |title= D.B. Cooper DNA results: "not a match" |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/db-cooper-dna-results-match/story?id=14258726 |publisher= ABCNews.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200428114122/https://abcnews.go.com/US/db-cooper-dna-results-match/story?id=14258726 |archive-date=April 28, 2020 |access-date=August 9, 2011}} The FBI also made public a file of previously unreleased evidence, including Cooper's airplane ticket,{{cite news |last=Ingalls |first=Chris |date=November 1, 2007 |title=Investigators: F.B.I. unveils new evidence in D.B. Cooper case |work=King 5 |url=http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_110107INK_cooper_chute_KS.1cbb87e02.html |access-date=March 11, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080105030027/http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_110107INK_cooper_chute_KS.1cbb87e02.html |archive-date=January 5, 2008}} composite sketches, fact sheets, and posted a request for information about Cooper's identification.{{cite web | title = Interview with lead FBI Investigator Larry Carr | publisher = Steven Rinehart | date = February 2, 2008 | url = http://www.stevenrinehart.com/uploads/LarryCarrInterview.mp3 | access-date = February 2, 2008 | archive-date = February 29, 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080229090209/http://www.stevenrinehart.com/uploads/LarryCarrInterview.mp3 | url-status = dead }}

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),{{cite web |title=Citizen Sleuths analyze the D.B. Cooper case |url=http://www.citizensleuths.com/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111125233157/http://www.citizensleuths.com/ |archive-date=November 25, 2011 |access-date=December 7, 2011 |publisher=citizensleuths.com}} the group included paleontologist Tom Kaye from the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture in Seattle, scientific illustrator Carol Abraczinskas, computer scientist Sean Christo, 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, the source of which was likely pharmaceutical. 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. The metal and rare-earth particles suggested Cooper may have worked for Boeing{{Cite web |last=Ingalls |first=Chris |date=January 13, 2017 |title=Scientists say they may have new evidence in D.B. Cooper case |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/01/13/scientists-say-they-may-have-new-evidence-db-cooper-case/96575858/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170530125909/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/01/13/scientists-say-they-may-have-new-evidence-db-cooper-case/96575858/ |archive-date=May 30, 2017 |access-date=January 16, 2017 |website=USA Today}}{{Cite news |date=January 13, 2017 |title=New evidence: Was DB Cooper a Boeing employee? |work=KING-5 |url=http://www.king5.com/news/crime/new-evidence-was-db-cooper-boeing-employee/385924766 |url-status=dead |access-date=January 16, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170115013533/http://www.king5.com/news/crime/new-evidence-was-db-cooper-boeing-employee/385924766 |archive-date=January 15, 2017}} or another aeronautical engineering company, at a chemical manufacturing plant, or at a metal fabrication and production facility.{{Cite news |last=Johnson |first=Gene |date=November 23, 2011 |title=40 years later, DB Cooper's identity a mystery |work=KGW |agency=Associated Press |url=http://www.kgw.com/news/local/40-years-later-DB-Coopers-identity-a-mystery--134407308.html |url-status=dead |access-date=November 23, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921054223/http://www.kgw.com/news/local/40-years-later-DB-Coopers-identity-a-mystery--134407308.html |archive-date=September 21, 2013}}

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.{{cite web |last=Ingalls |first=C |date=November 23, 2011 |title=40 years later, new evidence unveiled in DB Cooper case |work=KING king5.com |url=http://www.king5.com/news/investigators/40-years-after-the-crime-new-evidence-unveiled-in-DB-Cooper-case-134417003.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130909113338/http://www.king5.com/news/investigators/40-years-after-the-crime-new-evidence-unveiled-in-DB-Cooper-case-134417003.html |archive-date=September 9, 2013 |access-date=May 29, 2013 |publisher=King5.com}} 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.{{Cite web |last=Williams |first=Kale |date=January 17, 2017 |title=D.B. Cooper could have worked at Portland-area tech firm, scientists say |url=https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2017/01/latest_db_cooper_theory_skyjac.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111190549/https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2017/01/latest_db_cooper_theory_skyjac.html |archive-date=November 11, 2020 |access-date=December 11, 2020 |website=The Oregonian}} Cooper researcher Eric Ulis has speculated that the titanium-antimony alloys are linked to Rem-Cru Titanium Inc., a metals manufacturer and Boeing contractor.{{Cite web | url=https://www.king5.com/article/news/investigations/tiny-particles-db-cooper-mystery/281-17ca7f6e-2f06-4997-a4ab-7fadde3abe13 | publisher=KING 5 | title=3 particles, 1 possible clue found in D.B. Cooper mystery | date=July 20, 2022 | access-date=December 23, 2022 |archive-date=October 29, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221029000832/https://www.king5.com/article/news/investigations/tiny-particles-db-cooper-mystery/281-17ca7f6e-2f06-4997-a4ab-7fadde3abe13 | url-status=live}}

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.{{sfn|Gray|2011b|pp=93}} The limb hair was destroyed after the FBI Crime Laboratory determined the sample lacked enough unique microscopic characteristics to be useful.{{r|vault_66|quote= "the limb hair possesses too few unique microscopic characteristics to be of value..."|page= 233}} However, the FBI Crime Laboratory determined the head hair was suitable for future comparison, and preserved the hair on a microscope slide.{{r|vault_66|quote= "The head hair clipping is suitable for significant comparison results."|page= 233}} During their attempts to build Cooper's DNA profile in 2002, the FBI discovered the hair sample had been lost.{{r|vault_52|page= 62}}

In the armrest ashtray of seat 18-E, FBI agents found eight Raleigh filter-tipped cigarette butts. The butts were sent to the FBI Crime Laboratory,{{r|vault_65|quote= "The Laboratory is also requested to examine the ashtray contents and specifically process any Raleigh filter tip cigarette butts for possible fingerprint identification or comparison."|page= 43}} but investigators were unable to find fingerprints and returned the butts to the Las Vegas field office.{{r|vault_66|quote= "No latent prints of value developed contents of ashtray."|page= 228}} In 1998, the FBI sought to extract DNA from the cigarette butts, but discovered the butts had been destroyed while in the custody of the Las Vegas field office.{{cite report|date= December 9, 1971|title= FBI Evidence Review|quote= "The DNA Unit was contacted and agreed to perform an unknown subject analysis on the numerous cigarette butts left by COOPER on the aircraft that day. They believed it likely that DNA could be recovered. Unfortunately, it was discovered that this evidence had been destroyed years earlier in Las Vegas."|url= https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/d.b.-cooper-part-51/view|publisher= Federal Bureau of Investigation|page= 196|access-date= November 7, 2022|archive-date= November 7, 2022|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20221107182540/https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/d.b.-cooper-part-51/view|url-status= live}}

File:Money stolen by D. B. Cooper.jpg

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 {{convert|9|mi}} downstream from Vancouver, Washington, and {{convert|20|mi}} 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.{{cite news

| title = F.B.I. makes new bid to find 1971 skyjacker | publisher = Associated Press |website=sfgate.com | date = January 2, 2008 | url = http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/01/01/national/a100412S30.DTL | access-date = January 2, 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080102170246/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fn%2Fa%2F2008%2F01%2F01%2Fnational%2Fa100412S30.DTL | archive-date = January 2, 2008 | url-status = dead }} The bills had disintegrated from lengthy exposure to the elements, but were still bundled in rubber bands.{{cite web |access-date=January 27, 2021 |title=D.B. Cooper skyjacking: Boy, 8, unearths ransom notes |url=https://www.coinworld.com/news/us-coins/2014/07/1971-skyjacking-cash-ransom-found-by-eight-year-old-in-1980.html |website=Coin World |date=July 21, 2014 |last1=Orzano |first1=M. |archive-date=March 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308023807/https://www.coinworld.com/news/us-coins/2014/07/1971-skyjacking-cash-ransom-found-by-eight-year-old-in-1980.html |url-status=live }} 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.{{r|vault_7|page=10–12}}{{cite web |access-date=January 27, 2021 |title=Boy to Split $5,520 of D. B. Cooper's Loot |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-05-22-mn-6995-story.html |date=May 22, 1986 |website=Los Angeles Times |agency=Associated Press |archive-date=March 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308084909/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-05-22-mn-6995-story.html |url-status=live }}

The discovery caused new conjecture, and ultimately raised more questions than it answered. Initial statements by investigators and scientific consultants were founded on the assumption 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.{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|p=110}} The finding supported the hypothesis Cooper had landed near the Washougal River, which merges with the Columbia upstream from the discovery site,{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|pp=110–111}} 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 explained how the three packets remained together after separating from the rest of the money. Physical evidence was incompatible with geological evidence; Himmelsbach wrote 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.{{r|vault_7|page=15}} Geological evidence suggested the bills arrived at Tina Bar after 1974, when the Army Corps of Engineers performed a dredging operation on a nearby section 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.{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|p=110}}{{cite web | title = Cash linked to 'D.B. Cooper' up for auction | url = https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna23889269 | work = NBC News | date = March 31, 2008 | access-date = March 31, 2008 | archive-date = February 4, 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140204004838/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/23889269 | url-status = live }}

In late 2020, analysis of diatoms found on the bills suggests 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.{{cite news | title = Scientist uncovers new, minuscule clues on DB Cooper ransom money found in Washington | work = King 5 | last = Ingalls | first = Chris | date = August 3, 2020 | url = https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/scientist-uncovers-new-clues-db-cooper-ransom-money/281-86659a00-86c1-49fa-b6bf-04d6cd649318 | access-date = January 8, 2022 | archive-date = January 8, 2022 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220108174908/https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/scientist-uncovers-new-clues-db-cooper-ransom-money/281-86659a00-86c1-49fa-b6bf-04d6cd649318 | url-status = live }}{{Cite journal|title=Diatoms constrain forensic burial timelines: case study with DB Cooper money|date=August 2020|journal=Scientific Reports|doi=10.1038/s41598-020-70015-z|last1=Kaye|first1=Thomas G.|last2=Meltzer|first2=Mark|volume=10|issue=1|page=13036|pmid=32747687|pmc=7400570|bibcode=2020NatSR..1013036K | issn=2045-2322}}

In 1986, after protracted negotiations, the recovered bills were divided equally between Brian Ingram and Northwest Orient's insurer Royal Globe Insurance;{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/08/31/us/followup-on-the-news-d-b-cooper-undying-legend.html | title=FOLLOW-UP ON THE NEWS; D. B. Cooper: Undying Legend | newspaper=The New York Times | date=August 31, 1986 | last1=Haitch | first1=Richared | access-date=August 13, 2022 | archive-date=August 13, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220813084259/https://www.nytimes.com/1986/08/31/us/followup-on-the-news-d-b-cooper-undying-legend.html | url-status=live }} the FBI retained 14 examples as evidence.{{cite web |access-date=January 27, 2021 |title=Six Years Later Brian Ingram Gets a Piece of D.b. Cooper's Hijack Haul |url=https://people.com/archive/six-years-later-brian-ingram-gets-a-piece-of-d-b-coopers-hijack-haul-vol-25-no-25/ |website=People Magazine |date=June 23, 1986 |archive-date=February 4, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204015212/https://people.com/archive/six-years-later-brian-ingram-gets-a-piece-of-d-b-coopers-hijack-haul-vol-25-no-25/ |url-status=live }} Ingram sold fifteen of his bills at auction in 2008 for about $37,000 ({{Inflation|US|37000|2008|r=-3|fmt=eq}}).{{cite news |title = D.B. Cooper Skyjacking Cash Sold in Dallas Auction |agency = Associated Press |date = June 13, 2009 |url = https://www.foxnews.com/story/d-b-cooper-skyjacking-cash-sold-in-dallas-auction |access-date = June 14, 2008 |publisher = Fox News Channel |archive-date = October 20, 2018 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181020011508/https://www.foxnews.com/story/d-b-cooper-skyjacking-cash-sold-in-dallas-auction |url-status = live }}

The Columbia River ransom money remains the only confirmed physical evidence from the hijacking found outside the aircraft.

During the hijacking, Cooper demanded and received two main parachutes and two reserve parachutes. The two reserve (front) parachutes were supplied by a local skydiving school and the two main (back) parachutes were supplied by a local pilot, Norman Hayden.{{r|vault_53|page=124|quote="Along with the two chestpack chutes from Sky Sports, located in Issaquah, the hijacker was provided with two backpack chutes by Norman Hayden, of Renton Aviation."}} Earl Cossey, the parachute rigger who packed all four parachutes brought to Cooper, described the two main parachutes as emergency bailout parachutes (as opposed to sporting parachutes used by skydivers).{{cite news |last1=Hawkins |first1=Robert |title=D.B. Cooper, is he at the bottom of Lake Merwin or walking the streets? |agency=The Seattle Times |date=October 3, 1976|quote="They were just emergency backpacks. Really, they're just used for aerobatic pilots or glider pilots or someone who would use a single parachute for a lifesaving event only. It wouldn't be like a sport parachute."}} Cossey further described the main parachutes as being like military parachutes because they were rigged to open immediately upon the ripcord being pulled and were incapable of being steered.{{r|vault_64|page=95|quote="Cossey further stated that the parachutes supplied to UNSUB were of non-steerable variety and therefore, had no steering devices whatever."}}{{r|vault_64|page=124|quote="They both were like military chutes in that they did not have sleeves."}} When the airplane landed in Reno, FBI agents discovered two parachutes Cooper left behind: one reserve (front) parachute and one main (back) parachute. The reserve parachute had been opened and three shroud lines had been cut out, but the main parachute left behind was still intact.{{r|vault_64|page=129|quote="One (1) orange or salmon-pink chest parachute. This chute was found on board the hijacked Northwest Airlines 727 jet Flight #305, in an opened condition. It is salmon or orange-pink in color; has no pilot chute and the shrouds have been cut away from the canvas pack and three of the lines had been cut out."}}{{r|vault_64|page=292|quote="On the floor directly in front of seat number 18D, the exterior canvas cover for a chest type parachute was observed...an opened parachute which apparently had been removed from the canvas parachute cover described above was found spread out over seats 17C and 17B."}} The unused main parachute was described by FBI agents as a Model NB6 (Navy Backpack 6) and is on display at the Washington State Historical Society Museum.{{r|vault_64|page=130|quote= One back parachute with a sage green nylon container Model NB6 (Navy back pack 6) with sage green nylon harness."}}{{cite news |last1=Pulkkinen |first1=Levi |title=D.B. Cooper parachute displayed for first time |url=https://www.seattlepi.com/seattlenews/article/D-B-Cooper-parachute-displayed-for-first-time-4749773.php |access-date=18 October 2022 |agency=Seattle Post-Intelligencer |date=August 21, 2013 |archive-date=October 18, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221018143136/https://www.seattlepi.com/seattlenews/article/D-B-Cooper-parachute-displayed-for-first-time-4749773.php |url-status=live }}

One of the two reserve (front) parachutes Cooper was given was an unusable training parachute intended to only be used for classroom demonstrations.{{r|vault_53|page=124|quote="Emerick said the canopy had been sewn shut and the parachute was for ground demonstration only."}} According to Cossey, the reserve parachute's internal canopy was sewn together so skydiving students could get the feel of pulling a ripcord on a packed parachute without the canopy actually deploying.{{r|vault_64|page=110}} This non-functional reserve parachute was not found in the aircraft when it landed in Reno, causing FBI agents to speculate Cooper was not an experienced parachutist because someone with experience would have realized this reserve parachute was a "dummy parachute". However, within days of the hijacking, the FBI revealed that neither of the parachute harnesses Cooper was given had the necessary D-rings required to attach reserve parachutes.{{r|vault_53|quote="If it had been usable he could not have attached it to his parachute harness, which had no D rings for use with a chest pack."}}{{r|vault_11|page= 31|quote="Missing back pack is a model NB-6 (Navy Back Pack Six). Container is sage-green, nylon, and parachute is twenty-eight feet nylon white flight circular (nonsteerable). Back pack equipped with special foam cushion and has sage-green nylon harness with no 'D' rings to mount chest pack"}}{{cite news |last1=Painter |first1=John |title=Weather frustrates hijacker hunt |url=https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/d.b.-cooper-part-54/view |agency=The Oregonian |date=November 27, 1971 |quote="In Seattle, persons familiar with the chutes said the reserve chest chutes could not have attached to the main chute's harness." |access-date=October 27, 2022 |archive-date=October 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221027190455/https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/d.b.-cooper-part-54/view |url-status=live }} Although Cooper lacked the ability to attach this "dummy" parachute to his main harness as a reserve parachute, it was not found in the airplane, so what he did with it is unknown.{{cite report |date= November 26, 1971 |title= Initial FBI Inspection of Remaining Evidence |url= https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/D.B.%20Cooper%20Part%2017/view |publisher= Federal Bureau of Investigation |page= 125 |access-date= October 18, 2022 |archive-date= October 18, 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20221018030642/https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/D.B.%20Cooper%20Part%2017/view |url-status= live }}{{r|vault_53|quote="Emrick explained that in order to be able to use his chestpacks, the jumper must have two "D-rings" on the backpack harness to which the chestpack can be attached. The backpacks obtained from Renton Aviation did not have these "D-rings". Earl Cossey, 30, or Seattle, who made the backpack chutes, confirmed this. Authorities were unable to explain the absence of the unusable chestpack."}} Cossey speculated Cooper removed the sewn-together canopy and used the empty reserve container as an extra money bag.{{r|vault_64|page=202|quote="Mr. Cossey said that if the hijacker opened of the chest packs on the airplane he probably would remove the parachute and put the money in the chest pack."}} Tina Mucklow's testimony was in line with Cossey's speculation, stating she recalled Cooper attempting to pack money inside a parachute container.{{r|vault_64|quote="she recalls that he was occupied with...attempting to in some way pack the money in a parachute container in order that he could in some way attach it to his body along with the regular parachute straps."|page=155}}

In November 1978, a deer hunter found a 727's instruction placard for lowering the aft airstair. The placard was found near a logging road about {{convert|13|mi}} east of Castle Rock, Washington, north of Lake Merwin, but within Flight 305's basic flight path.{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|p=108}}

During the 45-year span of its active investigation, the FBI periodically made public some of its working hypotheses and tentative conclusions, drawn from witness testimony and the scarce physical evidence.{{cite news | title = F.B.I. seeks help in solving skyjacking mystery | publisher = National Public Radio | last = Tedford | first = Deborah | date = January 2, 2008 | url = https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17787290 | access-date = March 11, 2008 | archive-date = April 3, 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080403003057/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17787290 | url-status = live }}

During the first year of the investigation, the FBI used eyewitness testimony from the passengers and flight crew to develop sketches of Cooper. The first sketch, officially titled Composite A, was completed a few days after the hijacking and was released on November 28, 1971.{{r|vault_69|page=296}} According to witnesses, the Composite A sketch—jokingly known as "Bing Crosby"{{sfn|Gray|2011b|pp=114}}—was not an accurate likeness of Cooper. The Composite A sketch, said witnesses, showed a young man with a narrow face, and did not resemble Cooper{{r|vault_69|page=284|quote="sketch makes him look younger than he is"}} or capture his disinterested, "let's get this over with" look.{{r|vault_69|page=284|quote="a sort of disinterested, let's get it over with look."}} Flight attendant Florence Schaffner repeatedly told the FBI the Composite A sketch was a very poor likeness of Cooper.{{r|vault_69|page=264|quote="She was very adamant in her insistence that the artist's conception shown to her was not a good likeness of the hijacker."}}

After multiple eyewitnesses said Composite A was not an accurate rendering, FBI artists developed a second composite sketch. Completed in late 1972, the second Composite B sketch was intended to depict more accurately Cooper's age, skin tone, and face shape.{{r|vault_69|page=215}} Eyewitnesses to whom Composite B was shown said the sketch was more accurate, but the Composite B Cooper looked too "angry" or "nasty". One flight attendant said the Composite B sketch looked like a "hoodlum" and remembered Cooper as "more refined in appearance".{{r|vault_69|page=233|quote="She stated he was more refined in appearance than sketch B indicates"}} Moreover, said witnesses, the Composite B sketch depicted a man older than Cooper, with a lighter complexion.{{r|vault_69}}

Using the criticisms of Composite B, FBI artists made adjustments and improvements to the Composite B sketch. On January 2, 1973, the FBI finalized revised Composite B, their third sketch of Cooper. Of the new sketch, one flight attendant said revised Composite B was, "a very close resemblance" to the hijacker.{{r|vault_69|page=212|quote="She advised that Artist's Conception B bears a very close resemblance to the unsub."}} Opined another flight attendant, "the hijacker would be easily recognized from this sketch."{{r|vault_69|quote="She said she believes the hijacker would be easily recognized from this sketch."|page= 284}}

In April 1973, the FBI concluded the revised Composite B sketch was the best likeness of Cooper they could develop, and should be considered the definitive sketch of Cooper.{{r|vault_69|quote= "In view of the numerous contacts with the witnesses who supplied the descriptive data from which the sketch was prepared and the lapse of time since they observed the hijacker, it is felt no constructive purpose can be served by further attempts at modification based contact with these same witnesses."|page= 210}}

{{Gallery

|width=300 | height=250

|align=center

|File:Cooper_Composite_A.jpg

|Composite Sketch A – November 1971

|File:D.B. Cooper Composite Sketch B.jpg

|Composite Sketch B – late 1972

|File:Revised_Composite_Sketch_B.jpg

|Revised Composite Sketch B – winter 1972–1973

}}

Flight attendants Schaffner and Mucklow, who spent the most time interacting with Cooper, were interviewed on the same night in separate cities and gave nearly identical descriptions: a man in his mid-40s, approximately {{convert|5|ft|10|in}} tall and {{convert|170|to|180|lb|kg}}, with olive-toned skin, brown eyes, short combed-back black hair, and no discernible accent.{{r|vault_69|page= 294}} University of Oregon student Bill Mitchell, who sat across from Cooper during the three-hour flight, gave the FBI several interviews and provided detailed descriptions of Cooper for what subsequently became Composite Sketch B.{{r|vault_69|page= 227}}

Mitchell's descriptions of Cooper were similar to those provided by the flight attendants, except Mitchell described Cooper as {{convert|5|ft|9|in}} to {{convert|5|ft|10|in}}. Since Mitchell was {{convert|6|ft|2|in}} tall, he described himself as "way bigger" than Cooper and referred to Cooper as "slight".{{r|vault_67|page= 176}}{{sfn|Edwards|2021|p=12}} Robert Gregory, one of the only other passengers besides Mitchell who provided the FBI with a full description of Cooper, also described Cooper as {{convert|5|ft|9|in}} tall. Gregory stated he believed Cooper to be of Mexican-American or Native American descent.{{r|vault_67|page=183}}

In May 1973, the FBI internally released an eight-page suspect profile of Cooper.{{r|vault_60|page=282}} The profile suggested Cooper was a military-trained parachutist and not a sports skydiver: in addition to his familiarity with the military parachutes with which he was provided, Cooper's age would have made him an outlier in the sport-skydiving community and would have increased the likelihood of being recognized by a club member.{{r|vault_60|page=292 |quote="If Unsub [unidentified subject] was a member of a sport parachute club he would certainly be an unusual member, one that would be easily recognized by the other members"}} Multiple eyewitnesses noted Cooper's athletic build, so the FBI profile suggested Cooper probably exercised regularly despite his age.{{r|vault_60|page=290 |quote="It is felt that unsub [unidentified subject] possibly maintains his physical well being through regular exercise"}}

FBI profilers suspected Cooper was an Air Force veteran familiar with Seattle and the surrounding areas. Cooper recognized Tacoma as the jet circled Puget Sound, and in his conversation with Mucklow, Cooper correctly noted McChord AFB's proximity to Seattle-Tacoma Airport, a detail with which most civilians would be unfamiliar.{{Cite web |last=Seven |first=Richard |date=November 17, 1996 |title=D.B. Cooper -- Perfect Crime Or Perfect Folly? |url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19961117&slug=2360262 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210119163526/https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19961117&slug=2360262 |archive-date=January 19, 2021 |access-date=January 14, 2022 |website=The Seattle Times}}

Cooper's mannerisms—such as his vocabulary, planning, his thorough retrieval of evidence, and his use of aviation terminology—led the FBI to conclude Cooper was not a common criminal: Cooper was clearly intelligent, not impulsive or easily rattled, a careful and procedure-oriented planner, adept at anticipating contingencies and adaptive strategies, with meticulous and methodical tendencies.{{r|vault_60|pages=289–291}} Profilers also noted Cooper's ability to quickly and competently adapt to various situations as they arose indicated he probably preferred to work independently, and neither needed nor wanted an accomplice.{{r|vault_60|page=290 |quote="Unsub [unidentified subject] was probably a 'loner' and carried out the hijacking by himself with no partners."}}

Cooper's financial situation was probably desperate. According to retired FBI chief investigator Ralph Himmelsbach, extortionists and other criminals who steal large amounts of money nearly always do so because they need it urgently; otherwise, the crime is not worth the considerable risk.{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|p=96}} The FBI considered—but ultimately dismissed—the possibility Cooper was a "thrill seeker" who made the jump, "just to prove it could be done".{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|p=115}}

Because Cooper spilled the only drink he was served and never requested another, the FBI theorized Cooper was neither a heavy drinker nor an alcoholic. Moreover, an alcoholic would likely have been incapable of refusing further alcoholic beverages throughout the stressful and lengthy hijacking.{{r|vault_60|page= 290 |quote= "It is believed an alcoholic or former alcoholic who had just had one drink and was placed in a situation of similar stress would succumb to the pressure and imbibe in the free drinks offered him by the stewardesses."}} By calculating the number of cigarettes Cooper smoked throughout the hijacking, the FBI believed Cooper smoked about one pack of cigarettes a day.{{r|vault_60|page= 290 |quote= "It is felt Unsub [unidentified subject] may possibly smoke less than one pack a day."}}

Agents theorized Cooper's alias was based on the adventure hero Dan Cooper, a fictional Royal Canadian Air Force test pilot and the main character of a popular French-language Belgian comic book series, one cover of which depicted Dan Cooper skydiving. Because the Dan Cooper comics were neither translated to English nor imported to the United States, FBI profilers speculated the hijacker encountered them during a European tour of duty, and spoke fluent French.{{cite web | title = In search of D.B. Cooper: new developments in the unsolved case | publisher= FBI | date = March 17, 2009 | url = https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2009/march/dbcooper_031709/ | access-date = January 22, 2011 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110117113214/http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2009/march/dbcooper_031709 | archive-date = January 17, 2011}}

Based on the evidence and Cooper's tactics, the FBI speculated Cooper planned the hijacking carefully using detailed, specific knowledge of aviation, the local terrain, and the 727's capabilities. Cooper chose a seat in the last row of the rear cabin for three reasons: to observe and respond to any action in front of him, to minimize the possibility of being approached or attacked by someone behind him, and to make himself less conspicuous to the rest of the passengers.{{sfn|Edwards|2021|pp=13}} To ensure he would not be deliberately supplied with sabotaged equipment, Cooper demanded four parachutes to force the assumption he might compel one or more hostages to jump with him.{{cite web |last=Cheung |first=Kylie |date=June 10, 2021 |title=The ongoing mystique of D.B. Cooper, from documentaries to the Marvel Cinematic Universe |url=https://www.salon.com/2021/06/10/db-cooper-loki/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220114004957/https://www.salon.com/2021/06/10/db-cooper-loki/ |archive-date=January 14, 2022 |access-date=January 14, 2022 |website=Salon |language=en}} FBI agent Ralph Himmelsbach noted Cooper's choice of a bomb—instead of other weapons previously used by hijackers—thwarted any multidirectional attempts to rush him.{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|p=52}}

Cooper was careful to avoid leaving evidence. Before he jumped, Cooper demanded Mucklow return to him all notes either written by him, or on his behalf. Mucklow said she used the last match in his paper matchbook to light one of his cigarettes, and when she attempted to dispose of the empty matchbook, he demanded she return it to him.{{r|vault_64|page=154}} Although Cooper meticulously attempted to retrieve evidence, he left his clip-on tie in his seat.{{r|vault_64|page=292|quote="On the seat numbered 18E a black clip-on tie was observed."}}

Cooper was clearly familiar with the 727's capabilities and confidential features, but the 727's design was the primary reason Cooper chose the aircraft. With its aft airstair and the placement of its three engines, the 727 was one of the only passenger jets from which a parachute jump could be easily made. Mucklow told the FBI Cooper appeared to be familiar with the 727's typical refueling time and procedures.{{r|vault_64|page=154|quote='The hijacker displayed an extensive knowledge of the aircraft and specifically well informed in refueling procedures'}}{{cite news |title=50 years on, the unsolved D.B. Cooper skyjacking is the stuff of legends |website=Portland Monthly |url=https://www.pdxmonthly.com/news-and-city-life/2021/11/mystery-db-cooper-skyjacking |url-status=live |access-date=January 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220114005002/https://www.pdxmonthly.com/news-and-city-life/2021/11/mystery-db-cooper-skyjacking |archive-date=January 14, 2022 |language=en-US}}

By specifying a 15° flap setting, Cooper displayed specific knowledge of aviation tactics and the 727's capabilities. Unlike most commercial jet airliners, the 727 could remain in slow, low-altitude flight without stalling. The flap setting Cooper specifically requested allowed him to control the 727's airspeed and altitude without entering the cockpit, where he could have been overpowered by the three pilots.{{cite book |author=DK |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=89epDgAAQBAJ |title=The Crime Book: Big ideas simply explained |date=February 2, 2021 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-1-4654-6667-9 |pages=41 |language=en |access-date=January 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240727133336/https://books.google.com/books?id=89epDgAAQBAJ |archive-date=July 27, 2024 |url-status=live}} First Officer Bill Rataczak, who spoke with Cooper on the intercom during the hijacking, told the FBI, "[Cooper] displayed a specific knowledge of flying and aircraft in general."{{r|vault_64|page=321|quote='... the hijacker displayed a specific knowledge of flying and aircraft in general.'}}

The most significant knowledge Cooper displayed was a feature both secret and unique to the 727: the aft airstair could be operated during flight, and the single activation switch in the rear of the cabin could not be overridden from the cockpit.{{cite web |last=Wood |first=Richard |date=November 24, 2019 |title=DB Cooper mystery: The most intriguing hijacking case in history |url=https://www.9news.com.au/world/aviation-news-how-db-cooper-hijacking-changed-air-travel/fada300a-e8e5-4991-b41d-6f0a3653a63d |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220114004953/https://www.9news.com.au/world/aviation-news-how-db-cooper-hijacking-changed-air-travel/fada300a-e8e5-4991-b41d-6f0a3653a63d |archive-date=January 14, 2022 |access-date=January 14, 2022 |website=Nine News}} Cooper knew how to operate the aft staircase, and had clearly planned to use it for his escape. The FBI speculated Cooper knew the Central Intelligence Agency was using 727s to drop agents and supplies into enemy territory during the Vietnam War.{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|p=43}} Since no situation on a passenger flight would necessitate such an operation, civilian crews were neither informed the aft airstair could be lowered midflight, nor were they aware its operation could not be overridden from the cockpit.{{harvnb|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|p=43}}: "That the Boeing 727 could be flown with the after stair down was not known to the crew".

Cooper appeared to be familiar with parachutes, although his experience level is unknown. Mucklow said Cooper, "appeared to be completely familiar with the parachutes which had been furnished to him",{{r|vault_64|page=156 |quote='She also commented that he appeared to be completely familiar with the parachutes which had been furnished to him.'}} and told a journalist, "Cooper put on [his] parachute as though he did so every day".{{harvnb|Colbert|Szollosi|2016|p=73}}: "Tina said he put the chute on as if he'd done it every day." Cooper's familiarity with the military-style parachutes he was given has resulted in speculation that Cooper was a military parachutist and not a civilian skydiver.{{sfn|Edwards|2021|pp=27}}

Larry Carr, who directed the investigative team from 2006 to 2009, does not believe Cooper was a paratrooper.{{cite news |title=FBI No Longer Looking for DB Cooper |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/law-justice/case-closed-fbi-no-longer-looking-for-db-cooper/ |access-date=13 October 2022 |agency=The Seattle Times |date=July 12, 2016 |archive-date=October 13, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221013214529/https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/law-justice/case-closed-fbi-no-longer-looking-for-db-cooper/ |url-status=live }} Instead, Carr speculates Cooper had been an Air Force aircraft cargo loader. An aircraft cargo-loading assignment would provide him with aviation knowledge and experience: cargo loaders have basic jump training, wear emergency parachutes, and know how to dispatch items from planes in flight. As a cargo loader, Cooper would be familiar with parachutes, "but not necessarily sufficient knowledge to survive the jump he made".{{cite report |url=https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/news/stories/2009/march/in-search-of-d.b.-cooper/dbcooper_031709 |title=In Search of D.B. Cooper: New developments in the unsolved case |date=March 17, 2009 |publisher=Federal Bureau of Investigation |access-date=November 9, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161109220916/https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/news/stories/2009/march/in-search-of-d.b.-cooper/dbcooper_031709 |archive-date=November 9, 2016 |website=FBI.gov}}

From the beginning of their investigation, FBI agents did not believe Cooper survived his jump. The FBI provided several reasons and facts to support their conclusion: Cooper's apparent lack of skydiving experience, his lack of proper equipment for his jump and survival, the temperature and inclement weather on the night of the hijacking, the wooded terrain into which Cooper jumped, his lack of knowledge of his landing area, and the unused ransom money.

First, Cooper appeared to lack the necessary skydiving knowledge, skills, and experience for the type of jump he attempted. Carr said: "We originally thought Cooper was an experienced jumper, perhaps even a paratrooper."{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=D.B. Cooper Redux Help Us Solve the Enduring Mystery |url=https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/news/stories/2007/december/dbcooper_123107 |access-date=June 6, 2024 |website=FBI.gov |archive-date=June 3, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240603141129/https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/news/stories/2007/december/dbcooper_123107 |url-status=live }} He further said: "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 {{convert|172|mph|m/s|abbr=on|disp=sqbr}} wind in his face wearing loafers and a trench coat. It was simply too risky." Alternatively, skydiving instructor Earl Cossey, who supplied the parachutes, testified Cooper would not have needed extensive experience to survive the jump and "anyone who had six or seven practice jumps could accomplish this".{{r|vault_64|page=203|quote='He said that anyone who had six or seven practice jumps could accomplish this as the first five jumps would be on a static line and the subsequent jumps would be free fall.'}} However, Cossey also noted jumping at night drastically increased the risk of injury, and without jump boots, Cooper would probably have suffered severe ankle or leg injuries upon landing.{{r|vault_64|page=203|quote='It was his opinion that the skyjacker would suffer severe ankle and or leg injuries from this jump. Mr. Cossey said the fact the hijacker wore street shoes would also increase the chance that he would be injured on landing as the most experienced jumpers wear jump boots or some rigid ankle support.'}}

Second, Cooper did not appear to have the equipment necessary for either his jump or his survival in the wilderness. He failed to bring or request a helmet,{{cite web |last=Evans |first=Tim |date=August 3, 2018 |title=Here are 11 possible suspects in the D.B. Cooper mystery, including some who falsely confessed |newspaper=The Indianapolis Star |language=en-US |url=https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2018/08/03/db-cooper-suspects-include-robert-rackstraw-false-confessions-woman/865813002/ |url-status=live |access-date=January 13, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411045415/https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2018/08/03/db-cooper-suspects-include-robert-rackstraw-false-confessions-woman/865813002/ |archive-date=April 11, 2021}}{{sfn|Gunther|1985|p=15}} and jumped into a 15 °F (−9 °C) wind at 10,000 feet (3,000 m) in November over Washington without proper protection against the extreme wind chill.{{cite news |last=Johnson |first=Gene |date=November 25, 2011 |title=D.B. Cooper enigma still fascinates |newspaper=USA Today |agency=Associated Press |url=https://www.usatoday.com/USCP/PNI/NEWS/2011-11-25-BCUSFEADB-Cooper40th-Anniversary_ST_U.htm |url-status=live |access-date=August 27, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120723054818/http://www.usatoday.com/USCP/PNI/NEWS/2011-11-25-BCUSFEADB-Cooper40th-Anniversary_ST_U.htm |archive-date=July 23, 2012}} Although the contents of Cooper's {{convert|4|x|12|x|14|in|cm|abbr=on|adj=on}}{{r|vault_64|page=9}} paper bag are unknown, he did not use any of the bag's contents to assist him during any part of the hijacking, so the FBI speculated the bag contained items he needed for his jump, such as boots, gloves, and goggles.{{r|vault_69|page=270|quote="He wonders if this paper bag could have contained a jump suit and a pair of boots."}}

Third, Cooper did not have an accomplice waiting on the ground to help him escape. Such an arrangement would have required both a precisely timed jump and the flight crew's cooperation to follow a predetermined flight path, but Cooper did not give the flight 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,{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|p=35}} and Cooper had no way of keeping an accomplice apprised of his changed plans. The low cloud cover and lack of visibility to the ground further complicated Cooper's 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. Carr said: "Diving into the wilderness without a plan, without the right equipment, in such terrible conditions, he probably never even got his chute open." FBI agent Richard Tosaw theorized Cooper became incapacitated from hypothermia during his jump, landed in the Columbia River, and drowned.{{efn|

Retired FBI agent Richard Tosaw made a second career of searching for Cooper, telling his story in a book, D.B. Cooper, Dead or Alive? Tosaw came to the conclusion that Cooper landed in the Columbia River and that his body long ago decomposed. That theory is supported by Soderlind. Tosaw believes Cooper went down in the Columbia "like a greased anvil".{{Quote without source|date=February 2025}} As for the recovered money, he theorizes that those three packets had been in Cooper's pocket: That he had taken them from the bag before jumping because he had offered the flight attendants a 'tip', holding out some $20 bills. His offer was refused."{{Clarify|date=February 2025|reason=Close-quote with no corresponding open-quote; impossible to determine the scope of the quoted material (and the source of the quote is not identified)}}{{Quote without source|date=February 2025}}

}}{{cite news |title=Cooper's brazen crime still celebrated |date=November 27, 1994 |website=Tampa Bay |url=https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1994/11/27/cooper-s-brazen-crime-still-celebrated/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220813084256/https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1994/11/27/cooper-s-brazen-crime-still-celebrated/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 13, 2022 }}{{cite news |title=Parachute found, but packer doubts it was D.B. Cooper's |website=AP News |url=https://apnews.com/article/39abcfbfa99eaed3326b1d70b0d6d413 |access-date=August 13, 2022 |archive-date=August 13, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220813084256/https://apnews.com/article/39abcfbfa99eaed3326b1d70b0d6d413 |url-status=live }} However, FBI agents were not unanimous in their assessments of Cooper's ultimate fate. A senior FBI agent anonymously opined 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."{{cite news |last1=Hawkins |first1=Robert |title=D.B. Cooper, is he at the bottom of Lake Merwin or walking the streets? |agency=The Seattle Times |date=October 3, 1976}}{{cite report |url=https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/d.b.-cooper-part-38/view |title=Seattle Times Article |date=October 6, 1976 |publisher=Federal Bureau of Investigation |page=203 |access-date=October 16, 2022 |archive-date=October 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221016221758/https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/d.b.-cooper-part-38/view |url-status=live }}

Conclusive evidence of Cooper's death has not been found.{{sfn|Colbert|Szollosi|2016|p=186}} In the months after Cooper's hijacking, five men attempted copycat hijackings, and all five survived their parachute escapes.{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|p=83}} The survival of the copycats—several of whom had circumstances and conditions similar to Cooper's jump—forced FBI lead case agent Ralph Himmelsbach to reevaluate his opinions and theories regarding Cooper's chances for survival. Himmelsbach cited three examples of hijackers who survived jumps in conditions similar to Cooper's escape: Martin McNally, Frederick Hahneman, and Richard LaPoint.{{efn|

{{harvnb|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|p=79}}: "The similarities to the Cooper case were striking, and immediately raised doubts about the basic premise I had held from early in the investigation: Cooper most likely died in the jump."

}}

Hijacker Martin McNally jumped using only a reserve chute, without protective gear, at night, over Indiana.{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|p=79}} Unlike Cooper, who appeared to be familiar with parachutes, McNally had to be shown how to put on his parachute.{{r|vault_64|page=156|quote=She also commented that he appeared to be completely familiar with the parachutes which had been furnished to him.}}{{cite web |last=Wicentowski |first=Danny |date=January 31, 2017 |title=The final flight of Martin McNally |newspaper=Detroit Metro Times |url=https://www.metrotimes.com/news/the-final-flight-of-martin-mcnally-2483257 |access-date=July 26, 2022 |archive-date=July 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220726032045/https://www.metrotimes.com/news/the-final-flight-of-martin-mcnally-2483257 |url-status=live }} Additionally, McNally's pilot increased the airspeed to {{convert|320|kn|km/h}}, nearly twice the airspeed of Flight 305 at the time of Cooper's jump. The increased windspeed caused a violent jump for McNally: the money bag was immediately torn from him, "yet he had landed unharmed except for some superficial scratches and bruises".{{efn|

{{harvnb|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|p=79}}: "Like Cooper, he had not asked for a jump suit or any other protective gear, yet had landed unharmed except for some superficial scratches and bruises."

}}

49-year-old Frederick Hahneman hijacked a 727 in Pennsylvania and survived after jumping at night into a Honduran jungle.{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|p=83}}{{cite news |title=Hijacker gets life, with ransom still hidden |agency=The Commercial Appeal |date=September 30, 1972}} A third copycat, Richard LaPoint, hijacked a 727 in Nevada. Wearing only trousers, a shirt, and cowboy boots, LaPoint jumped into the freezing January wind over northern Colorado and landed in the snow.{{cite news |last=Miniclier |first=Kit |date=January 21, 2001 |title=Skyjacker a Colorado oddity? |url=https://extras.denverpost.com/news/news0121g.htm |newspaper=Denver Post |access-date=July 25, 2022 |archive-date=June 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220605134648/https://extras.denverpost.com/news/news0121g.htm |url-status=live }} In 2008, Himmelsbach admitted he originally thought Cooper had only a fifty-percent chance of survival, but subsequently revised his assessment.{{cite news |last=Frazier |first=Joseph B. |date=March 27, 2008 |title=Skyjacker mystery resurfaces |agency=Associated Press |newspaper=The Daily Herald |place=Arlington Heights, IL |quote='The night it happened, I thought he had a 50 percent chance,' he said. '... It has gone down since then.' |url=https://www.dailyherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?avis=da&date=20080327&category=news&lopenr=803279901&ref=ar |access-date=August 21, 2022 |archive-date=April 8, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408043338/https://www.dailyherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?avis=da&date=20080327&category=news&lopenr=803279901&ref=ar |url-status=live }}{{cite news |title=D.B. Cooper, if he's alive, has one more year to go |newspaper=Walla Walla Union Bulletin |agency=Associated Press |date=November 24, 1975 |quote= 'My personal guess is that there is no better than a 50 percent chance that he's alive.' }}

By 1976, most published legal analyses concurred the impending expiration of the statute of limitations for prosecution of the hijacker would make little difference.{{cite news |last=Frazier |first=Joe |date=November 13, 1976 |title=Sky thief: Bandit who stole $200,000 in 1971 still being sought |place=Pittsburgh, PA |newspaper=Post-Gazette |page=B-1}} Since the statute's interpretation varies from case to case and from court to court, a prosecutor could argue Cooper had forfeited legal immunity on any of several valid technical grounds.{{cite report |publisher=Congressional Research Service |series=CRS Report for Congress |title=Statutes of Limitation in Federal Criminal Cases: An overview |url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL31253.pdf |website=FAS.org |access-date=March 6, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924134307/http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL31253.pdf |archive-date=September 24, 2015}} 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.{{cite news |last=Denson |first=Bryan |author-link=Bryan Denson |date=November 24, 1996 |title=D.B. Cooper legend lives |website=Oregonlive.com |publisher=Portland Oregonian |url=http://www.oregonlive.com/special/current/dbcooper.ssf?/special/current/dbcooper_story1.frame |access-date=March 6, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030920153821/http://www.oregonlive.com/special/current/dbcooper.ssf?%2Fspecial%2Fcurrent%2Fdbcooper_story1.frame |archive-date=September 20, 2003}} The indictment formally enabled prosecution to be continued, should the hijacker be apprehended at any time in the future.

Between 1971 and 2016, the FBI processed more than a thousand "serious suspects", including assorted publicity seekers and deathbed confessors.{{Cite web|last=Perry|first=Douglas|date=January 10, 2018|title=The (un)usual suspects in D.B. Cooper case continue to fuel interest|url=https://www.oregonlive.com/history/2018/01/as_a_new_clue_upends_db_cooper.html|url-status=live|access-date=January 14, 2022|website=The Oregonian|archive-date=December 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205031719/https://www.oregonlive.com/history/2018/01/as_a_new_clue_upends_db_cooper.html}}

{{Main|Ted Braden}}

File:TedBBradenMilitaryID.jpg

Theodore Burdette Braden Jr. (1928–2007) was a Special Forces commando during the Vietnam War, a master skydiver, and a convicted felon. He was believed by many within the Special Forces community, both at the time of the hijacking and during subsequent years, to have been Cooper.{{cite book |last1=Beeson |first1=Drew |title=Paratrooper of Fortune |date=2020 |publisher=Fort Necessity Press |location=The Woodlands, Texas |isbn=9798657525144 |page=242 |quote="Practically all ex-special forces I know"}}{{cite book |last1=Moore |first1=Stephen L. |title=Uncommon Valor: The Recon Company that Earned Five Medals of Honor and Included America's Most Decorated Green Beret |date=2018 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |location=Annapolis, MD |isbn=9781682473122 |page=33 |edition=1st |quote= "Some of his comrades later heard, and believed, that he was the legendary D.B. Cooper}} Born in Ohio, Braden first joined the military at the age of 16 in 1944, serving with the 101st Airborne during World War II. He eventually became one of the military's best parachutists, often representing the Army in international skydiving tournaments,{{cite journal |title=Scottish Parachuting |journal=Flight International |date=1962 |volume=82, Part I |quote="A U.S. Army parachutist, Allen Tyre, won the Scottish Open Championships at Perth on September 15. Runner up was Sgt. Ted Braden, also of the U.S. Army"|page=529}} and his military records list him as having made 911 jumps.{{sfn|Beeson|2020|pp=51}} During the 1960s, Braden was a team leader within the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group (MACVSOG), a classified commando unit of Green Berets which performed unconventional warfare operations during the Vietnam War.{{sfn|Moore|2018|pp=33}} He also served as a military skydiving instructor, teaching HALO jumping techniques to members of Project Delta.{{cite journal |last1=Duncan |first1=Don |title=Mercenary Job Wanted |journal=Ramparts Magazine |date=October 1967 |volume=6 |issue=3 |pages=22–23}} Braden spent 23 months in Vietnam, conducting classified operations within both North and South Vietnam, as well as Laos and Cambodia.{{sfn|Duncan|1967|pp=22}} In December 1966, Braden deserted his unit in Vietnam and made his way to the Congo to serve as a mercenary,{{cite book |last1=Dingeman |first1=James |title=U.S Military Involvement in Southern Africa |date=1977 |publisher=South End Press |location=Boston, MA |isbn=9780896080416 |page=97 |edition=1st}} but only served there a brief time before being arrested by CIA agents and taken back to the United States for a court-martial. Despite having committed a capital offense by deserting in wartime, Braden was given an honorable discharge and prohibited from re-enlisting in the military in exchange for his continued secrecy about the MACVSOG program.{{harvnb|Moore|2018|pp=63}}: "Congressional hearings were beginning regarding SOG activities. Seeing Braden as a potential embarrassment, he was offered an honorable discharge in return for swearing not to disclose anything about SOG activities."

Braden was profiled in the October 1967 issue of Ramparts magazine, wherein he was described by fellow Special Forces veteran and journalist Don Duncan as being someone with a "secret death wish" who "continually places himself in unnecessary danger but always seems to get away with it", specifically referring to Braden's disregard for military skydiving safety regulations.{{harvnb|Duncan|1967|pp=22–23}}:"Braden is among those professionals who appear to have a secret death wish, coupled with well-trained instincts for survival. He continually places himself in unnecessary danger but always manages to get away with it". At one time he was forbidden to free-fall for violating safety regulations. The rules state a jumper must pull and be in the saddle before he reaches 2000 feet. Braden makes a habit of waiting until he is well below 1000 feet." Duncan also claimed that during Braden's time in Vietnam, he was "continuously involved in shady deals to make money".{{harvnb|Duncan|1967|pp=22–23}}"he 'played the margin' in town as well. He was continuously involved in shady deals to make money.." After his military discharge in 1967, the details of Braden's life are largely unknown, but at the time of the hijacking he was a truck driver for Consolidated Freightways, which was headquartered in Vancouver, Washington, just across the Columbia River from Portland and not far from the suspected dropzone of Ariel, Washington.{{sfn|Beeson|2020|pp=252}} It is also known that during the early 1970s he was investigated by the FBI for stealing $250,000 during a trucking scam he had allegedly devised, but he was never charged for this supposed crime.{{sfn|Beeson|2020|pp=220}} In 1980, Braden was indicted by a Federal grand jury for driving an 18-wheeler full of stolen goods from Arizona to Massachusetts, but it is unknown whether there was a conviction in that case.{{cite news |title=Man Indicted in Fish, Meat Thefts |agency=The Boston Herald |date=June 6, 1980}} Two years later Braden was arrested in Pennsylvania for driving a stolen vehicle with fictitious plates and for having no driver's license.{{cite news |title=Stolen Car Stopped on Turnpike |agency=Sandusky Register |date=March 4, 1982}} Braden was eventually sent to Federal prison during the late 1980s, serving time in Pennsylvania, but the precise crime is unknown.{{sfn|Beeson|2020|pp=225}}

Despite his ability as a soldier, he was not well liked personally and was described by a family member as "the perfect combination of high intelligence and criminality".{{sfn|Beeson|2020|pp=9}} From his time working covert operations in Vietnam, he likely would have possessed the then-classified knowledge about the ability and proper specifications for jumping from a 727, perhaps having done it himself on MACVSOG missions. Physically, Braden's military records list him at {{convert|5|ft|8|in|cm|abbr=on}}, which is shorter than the height description of at least {{convert|5|ft|10|in|cm|abbr=on}} given by the two flight attendants, but this military measurement would have been taken in his stocking feet and he may have appeared somewhat taller in shoes. However, he possessed a dark complexion from years of outdoor military service, had short dark hair, a medium athletic build, and was 43 years of age at the time of the hijacking, which are features all in line with the descriptions of Cooper.{{sfn|Beeson|2020|pp=235}}

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 repeated futile attempts to convince the FBI as well as author and movie director Nora Ephron (whom he hoped would make a movie about the case), he contacted private investigator Skipp Porteous in New York City. In 2010, Porteous published a book postulating that Christiansen was the hijacker.{{cite book

| last1 = Porteous

| first1 = Skipp

| last2 = Blevins

| first2 = Robert M.

| title = Into the Blast – The True Story of D.B. Cooper

| year = 2010

| publisher = Adventure Books of Seattle

| location = Seattle, Washington

| isbn = 978-0982327180

| url = https://archive.org/details/intoblastthetrue00port

}} The next year, an episode of the History series Brad Meltzer's Decoded also summarized the circumstantial evidence linking Christiansen to the Cooper case.{{cite episode|series=Brad Meltzer's Decoded|title=D.B. Cooper|network= History|airdate=January 6, 2011|season=1|number=6}}

Christiansen enlisted in the Army in 1944 and was trained as a paratrooper. World War II had ended by the time he was deployed in 1945, but he made occasional training jumps while stationed in Japan with occupation forces 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 subsequently became a flight attendant, and then a purser, based in Seattle. Christiansen was 45 years old at the time of the hijacking, but he was shorter (5 ft 8 in or 173 cm) and thinner (150 pounds or 68 kg) than eyewitness descriptions of Cooper. Christiansen smoked (as did the hijacker) and displayed a fondness for bourbon (the drink Cooper had requested).{{sfn|Gray|2011b|loc=p. 118: "Kenny drank bourbon so much, he collected his own bourbon bottles."}} Stewardess Florence Schaffner told author Geoffrey Gray that photos of Christiansen fit her memory of the hijacker's appearance more closely than those of the other suspects she had been shown, but added that she could not conclusively identify him.{{sfn|Gray|2011b|pp=180–190}}

Despite the publicity generated by Porteous's book and the 2011 television documentary, the FBI maintains that Christiansen cannot be considered a prime suspect. It cites the poor match to eyewitness physical descriptions and a complete absence of direct incriminating evidence.{{cite news | title = F.B.I. rejects latest D.B. Cooper suspect | agency = Associated Press | date = October 26, 2007 | url = http://www.seattlepi.com/local/337121_dbcooper27.html | access-date = March 11, 2008 | work = Seattle Post-Intelligencer | archive-date = June 5, 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200605110108/https://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/FBI-rejects-latest-D-B-Cooper-suspect-1253715.php | url-status = live }}

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, he began claiming he was Cooper and attempted through an intermediary – a former cellmate named James Brown – to sell his story to a Hollywood production company. He said he landed near Mount Hood, about {{convert|50|mi|km}} southeast of Ariel, injuring himself and losing the ransom money in the process. Photos of Coffelt bear a resemblance to 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 which were consistent with a skydiving mishap.{{cite web|title=Has The Mystery of D.B. Cooper Been Solved?|date=October 6, 2008|url=http://www.insideedition.com/storyprint.aspx?SpecialReportID=2184|publisher=InsideEdition.com|access-date=March 8, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120308111652/http://www.insideedition.com/storyprint.aspx?SpecialReportID=2184|archive-date=March 8, 2012|url-status=dead}}

Coffelt's account was reviewed by the FBI, which concluded that it differed in several details from information that had not been made public and was therefore a fabrication.{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|pp=83–84}} Brown continued peddling the story long after Coffelt died in 1975. Multiple media venues, including the CBS news program 60 Minutes, considered and rejected it.{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|pp=121–122}}

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.Provano, Joel (August 3, 2011): Woman claims D.B. Cooper was her uncle. [https://www.ajc.com/news/national/woman-claims-legendary-skyjacker-cooper-was-her-uncle/4vsnEI8YuD9thrw9sMZUJM/ AJC.com] Retrieved August 3, 2011.{{cite news | title = The 40-year mystery of America's greatest skyjacking | newspaper = Daily Telegraph | first = Alex | last = Hannaford | date = July 30, 2011 | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/8667855/The-40-year-mystery-of-Americas-greatest-skyjacking.html | access-date = July 30, 2011 | location = London | archive-date = July 30, 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110730230022/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/8667855/The-40-year-mystery-of-Americas-greatest-skyjacking.html | url-status = live }} 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, {{convert|150|mi}} southeast of Portland.{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/08/01/138889690/fbi-says-it-has-a-new-suspect-in-d-b-cooper-skyjacking |title=FBI Says It Has 'A New Suspect' In D.B. Cooper Skyjacking Case: The Two-Way : NPR |first=Howard |last=Berkes |work=NPR |year=2011 |access-date=August 1, 2011 |archive-date=August 2, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110802022140/http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/08/01/138889690/fbi-says-it-has-a-new-suspect-in-d-b-cooper-skyjacking |url-status=live }} The next day Flight 305 was hijacked; and though the uncles ostensibly were turkey hunting, L. D. Cooper came home wearing a bloody shirt—the result, he said, of an auto accident. Later, Marla claimed, her parents came to believe that L. D. was the hijacker. She also 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"—although he was not a skydiver or paratrooper.Thomas, P and Cloherty, J (August 3, 2011): "D.B. Cooper Exclusive: Did Niece Provide Key Evidence?" [https://abcnews.go.com/US/db-cooper-exclusive-niece-provide-key-evidence/story?id=14219052 ABCNews.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200527093447/https://abcnews.go.com/US/db-cooper-exclusive-niece-provide-key-evidence/story?id=14219052 |date=May 27, 2020 }} Retrieved August 3, 2011.

In August 2011, New York magazine published an alternative witness sketch, reportedly based on a description by Flight 305 eyewitness Robert Gregory, depicting horn-rimmed sunglasses, a "russet"-colored suit jacket with wide lapels, and marcelled hair. The article observed that L. D. Cooper had wavy hair that looked marcelled (as did Duane Weber, see below).{{cite web | title = DNA test negative for D.B. Cooper suspect; a new sketch emerges | last = Gray | first = Geoffrey | url = https://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2011/08/dna_test_negative_db_cooper_su.html | work = New York Magazine | date = August 9, 2011 | access-date = December 31, 2012 | archive-date = December 17, 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131217224301/http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2011/08/dna_test_negative_db_cooper_su.html | url-status = live }} The FBI announced that no fingerprints had been found on a guitar strap made by L. D. Cooper.{{cite news|last=McNerthney|first=Casey|title=No fingerprints found on item in D.B. Cooper case|url=http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/No-fingerprints-found-on-item-in-D-B-Cooper-case-1684566.php|access-date=August 2, 2011|newspaper=seattlepi.com|date=August 1, 2011|archive-date=December 27, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111227172544/http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/No-fingerprints-found-on-item-in-D-B-Cooper-case-1684566.php|url-status=live}} 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 that the hijacker was the source of the organic material obtained from the tie.

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.{{cite news|last=McNerthney |first= Casey |date=November 22, 2007 |title=D.B. Cooper, where are you? |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-171721183.html |work=Seattle Post-Intelligencer |access-date=February 16, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130125094547/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-171721183.html |archive-date=January 25, 2013 }} {{Subscription required}} After discharge, Dayton worked with explosives for construction work and aspired to a professional airline career, but could not obtain a commercial pilot's license.{{sfn|Gray|2011b|pp=57, 95}}

Dayton had gender reassignment surgery in 1969, and changed her name to Barbara; she is believed to be the first person to have had this type of surgery in Washington.{{cite web |last1=McNerthney |first1=Casey |title=The mystery of D.B. Cooper still endures |url=https://www.heraldnet.com/news/the-mystery-of-d-b-cooper-still-endures/ |website=HeraldNet.com |date=November 25, 2007 |access-date=August 13, 2022 |archive-date=July 27, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240727133814/https://www.heraldnet.com/news/the-mystery-of-d-b-cooper-still-endures/ |url-status=live }} She claimed to have staged the hijacking two years later, presenting as a man, in order to "get back" at the airline industry and the FAA, whose insurmountable rules and conditions had prevented her from becoming an airline pilot.{{sfn|Olson|2010|pp=72–73}} Dayton said that the ransom money was hidden in a cistern near Woodburn, Oregon, a suburban area south of Portland. She eventually recanted the entire story, ostensibly after learning that hijacking charges could still be brought. She also did not match the physical description particularly closely.{{sfn|Gray|2011b|pp=242–243}}

William Pratt Gossett (1930–2003) was a Marine Corps, Army, and Army Air Forces veteran who had military service in Korea and Vietnam. His military experience included jump training and wilderness survival. Gossett was known to be obsessed with the Cooper hijacking. According to Galen Cook, a lawyer who has collected information related to Gossett for years, he once showed his sons a key to a Vancouver, British Columbia, safe deposit box which, he claimed, contained the long-missing ransom money.{{cite web |title=Jet hijacker's payoff may be in Vancouver bank: U.S. lawyer |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/jet-hijacker-s-payoff-may-be-in-vancouver-bank-u-s-lawyer-1.767303 |website=cbc.ca |publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=August 7, 2022 |archive-date=July 27, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240727133905/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/jet-hijacker-s-payoff-may-be-in-vancouver-bank-u-s-lawyer-1.767303 |url-status=live }}

The FBI has no direct evidence implicating Gossett and cannot reliably place him in the Pacific Northwest at the time of the hijacking.Spencer, Kent (November 21, 2011): Skyjacker D.B. Cooper 'enjoyed the Grey Cup game,' according to 1971 letter attributed to him. [http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/11/24/skyjacker-d-b-cooper-enjoyed-the-grey-cup-game-according-to-1971-letter-attributed-to-him/ National Post archive] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240727133817/https://nationalpost.com/category/news/ |date=July 27, 2024 }} Retrieved December 1, 2011 "There is not one link to the D. B. Cooper case," said Special Agent Carr, "other than the statements [Gossett] made to someone.""[http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700246479/Was-DB-Cooper-an-Ogden-resident.html?pg=all Was D.B. Cooper an Ogden Resident?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160207155226/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700246479/Was-DB-Cooper-an-Ogden-resident.html?pg=all |date=February 7, 2016 }}" (July 28, 2008) Deseret News (Salt Lake City) via Associated Press. Retrieved February 1, 2011.

Joe Lakich (1921–2017) was a retired U.S. Army Major and Korean War veteran whose daughter Susan Giffe was killed less than two months before the hijacking, as a consequence of a botched hostage negotiation conducted by the FBI.{{cite news |title=Hijacker kills wife, pilot, and himself |newspaper=The New York Times |date=October 5, 1971 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/10/05/archives/hijacker-kills-wife-pilot-and-himself.html |access-date=August 5, 2022}} The events culminating in the death of Lakich's daughter would be studied by hostage negotiators for decades as an example of what not to do during a hostage situation.{{cite news |last=Hargrove |first=Brantley |date=August 27, 2009 |title=A Nashville hijacking 38 years ago set the standard on how not to handle hostage negotiations |url=https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/a-nashville-hijacking-38-years-ago-set-the-standard-on-how-not-to-handle-hostage/article_e394a22d-e99d-52a5-b91e-b0ab20d5db31.html |access-date=August 5, 2022 |archive-date=August 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220805143722/https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/a-nashville-hijacking-38-years-ago-set-the-standard-on-how-not-to-handle-hostage/article_e394a22d-e99d-52a5-b91e-b0ab20d5db31.html |url-status=live }} He and his wife later sued the FBI, and ultimately an Appeals Court ruled in their favor, holding that the FBI acted negligently during the hostage negotiation.

Lakich would become a Cooper suspect in large part due to the revelation that Cooper's tie contained microscopic particles of uncommon metals, such as unalloyed titanium.{{cite web |title=Titanium particles from Cooper's tie |website=citizensleuths.com |url=https://citizensleuths.com/titaniumparticles.html |access-date=August 5, 2022 |archive-date=August 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220803003627/https://citizensleuths.com/titaniumparticles.html |url-status=live }} It is speculated that few people during that era would have contact with such materials, and that Cooper may have worked in a manufacturing environment working on electronics as engineer or manager. When the hijacking occurred, Lakich was working in Nashville as a production supervisor at an electronics capacitor factory and would have likely been exposed to the materials found on the tie.{{cite news |last=Couch |date=May 3, 2018 |first=Scott |title=Infamous skyjacker D.B. Cooper could have Nashville ties, used Army expertise during crime |website=Fox 17 WZTV |place=Nashville, TN |url=https://fox17.com/news/local/infamous-skyjacker-db-cooper-could-have-nashville-ties |access-date=August 5, 2022 |archive-date=July 27, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240727133817/https://fox17.com/news/local/infamous-skyjacker-db-cooper-could-have-nashville-ties |url-status=live }} When Cooper was asked by Tina Mucklow why he was committing the hijacking, he replied: "It's not because I have a grudge against your airlines, it's just because I have a grudge."{{r|vault_64|quote= She asked him why he picked Northwest Airlines to hijack and he laughed and said, 'It's not because I have a grudge against your airlines, it's just because I have a grudge.' He paused and said the flight suited his time, place, and plans.|page=161}} It is believed by some that this "grudge" was Lakich's anger toward the FBI for their failed efforts at rescuing his daughter less than two months earlier.{{cite news |last=Perry |date=November 8, 2021 |first=Douglas |title=D.B. Cooper at 50: Push to solve case gains steam, but much about famous skyjacking remains a mystery |website=Oregonlive.com |publisher=The Portland Oregonian |url=https://www.oregonlive.com/history/2021/11/db-cooper-at-50-push-to-solve-case-gains-steam-but-much-about-famous-skyjacking-remains-a-mystery.html |access-date=August 5, 2022 |archive-date=August 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220805222901/https://www.oregonlive.com/history/2021/11/db-cooper-at-50-push-to-solve-case-gains-steam-but-much-about-famous-skyjacking-remains-a-mystery.html |url-status=live }}

{{Main|John List (murderer)}}

John Emil List (1925–2008) was an accountant and war veteran who murdered his wife, three teenage children, and 85-year-old mother in Westfield, New Jersey, fifteen days before the Cooper hijacking, withdrew $200,000 from his mother's bank account, and disappeared.{{cite news| title = Suspect in Family-Slaying May Be Famed D.B. Cooper | work = Los Angeles Times | page = A1| date = June 30, 1989 }} He came to the attention of the Cooper task force due to 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".{{cite news | title = D.B. Cooper: A Timeline | work = New York | last = Coreno | first = Catherine | date = October 22, 2007 | url = https://nymag.com/news/features/39617/ | access-date = January 10, 2008 | archive-date = July 6, 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180706063155/http://nymag.com/news/features/39617/ | url-status = live }} After his capture in 1989, List denied any involvement in the Cooper hijacking: no substantial evidence implicates him, and the FBI no longer considers him a suspect.{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/magazine/28List-t.html |title=Wanted: A Killer Disappears Into Another Life |work=The New York Times |date=December 28, 2008 |first=Elizabeth |last=McCracken |access-date=September 9, 2014 |archive-date=January 5, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180105215737/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/magazine/28List-t.html |url-status=live }} List died in prison in 2008.{{cite news | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/25/nyregion/25list1.html | title = John E. List, 82, Killer of 5 Family Members, Dies | last = Stout | first = David | date = March 25, 2008 | work = The New York Times | access-date = May 30, 2008 | archive-date = January 18, 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180118060436/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/25/nyregion/25list1.html | url-status = live }}

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{{cite news |title=Skydiving Operator Faces Charges Over Deaths of 2 Jumpers |url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19950213/2104806/skydiving-operator-faces-charges-over-deaths-of-2-jumpers |url-status=live |access-date=October 10, 2012 |newspaper=The Seattle Times |date=February 13, 1995 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150521143633/http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19950213&slug=2104806 |archive-date=May 21, 2015}}{{cbignore}} and 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.McCowan, Karen (January 20, 2010). Illegal flight lands pilot in trouble once again. [http://special.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/news/cityregion/24367930-41/mayfield-faa-1994-eugene-license.csp Register-Guard archive] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715172331/http://special.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/news/cityregion/24367930-41/mayfield-faa-1994-eugene-license.csp |date=July 15, 2011 }} Retrieved February 24, 2011. He was suggested repeatedly as a suspect early in the investigation, according to FBI Agent Ralph Himmelsbach, who knew Mayfield from a prior dispute at a local airport. He was ruled out, based partly on the fact that 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.{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|p=51}}

{{Main|Richard McCoy Jr.}}

File:Richard McCoy, Jr..jpg

Richard McCoy, Jr. (1942–1974) was an Army veteran who served two tours of duty in Vietnam, first as a demolition expert and later with the Green Berets as a helicopter pilot.{{cite news | title = The Real McCoy | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,943370-1,00.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070930122007/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,943370-1,00.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = September 30, 2007 | magazine = Time | date = April 24, 1972 | access-date = July 26, 2007 }} After his military service, he became a warrant officer in the Utah National Guard and an avid recreational skydiver, with aspirations of becoming a Utah State Trooper.{{cite news | agency = Associated Press | title = Skydiver Held as Hijacker; $500,000 Is Still Missing | work = The New York Times | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1972/04/10/archives/skydiver-held-as-hijacker-500000-is-still-missing-skydiver-held-as.html | page = 1 | date = April 10, 1972 | access-date = August 4, 2018 | archive-date = August 5, 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180805021810/https://www.nytimes.com/1972/04/10/archives/skydiver-held-as-hijacker-500000-is-still-missing-skydiver-held-as.html | url-status = live }}{{sfn|Gray|2011b|pp=60–64}}

On April 7, 1972, McCoy staged the best-known of the copycat hijackings.{{cite web | title = The D.B. Cooper Story: The Copycats | last = Krajicek | first = David | url = http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/scams/DB_Cooper/9.html | work = Crime Library | access-date = January 3, 2008 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080102145952/http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/scams/DB_Cooper/9.html | archive-date = January 2, 2008}} He boarded United Airlines' {{nowrap|Flight 855}} (a {{nowrap|Boeing 727}} with aft stairs) in Denver, Colorado, and, brandishing what later proved to be a paperweight resembling a hand grenade and an unloaded pistol, he demanded four parachutes and $500,000. After delivery of the money and parachutes at San Francisco International Airport, McCoy ordered the aircraft back into the sky and bailed out over Provo, Utah, leaving behind his handwritten hijacking instructions and his fingerprints on a magazine he had been reading.Famous Cases & Criminals. [https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/history/famous-cases/richard-floyd-mccoy FBI.gov] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160516043944/https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/history/famous-cases/richard-floyd-mccoy |date=May 16, 2016 }} Retrieved May 29, 2013

He was arrested on April 9 with the ransom cash in his possession and, after trial and conviction, received a 45-year sentence.{{cite web |last1=Motaher |first1=Maria |title=Richard Floyd McCoy, Jr. |url=https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/richard-floyd-mccoy-jr |website=Federal Bureau of Investigation |access-date=December 7, 2018 |language=en-us |archive-date=December 7, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181207102753/https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/richard-floyd-mccoy-jr |url-status=live }} Two years later, he escaped from Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary with several accomplices by crashing a garbage truck through the main gate.{{cite news | title = Widow of Man Linked in Book to Skyjacker D.B. Cooper Sues Authors, Provo Attorney |agency=Associated Press | page = B5 | date = January 18, 1992}} Tracked down three months later in Virginia Beach, McCoy was killed in a shootout with FBI agents.Funk, Marianne (February 21, 1992). McCoy's Widow Admits Helping in '72 Hijacking. [http://www.deseretnews.com/article/211317/MCCOYS-WIDOW-ADMITS-HELPING-IN-72-HIJACKING.html Deseret News Archive] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022172156/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/211317/MCCOYS-WIDOW-ADMITS-HELPING-IN-72-HIJACKING.html |date=October 22, 2012 }} Retrieved February 21, 2011.

In their 1991 book, D.B. Cooper: The Real McCoy, parole officer Bernie Rhodes and former FBI agent Russell Calame asserted that they had identified McCoy as Cooper.{{cite book |last1=Rhodes |first1=Bernie |last2=Calame |first2=Russell |date=1991 |title=D.B. Cooper: The Real McCoy |publisher=University of Utah Press |page= |isbn=0874803772}}{{page needed|date=July 2021}} They cited obvious similarities in the two hijackings, claims by McCoy's family that the tie and mother-of-pearl tie clip left on the airplane belonged to McCoy, and McCoy's own refusal to admit or deny that he was Cooper.{{cite news | last = Schindler | first = Harold| title = 25 Years Later, 'D.B' Remains Tied to Utah; Skyjacker Took Story To His Grave | work = The Salt Lake Tribune | date = November 24, 1996 }} A proponent of their claim was the FBI agent who killed McCoy. "When I shot Richard McCoy," he said, "I shot D. B. Cooper at the same time."

Although there is no reasonable doubt that McCoy committed the Denver hijacking, the FBI does not consider him a suspect in the Cooper case because of mismatches in age and description (e.g., McCoy was 29 years old, with projecting ears),{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|p=82}}{{r|vault_52|page= 192}}Some notable examples, cited by Rhodes and Calame: Cooper's age was estimated by all witnesses as mid-40s, McCoy was 29 years old; most witnesses, including all three flight attendants, said Cooper had "dark brown, piercing" eyes, McCoy's eyes were light blue; Cooper's ears had no distinguishing characteristics, McCoy's ears stuck out so prominently that his nickname was "Dumbo", and he wore a scarf to conceal them during the Denver hijacking; Cooper drank bourbon and chain-smoked cigarettes, McCoy was an observant Mormon who did not smoke or drink alcohol; Cooper was described as having a raspy voice with no particular accent, McCoy had a noticeable southern accent, and a marked lisp due to surgical correction of a cleft palate in childhood. Rhodes & Calame (1991), pp. 86, 94, 96, 134, 145. skydiving skill much greater than thought to be possessed by the hijacker, and credible evidence that McCoy was in Las Vegas on the day of the Portland hijacking, and at home in Utah the day after, having Thanksgiving dinner with his family.{{cite news |last=Hamilton |first=Don |title=F.B.I. makes new plea in D.B. Cooper case |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/fbi-makes-new-plea-in-db-cooper-case/ |newspaper=The Seattle Times |date=January 1, 2008 |access-date=February 9, 2024 |archive-date=April 12, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240412003136/https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/fbi-makes-new-plea-in-db-cooper-case/ |url-status=live }}

In addition, all three of the stewardesses from the Cooper hijacking were shown photographs of McCoy and agreed that he was not their hijacker. They were even able to point to specific differences in the two men, specifically that Cooper's nose wasn't as broad as McCoy's, that Cooper had more hair than McCoy, and that Cooper's ears did not protrude as much as McCoy's.{{r|vault_24|page= 306 }} McCoy's photo was also shown to the ticket agent who sold Cooper his ticket, the gate agent, and the passenger seated closest to Cooper (Bill Mitchell), and they too concluded that McCoy and Cooper were not the same.{{r|vault_24|page= 317 }}

In 2024, McCoy's two children publicly stated that their father had been D. B. Cooper after a parachute was found by YouTuber Dan Gryder on the property formerly owned by McCoy's mother.{{cite web | last=Gabbatt | first=Adam | title=After 50 years of mystery, siblings claim hijacker DB Cooper was their father | website=the Guardian | date=2024-11-30 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/30/db-cooper-plane-hijacking | access-date=2024-11-30}} Gryder claims to have handed this parachute over to the FBI, though the FBI have not confirmed this.{{cite web | last=Bedigan | first=Mike | title=DB Cooper's parachute may have just been found, breaking open 50-year-old cold case | website=The Independent | date=2024-11-28 | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/db-cooper-richard-mccoy-identity-fbi-parachute-evidence-b2655071.html | access-date=2024-11-30}}

File:Cooper-Peterson.jpeg

Sheridan Peterson (1926–2021) served with the Marine Corps during World War II and was employed later as a technical editor at Boeing, based in Seattle. Investigators became interested in Peterson as a suspect soon after the skyjacking because of his experience as a smokejumper and love of taking physical risks, as well as his similar appearance and age (44) to the Cooper description. His involvement in the civil rights movement and assisting refugees in Vietnam during the Vietnam War could have potentially radicalized him to pursue hijacking.{{cite web|author=Perry|first=Douglas|date=January 28, 2021|title='Charming' D.B. Cooper suspect Sheridan Peterson dies at 94, spent years dedicated to political causes|url=https://www.oregonlive.com/history/2021/01/charming-db-cooper-suspect-sheridan-peterson-dies-at-94-spent-years-dedicated-to-political-causes.html|access-date=January 30, 2021|archive-date=January 30, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210130173740/https://www.oregonlive.com/history/2021/01/charming-db-cooper-suspect-sheridan-peterson-dies-at-94-spent-years-dedicated-to-political-causes.html|url-status=live}}

Peterson often teased the media about whether he was really Cooper. Entrepreneur Eric Ulis, who spent years investigating the crime, said he was "98% convinced" that Peterson was Cooper; when pressed by FBI agents, Peterson insisted he was in Nepal at the time of the hijacking. He died in 2021.

In an episode of History Channel's History's Greatest Mysteries, analysis of DNA found on the tie worn by Cooper indicated that Peterson was not a match for Cooper when compared to a DNA sample from one of Peterson's living daughters. Eric Ulis has since withdrawn his allegation that Peterson could have been Cooper.

File:Rackstraw Cooper comparisson.png

Robert Wesley Rackstraw (1943–2019) was a retired pilot and ex-convict who served on an Army helicopter crew and other units during the Vietnam War. He came to the attention of the Cooper task force in February 1978, after he was arrested in Iran and deported to the U.S. to face explosives possession and check kiting charges. Several months later, while released on bail, Rackstraw attempted to fake his own death by radioing a false mayday call and telling controllers that he was bailing out of a rented airplane over Monterey Bay.[http://www.mercurynews.com/2016/07/12/d-b-cooper-investigation-focuses-on-california-off-the-books-genius-robert-rackstraw/ D.B. Cooper investigation focuses on California 'off-the-books genius' Robert Rackstraw.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160916025740/http://www.mercurynews.com/2016/07/12/d-b-cooper-investigation-focuses-on-california-off-the-books-genius-robert-rackstraw/ |date=September 16, 2016 }} San Jose Mercury News (July 12, 2016), retrieved September 8, 2016. Police later arrested him in Fullerton, California, on an additional charge of forging federal pilot certificates; the airplane he claimed to have ditched was found, repainted, in a nearby hangar.Sharon, K. (October 7, 2017). [https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/10/07/california-man-accused-of-being-d-b-cooper-a-life-ruined-or-a-case-solved/ California man accused of being D.B. Cooper: A life ruined or a case solved?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181130155123/https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/10/07/california-man-accused-of-being-d-b-cooper-a-life-ruined-or-a-case-solved/ |date=November 30, 2018 }} San Jose Mercury News, retrieved November 29, 2018.Fitzgerald, M. (July 12, 2016). [https://www.recordnet.com/news/20160712/fitzgerald-was-db-cooper-in-stockton Fitzgerald: Was D.B. Cooper in Stockton?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181130202042/https://www.recordnet.com/news/20160712/fitzgerald-was-db-cooper-in-stockton |date=November 30, 2018 }}. Recordnet, retrieved November 29, 2018. Cooper investigators noted his physical resemblance to Cooper composite sketches even though he was only 28 in 1971, military parachute training, and criminal record but eliminated him as a suspect in 1979 after no direct evidence of his involvement could be found.{{cite web|title=Rackstraw Says He's Not Cooper Of Skyjack Fame|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rPJVAAAAIBAJ&pg=5250%2C1757839|website=Google|publisher=Eugene Register-Guard|date=February 7, 1979|access-date=July 16, 2016|archive-date=September 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200929143642/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rPJVAAAAIBAJ&pg=5250%2C1757839|url-status=live}}{{cite web | title=In Search Of... D. B. Cooper | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_yvGpipjzE | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140119090620/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_yvGpipjzE| archive-date=January 19, 2014 | url-status=dead| website=YouTube | publisher=In Search Of | date=December 6, 1979 | access-date=July 19, 2016}}

In 2016, Rackstraw was featured as a suspect by a History channel program,{{cite news|last=Baxter|first=Stephen|title=TV investigation links Santa Cruz County native to 1971 D.B. Cooper 'skyjacking' case|url=http://www.eastbaytimes.com/news/ci_30118971/tv-investigation-links-santa-cruz-county-native-1971?source=JPopUp|newspaper=Santa Cruz Sentinel|access-date=July 12, 2016|date=July 12, 2016|archive-date=August 22, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822141131/http://www.eastbaytimes.com/news/ci_30118971/tv-investigation-links-santa-cruz-county-native-1971?source=JPopUp|url-status=live}} along with a book.{{sfn|Colbert|Szollosi|2016|p=330}} On September 8, 2016, Thomas J. Colbert, the author of the book, and attorney Mark Zaid filed a lawsuit to compel the FBI to release its Cooper case file by the Freedom of Information Act.[http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2016/09/lawsuit_filed_against_fbi_to_m.html Lawsuit filed against FBI to make D.B. Cooper investigation file public] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160923115042/http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2016/09/lawsuit_filed_against_fbi_to_m.html |date=September 23, 2016 }}. The Oregonian (September 8, 2016), retrieved September 22, 2016. In 2017, Colbert and a group of volunteer investigators uncovered what they believed to be "a decades-old parachute strap" at an undisclosed location in the Pacific Northwest.{{cite web|last1=Chamberlain|first1=Samuel|title=DB Cooper mystery: 'Potential' physical evidence uncovered in search|url=https://www.foxnews.com/us/db-cooper-mystery-potential-physical-evidence-uncovered-in-search|work=Fox News|access-date=August 11, 2017|date=August 9, 2017|archive-date=August 11, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170811064044/http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/08/10/db-cooper-mystery-potential-physical-evidence-uncovered-in-search.html|url-status=live}} This was followed later in 2017 with a piece of foam, which they suspected was part of Cooper's parachute backpack.{{cite news|last1=Cerullo|first1=Megan|title=FBI accepts new evidence in D.B. Cooper hijacking cold case|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/new-potential-evidence-emerges-b-cooper-hijacking-case-article-1.3426633|newspaper=Daily News|location=New York|access-date=August 21, 2017|archive-date=August 24, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170824040218/http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/new-potential-evidence-emerges-b-cooper-hijacking-case-article-1.3426633|url-status=live}} In January 2018, Tom and Dawna Colbert reported that they had obtained a confession letter originally written in December 1971 containing codes that matched three units Rackstraw was a part of while in the Army.{{cite news |title=Investigators think letter confirms ID of D.B. Cooper |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/investigators-think-letter-confirms-id-of-d-b-cooper/ |newspaper=Seattle Times |date=January 5, 2018 |access-date=January 7, 2018 |archive-date=January 7, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180107012734/https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/investigators-think-letter-confirms-id-of-d-b-cooper/ |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last=Perry |first=Douglas |date=June 28, 2018 |title=Skyjacker D.B. Cooper revealed real identity in 1972 letter to The Oregonian, code-breaker claims |url=https://www.oregonlive.com/news/erry-2018/06/cc9c62a1082655/the_real_db_cooper_provided_en.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230612131623/https://www.oregonlive.com/news/erry-2018/06/cc9c62a1082655/the_real_db_cooper_provided_en.html |archive-date=June 12, 2023 |access-date=June 12, 2023 |work=The Oregonian}}{{cite web|url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/the-search-for-db-cooper-investigators-say-theyve-confirmed-skyjackers-identity-by-decoding-long-lost-confession/ar-AAzi4Zb?ocid=ientp|title=The search for D.B. Cooper: Investigators say they've confirmed skyjacker's identity by decoding long-lost 'confession'|website=Msn.com|access-date=June 28, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180628204919/http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/the-search-for-db-cooper-investigators-say-theyve-confirmed-skyjackers-identity-by-decoding-long-lost-confession/ar-AAzi4Zb?ocid=ientp|archive-date=June 28, 2018|url-status=dead}}

One of the Flight 305 flight attendants reportedly "did not find any similarities" between photos of Rackstraw from the 1970s and her recollection of Cooper's appearance.Dodd, J. (July 12, 2016). [http://people.com/crime/db-cooper-robert-rackstraw-accused-in-history-channel-show-denies-accusation/ Man Identified in History Channel Show as Notorious Skyjacker D.B. Cooper Denies Accusation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220200828/http://people.com/crime/db-cooper-robert-rackstraw-accused-in-history-channel-show-denies-accusation/ |date=December 20, 2016 }}. People.com, retrieved December 13, 2016. Rackstraw's attorney termed the renewed allegations "the stupidest thing I've ever heard",[http://miami.cbslocal.com/2016/07/13/fbi-closes-case-on-d-b-cooper-skyjacking-mystery/ FBI Closes Case On D.B. Cooper Skyjacking Mystery] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160917075430/http://miami.cbslocal.com/2016/07/13/fbi-closes-case-on-d-b-cooper-skyjacking-mystery/ |date=September 17, 2016 }}. CBS Miami (July 13, 2016), retrieved September 8, 2016. and Rackstraw himself told People magazine, "It's a lot of [expletive], and they know it is". The FBI declined further comment. Rackstraw stated in a 2017 phone interview that he lost his job over the 2016 investigations.{{cite web|url=http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/10/07/california-man-accused-of-being-d-b-cooper-a-life-ruined-or-a-case-solved|title=California man accused of being D.B. Cooper: A…|date=October 7, 2017|work=MercuryNews|access-date=October 8, 2017|archive-date=October 8, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171008114451/http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/10/07/california-man-accused-of-being-d-b-cooper-a-life-ruined-or-a-case-solved/|url-status=live}} Rackstraw said to Colbert, "I told everybody I was [the hijacker]", before explaining the admission was a stunt. He died in 2019.{{cite news|url=https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/obituaries/story/2019-07-09/army-paratrooper-suspected-in-notorious-d-b-cooper-skyjacking-dies-in-bankers-hill-home|title=San Diegan featured in program about notorious D.B. Cooper skyjacking case dies in Bankers Hill home|date=July 10, 2019|newspaper=San Diego Union-Tribune|access-date=July 10, 2019|archive-date=July 10, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190710090303/https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/obituaries/story/2019-07-09/army-paratrooper-suspected-in-notorious-d-b-cooper-skyjacking-dies-in-bankers-hill-home|url-status=live}}

Walter R. Reca (1933–2014) was a former military paratrooper and intelligence operative.{{cite news |last=Shapira |first=Ian |date=May 26, 2018 |title=Is This Man D. B. Cooper? Yet another suspect surfaces in 47-year old puzzle |work=The Ottawa Citizen |location=Ottawa }} He was proposed as a suspect by his friend Carl Laurin in 2018.{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/05/17/a-new-d-b-cooper-suspect-yet-another-possible-identity-for-elusive-hijacker/ |title=A new 'D.B. Cooper' suspect? Yet another possible identity for the elusive hijacker |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en |access-date=July 19, 2018 |archive-date=July 20, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180720051814/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/05/17/a-new-d-b-cooper-suspect-yet-another-possible-identity-for-elusive-hijacker/ |url-status=live }} In 2008, Reca told Laurin via a recorded telephone call that he was the hijacker.{{cite news |url=https://www.woodtv.com/news/grand-rapids/book-claims-to-solve-db-cooper-mystery/1185777478 |title=Book claims to solve D.B. Cooper mystery |last=La Furgey |first=Joe |date=May 17, 2018 |publisher=Wood TV |access-date=July 19, 2018 |language=en-US |archive-date=July 20, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180720025642/https://www.woodtv.com/news/grand-rapids/book-claims-to-solve-db-cooper-mystery/1185777478 |url-status=live }} Reca gave Laurin permission in a notarized letter to share his story after his death. He also allowed Laurin to tape their telephone conversations about the crime during a six-week period in late 2008. In over three hours of recordings, Reca shared details about his version of the hijacking. He also confessed to his niece, Lisa Story.{{cite news |url=https://www.oregonlive.com/today/index.ssf/2018/05/db_cooper_case_drops_another_s.html |title=D.B. Cooper case drops another surprising suspect into the spotlight |publisher=OregonLive.com |access-date=July 19, 2018 |language=en-US |archive-date=July 20, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180720022605/https://www.oregonlive.com/today/index.ssf/2018/05/db_cooper_case_drops_another_s.html |url-status=live }}

From Reca's description of the terrain on his way to the drop zone, Laurin concluded that he landed near Cle Elum, Washington. After Reca described an encounter with a dump truck driver at a roadside cafe after he landed, Laurin located Jeff Osiadacz, who was driving his dump truck near Cle Elum the night of the hijacking and met a stranger at the Teanaway Junction Café just outside of town. The man asked Osiadacz to give his friend directions to the café by telephone, presumably to be picked up, and he complied.{{cite news |url=https://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2018/05/db_cooper_lived_and_died_in_mi.html |title=D.B. Cooper author unveils evidence he says identifies infamous skyjacker |publisher=MLive.com |access-date=July 19, 2018 |language=en-US |archive-date=July 20, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180720022440/https://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2018/05/db_cooper_lived_and_died_in_mi.html |url-status=live }} Laurin convinced Joe Koenig, a former member of the Michigan State Police, of Reca's guilt.{{cite news |url=https://www.king5.com/video/news/forensic-investigator-explains-why-he-believes-walter-reca-is-db-cooper/281-8131681 |title=Forensic investigator explains why he believes Walter Reca is D.B. Cooper |publisher=KING |access-date=July 19, 2018 |language=en-US |archive-date=July 20, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180720022400/https://www.king5.com/video/news/forensic-investigator-explains-why-he-believes-walter-reca-is-db-cooper/281-8131681 |url-status=live }} Koenig later published a book on Cooper, titled Getting The Truth: I Am D.B. Cooper.{{Cite book|url=https://therealdbcooper.com/pages/about|title=Getting the Truth: I Am D.B. Cooper|year=2018|isbn=978-1614853268|oclc=1090800628|access-date=January 11, 2019|archive-date=January 12, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190112044346/https://therealdbcooper.com/pages/about|url-status=dead|last1=Koenig|first1=Joe|publisher=Principia Media LLC }}

These claims have aroused skepticism. Cle Elum is well north and east of Flight 305's known flight path, more than {{convert|150|mi|km}} north of the drop zone assumed by most analysts, and even further from Tina Bar, where a portion of the ransom money was found. Reca was a military paratrooper and private skydiver with hundreds of jumps to his credit, in contradiction to the FBI's publicized profile of an amateur skydiver at best. Reca also did not resemble the composite portrait the FBI assembled, which Laurin and Osiadacz used to explain why Osiadacz's suspicions were not aroused at the time. In response to the allegations against Reca, the FBI said that it would be inappropriate to comment on specific tips provided to them, and that no evidence to date had proved the culpability of any suspect beyond a reasonable doubt.{{cite news|last=Ingalls|first=Chris|url=https://www.king5.com/article/news/crime/here-are-discrepancies-in-db-cooper-identity-story-from-publisher/281-552986652|title=Here are discrepancies in D.B. Cooper identity story from publisher|work=K5|access-date=March 22, 2021|archive-date=August 28, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210828023515/https://www.king5.com/article/news/crime/here-are-discrepancies-in-db-cooper-identity-story-from-publisher/281-552986652|url-status=live}}

File:William Smith Wiki Photo.jpg

In November 2018, The Oregonian published an article proposing William J. Smith (1928–2018), of Bloomfield, New Jersey,{{Cite web|url=http://obits.nj.com/obituaries/starledger/obituary.aspx?n=william-smith&pid=187988854&fhid=17104|title=William Smith Obituary – Bloomfield, NJ | The Star-Ledger|website=Obits.nj.com|access-date=December 18, 2018|archive-date=December 18, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181218102432/http://obits.nj.com/obituaries/starledger/obituary.aspx?n=william-smith&pid=187988854&fhid=17104|url-status=live}} as a suspect. The article was based on research conducted by an Army data analyst who sent his findings to the FBI in mid-2018.{{Cite web|url=https://www.oregonlive.com/expo/news/erry-2018/11/e18eba2aa14557/new-suspect-in-db-cooper-skyja.html|title=New suspect in D.B. Cooper skyjacking case unearthed by Army data analyst; FBI stays mum|first1=Douglas|last1=Perry|website=OregonLive.com|date=November 15, 2018|access-date=November 22, 2018|archive-date=November 24, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181124082816/https://www.oregonlive.com/expo/news/erry-2018/11/e18eba2aa14557/new-suspect-in-db-cooper-skyja.html|url-status=live}} Smith, a New Jersey native, was a World War II veteran. After high school, he enlisted with the United States Navy and volunteered for combat air crew training. After his discharge, he worked for the Lehigh Valley Railroad and was affected by the Penn Central Transportation Company's bankruptcy in 1970, the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history at that time. The article proposed that the loss of his pension created a grudge against the corporate establishment and transportation field, as well as a sudden need for money. Smith was 43 at the time of the hijacking. In his high school yearbook, a list of alumni killed in World War II lists an Ira Daniel Cooper, possibly the source for the hijacker's pseudonym. The analyst claimed that Smith's naval aviation experience would have given him knowledge of airplanes and parachutes, and his railroad experience would have helped him find railroad tracks and hop on a train to escape the area after landing.{{Cite web|url=https://www.foxnews.com/us/fresh-db-cooper-theory-emerges-years-after-infamous-hijacking|title=DB Cooper revealed? New suspect emerges years after infamous hijacking|first=Ryan|last=Gaydos|date=November 15, 2018|website=Fox News|access-date=November 30, 2018|archive-date=November 30, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181130071907/https://www.foxnews.com/us/fresh-db-cooper-theory-emerges-years-after-infamous-hijacking|url-status=live}}

According to the analyst, aluminum spiral chips found on the clip-on tie could have come from a locomotive maintenance facility. Smith's information about the Seattle area may have come from his close friend Dan Clair, who was stationed at Fort Lewis during the war. The analyst noted that the man who claimed to be Cooper in Max Gunther's 1985 book identified himself as "Dan LeClair". Smith and Clair worked together for Conrail at Newark's Oak Island Yard. Smith retired from that facility as a yardmaster. The article noted that a picture of Smith on the Lehigh Valley Railroad website showed a "remarkable resemblance" to Cooper FBI sketches.{{Cite web|url=http://www.lvrr.com/jersey-city-employee/|title=Jersey City Employees|website=Lvrr.com|access-date=November 30, 2018|archive-date=June 29, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190629162629/http://www.lvrr.com/jersey-city-employee|url-status=live}} The FBI said that it would be inappropriate to comment on tips related to Smith.

Duane L. Weber (1924–1995) was a World War II Army veteran who served time in at least six prisons from 1945 to 1968 for burglary and forgery. He was proposed as a suspect by his widow, Jo, based primarily on a deathbed confession: three days before he died in 1995, Weber told his wife, "I am Dan Cooper." The name meant nothing to her, she said; but months later, a friend told her of its significance in the hijacking. She went to her local library to research Cooper, found Max Gunther's book, and discovered notations in the margins in her husband's handwriting. Like the hijacker, Weber drank bourbon and chain-smoked. Other circumstantial evidence included a 1979 trip to Seattle and the Columbia River, where his wife remembered him throwing a trash bag just upstream of Tina Bar.

Himmelsbach said, "[Weber] does fit the physical description (and) does have the criminal background that I have always felt was associated with the case", but did not believe Weber was Cooper.{{Cite web |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/d-b-cooper-found-at-last/ |title=D. B. Cooper – found at last? |date=August 22, 2000 |publisher=CBS News |access-date=October 21, 2021 |archive-date=October 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211008121341/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/d-b-cooper-found-at-last/ |url-status=live }} The FBI eliminated Weber as an active suspect in July 1998 when his fingerprints did not match any of those processed in the hijacked plane,{{cite web | title = The D.B. Cooper Story: 'I'm Dan Cooper. So Am I.' | last = Krajicek | first = David | url = http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/scams/DB_Cooper/10.html | work = Crime Library | access-date = March 12, 2008 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080406133146/http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/scams/DB_Cooper/10.html | archive-date = April 6, 2008}} and no other direct evidence could be found to implicate him. Later, his DNA also failed to match the samples recovered from Cooper's tie.

{{Main|D. B. Cooper copycat hijackings}}

Cooper was among the first to attempt air piracy for personal gain; eleven days before Cooper's hijack, Canadian Paul Joseph Cini had 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.{{cite web |last= Koerner |first=B |date=June 14, 2013 |title= Skyjacker of the day|publisher= slate.com |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/life/history/features/2013/skyjacker_of_the_day/paul_joseph_cini_hijacked_a_plane_because_he_had_an_idea_parachuting.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150915101652/http://www.slate.com/articles/life/history/features/2013/skyjacker_of_the_day/paul_joseph_cini_hijacked_a_plane_because_he_had_an_idea_parachuting.html |archive-date=September 15, 2015 |access-date= September 4, 2015}} Encouraged by Cooper's apparent success, fifteen similar hijackings—all unsuccessful—were attempted in 1972. Some examples from that year:

• Richard Charles LaPoint, an Army veteran from Boston,{{cite news|url=http://extras.denverpost.com/news/news0121g.htm|newspaper=Denver Post|title=Skyjacker a Colorado oddity?|first=Kit|last=Miniclier|date=January 21, 2001|access-date=February 16, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140424062530/http://extras.denverpost.com/news/news0121g.htm|archive-date=April 24, 2014|url-status=dead}} boarded Hughes Airwest Flight 800 at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas on January 20. Brandishing what he claimed was a bomb while the DC-9 was on the taxiway, he demanded $50,000, two parachutes, and a helmet.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=M5UgAAAAIBAJ&pg=1442%2C2185479|newspaper=Lewiston Daily Sun|agency=Associated Press|title=Hijacker caught after parachuting over Colorado with $50,000 in cash|date=January 21, 1972|page=1|access-date=September 22, 2018|archive-date=September 30, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930103749/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=M5UgAAAAIBAJ&pg=1442%2C2185479|url-status=live}} After releasing the 51 passengers and two flight attendants, he ordered the airplane on an eastward trajectory toward Denver,{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=wthVAAAAIBAJ&pg=6730%2C4283362|newspaper=Eugene Register Guard|last=Taylor|first=Daniel L.|agency=UPI|title=Parachutist hijacker captured|date=January 21, 1972|page=3A|access-date=September 22, 2018|archive-date=February 3, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210203224951/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=wthVAAAAIBAJ&pg=6730%2C4283362|url-status=live}} then bailed out over the treeless plains of northeastern Colorado. Authorities, tracking the locator-equipped parachute and his footprints in the snow and mud, apprehended him a few hours later.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=je9LAAAAIBAJ&pg=6586%2C1917285|newspaper=Spokesman-Review|agency=Associated Press|title=Chuting hijacker caught by police|date=January 21, 1972|page=1|access-date=September 22, 2018|archive-date=September 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200929114344/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=je9LAAAAIBAJ&pg=6586%2C1917285|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=P_IdAAAAIBAJ&pg=2850%2C8504|newspaper=Milwaukee Journal|title=Hijacker with $50,000 loot captured after bailing out|date=January 21, 1972|page=1}}{{Dead link|date=December 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=CLVYAAAAIBAJ&pg=5884%2C1649602|newspaper=Spokane Daily Chronicle|agency=Associated Press|title=Hijacker foiled; tracked by jets|date=January 21, 1972|page=19|access-date=September 22, 2018|archive-date=March 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200323165544/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=CLVYAAAAIBAJ&pg=5884%2C1649602|url-status=live}}
• Richard McCoy Jr., a former Army Green Beret, hijacked a United Airlines 727-100 on April 7 after it left Denver, diverted it to San Francisco, then bailed out over Utah with $500,000 in ransom money. He landed safely and was arrested two days later.
• Frederick Hahneman used a handgun to hijack an Eastern Air Lines 727 in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on May 7, demanded $303,000, and eventually parachuted into his native Honduras. A month later, with the FBI in pursuit and a $25,000 bounty on his head, he surrendered at the American embassy in Tegucigalpa.{{Cite web |last=Whelan |first=Frank |date=June 30, 1985 |title=A-B-E Hijacker Who Parachuted into Jungle Is Free From Prison Air Piracy |url=https://www.mcall.com/1985/06/30/a-b-e-hijacker-who-parachuted-into-jungle-is-free-from-prison-air-piracy/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326082726/https://www.mcall.com/1985/06/30/a-b-e-hijacker-who-parachuted-into-jungle-is-free-from-prison-air-piracy/ |archive-date=March 26, 2023 |access-date=August 3, 2011 |website=The Morning Call}}{{cite news |last=Whelan |first=Frank |date=September 17, 2019 |title=History's Headlines: Skyjack of 1972 |url=https://www.wfmz.com/features/historys-headlines/historys-headlines-skyjack-of-1972/article_940d5703-8e18-528b-80c4-443b3607b6b0.html |work=WFMZ-TV |access-date=March 2, 2022 |archive-date=March 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220302071401/https://www.wfmz.com/features/historys-headlines/historys-headlines-skyjack-of-1972/article_940d5703-8e18-528b-80c4-443b3607b6b0.html |url-status=live }} After being given a life sentence in September 1972, he was paroled in 1984.{{cite book| last1 = Newton| first1 = Michael| year = 2002| title = The Encyclopedia of Kidnappings| publisher = Facts On File, Inc.| location = New York, New York| isbn = 0-8160-4486-4|page = 129}}{{cite news |last1=Frank |first1=Whelan |title=A-B-E hijacker who parachuted in |agency=The Morning Call |date=June 30, 1985}}
• Robb Heady, a 22-year-old former Army paratrooper hijacked United Airlines Flight 239 from Reno to San Francisco on June 2, 1972. Carrying his own parachute and using a .357 ({{convert|0.357|in|mm|disp=out|sigfig=3}}) revolver, he demanded $200,000 in ransom money. He jumped from the airplane and was captured the next morning.{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/06/06/archives/155000-recovered-in-reno-jet-hijacking.html | title=$155,000 Recovered in Reno Jet Hijacking | newspaper=The New York Times | date=June 6, 1972 | access-date=July 7, 2022 | archive-date=July 7, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707134010/https://www.nytimes.com/1972/06/06/archives/155000-recovered-in-reno-jet-hijacking.html | url-status=live }}
• Martin McNally, an unemployed service-station attendant, used a submachine gun on June 23 to commandeer an American Airlines 727 en route from St. Louis, Missouri, to Tulsa, Oklahoma, then diverted it eastward to Indiana and bailed out with $500,000 in ransom.{{cite news|url=https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/article_1aac5de6-6eb4-5245-a126-7adf324d5eb2.html|title=A Look Back • Airline hijacking at Lambert in 1972 turns bizarre|last=O'Neil|first=Tim|date=June 25, 2011|newspaper=St. Louis Post-Dispatch|access-date=April 20, 2019|archive-date=May 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200529170437/https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/article_1aac5de6-6eb4-5245-a126-7adf324d5eb2.html|url-status=live}} McNally lost the ransom money as he exited the aircraft, but landed safely near Peru, Indiana, and was apprehended a few days later in a Detroit suburb.{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|p=79–80}} When interviewed in a 2020 podcast retrospective, McNally said he had been inspired by Cooper.{{cite news |last=Hemphill |first=Evie |date=July 27, 2020 |title='American Skyjacker' Podcast Details 1972 High-Flying Drama At Lambert Airport |url=https://news.stlpublicradio.org/show/st-louis-on-the-air/2020-07-27/american-skyjacker-podcast-details-1972-high-flying-drama-at-lambert-airport |work=St. Louis Public Radio |access-date=March 2, 2022}}. The Cooper connection is in the trailer video & podcast (rather than article text).

With the advent of universal luggage searches in 1973 (see Airport security), the general incidence of hijackings dropped dramatically. There were no further notable Cooper imitators until July 11, 1980, when Glenn K. Tripp seized Northwest Orient Flight 608 at Seattle-Tacoma Airport, demanding $600,000 ($100,000 by an independent account),{{unreliable source?|date=March 2022}}{{Cite web |title=Codename: Norjak The Skyjacking of Northwest Flight 305 |url=https://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/NWA305-DBCooper.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130815230727/http://check-six.com/Crash_Sites/NWA305-DBCooper.htm |archive-date=August 15, 2013 |access-date=March 4, 2013 |website=Check-Six.com}}{{unreliable source?|date=March 2022}} two parachutes, and the assassination of his boss. A quick-thinking flight attendant drugged Tripp's alcoholic drink with Valium. After a ten-hour standoff, during which Tripp reduced his demands to three cheeseburgers and a ground vehicle in which to escape, he was apprehended.{{unreliable source?|date=March 2022}} Tripp attempted to hijack the same Northwest flight on January 21, 1983, and this time demanded to be flown to Afghanistan. When the airplane landed in Portland, he was shot and killed by FBI agents.{{Cite book |last=Mickolus |first=Edward F. |url= |title=The Terrorist List |last2=Simmons |first2=Susan L. |publisher=Praeger Publishers |year=2011 |isbn=0313374716 |location=Westport, CT |pages=273}}

Despite the initiation of the federal Sky Marshal Program the previous year,{{cite web |last=Wu |first=Annie |title= The history of airport security. |url= http://savvytraveler.publicradio.org/show/features/2000/20000915/security.shtml |publisher= American Public Media |website=savvytraveler.publicradio.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206105028/http://savvytraveler.publicradio.org/show/features/2000/20000915/security.shtml |archive-date=December 6, 2010 |access-date= February 14, 2011}} 31 hijackings were committed in U.S. airspace in 1972; 19 of them were for the specific purpose of extorting money. In 15 of the extortion cases, the hijackers also demanded parachutes.{{cite magazine |last= Gladwell |first= Malcolm |magazine=The New Yorker |date=October 1, 2001|title= Safety in the skies |url=http://gladwell.com/safety-in-the-skies/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141218130651/http://gladwell.com/safety-in-the-skies/ |archive-date=December 18, 2014 |access-date= February 14, 2011}} In early 1973, the FAA began requiring airlines to search all passengers and their bags. Amid multiple lawsuits charging that such searches violated Fourth Amendment protections against search and seizure, federal courts ruled that they were acceptable when applied universally and when limited to searches for weapons and explosives. Only two hijackings were attempted in 1973, both by psychiatric patients; one hijacker, Samuel Byck, intended to crash the airliner into the White House to kill President Nixon.{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|p=120}}

File:Db Cooper Vane.JPG

Due to multiple "copycat" hijackings in 1972, the FAA required that the exterior of all {{nowrap|Boeing 727}} aircraft be fitted with a spring-loaded device, later dubbed the "Cooper vane", that prevents lowering of the aft airstair during flight.{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|p=77}} The device consists of a flat blade of aluminum mounted on a pivot, which is spring-loaded to stay out of the way of the door when the craft is at rest, but aerodynamically rotates into position to prevent the door from being opened when the airplane is traveling at flight speeds. Operation of the vane is automatic and cannot be overridden from within the aircraft.{{cite news | title = D.B. Cooper puzzle: the legend turns 30 | last = Gilmore | first = Susan | date = November 22, 2001 | url = http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=cooper22m&date=20011122 | work = The Seattle Times | access-date = January 2, 2008 | archive-date = January 6, 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080106083258/http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=cooper22m&date=20011122 | url-status = live }} As a direct result of the hijacking, the installation of peepholes was mandated in all cockpit doors; this enables the cockpit crew to observe passengers without opening the cockpit door.

File:Boeing 727-51 N838N Piedmont ORD 30.09.79 edited-2.jpg as N838N in 1979]]

File:Always-wondered-what-happened-to-the-d-b-cooper-727-from-v0-yc2nva87d6zb1.jpg

In 1978, the hijacked 727-100 aircraft was sold by Northwest Orient to Piedmont Airlines, where it was re-registered N838N and continued in domestic carrier service.{{cite web |last1=Kaminski-Morrow |first1=David |title=FBI revives hunt for 727 parachute hijacker 'DB Cooper' |url=https://www.flightglobal.com/fbi-revives-hunt-for-727-parachute-hijacker-db-cooper/78059.article |website=www.flightglobal.com |access-date=August 7, 2022}} In 1984, it was purchased by the charter company Key Airlines, re-registered N29KA, and incorporated into the Air Force's civilian charter fleet that shuttled workers between Nellis Air Force Base and the Tonopah Test Range during the F-117 Nighthawk development program.{{sfn|Hengi|2000|pp=56–57}} In 1996, the aircraft was scrapped for parts in a Memphis aircraft boneyard.

{{Main|D. B. Cooper in popular culture}}

Himmelsbach famously termed Cooper a "rotten sleazy crook",{{sfn|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|p=116}} but his bold and unusual crime inspired a cult following that was expressed in song, movies, and literature. Novelty shops sold t-shirts emblazoned with "D. B. Cooper, Where Are You?" Restaurants and bowling alleys in the Pacific Northwest hold regular Cooper-themed promotions and sell tourist souvenirs. A "Cooper Day" celebration has been held at the Ariel General Store and Tavern each November since 1974 with the exception of 2015, the year its owner, Dona Elliot, died.{{cite web|url=https://themountainnewswa.net/2015/11/16/death-in-the-db-cooper-family-dona-elliott/|title=Death in the DB Cooper "family" – Dona Elliott|date=November 17, 2015|publisher=Themountainnewswa.net|access-date=February 12, 2017|archive-date=February 16, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170216184643/https://themountainnewswa.net/2015/11/16/death-in-the-db-cooper-family-dona-elliott/|url-status=live}}

An annual convention, known as CooperCon, is held every year in late November in Seattle, Washington.{{cite news |last1=Gutman |first1=David |title=At CooperCon, D.B. Cooper is a mystery, a passion and a community |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/inside-coopercon-where-d-b-cooper-is-a-mystery-a-passion-and-a-community/ |access-date=1 June 2024 |agency=The Seattle Times |date=18 November 2023}} The event, founded by Cooper researcher Eric Ulis in 2018, is a multi-day gathering of Cooper researchers and enthusiasts. Originally held in Vancouver, Washington,{{cite news |last1=Littman |first1=Adam |title=Cooper Theories Captivate |agency=Longview Daily News |date=Nov 24, 2019}} it was relocated to Seattle beginning in 2023.{{Cite web |last=brucesmith49 |date=2023-11-20 |title=CooperCon 23 delivers new information and good times to DB Cooper World |url=https://themountainnewswa.net/2023/11/20/coopercon-23-delivers-new-information-and-good-times-to-db-cooper-world/ |access-date=2024-04-22 |website=The Mountain News - WA |language=en}} CooperCon replaced the annual D. B. Cooper Days, which ended when the owner of the Ariel Store Pub died and the pub was forced to close.{{cite news |last1=Williams |first1=Allison |title=D.B. Cooper Con Convenes to Solve the 50-Year-Old Mystery |url=https://www.seattlemet.com/news-and-city-life/2021/11/d-b-cooper-convention-true-crime-event-vancouver-november |access-date=14 October 2022 |agency=SeattleMet |date=November 12, 2021}}

{{Portal|Aviation|Oregon|1970s}}

• Cold case
• Gentleman thief
• List of aircraft hijackings
• List of fugitives from justice who disappeared

{{notelist|notes=

{{harvnb|Himmelsbach|Worcester|1986|pp=40–41}}.

When Schaffner's description was relayed to the FBI command post in Portland, agents stated that dynamite sticks are typically brown or beige in color; the eight red cylinders were probably highway or railroad flares. But because they could not be certain, intervention could not be recommended.

}}

{{reflist

| colwidth = 25em

| refs =

{{cite report

|date= November 28, 1971

|title= FBI Records: The Vault: D.B. Cooper Part 64

|url= https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/d.b.-cooper-part-69/view|publisher= Federal Bureau of Investigation

|access-date= July 28, 2022

|archive-date= July 27, 2024

|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240727132742/https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/d.b.-cooper-part-69/view

|url-status= live

}}

{{cite report

|date= December 3, 1971

|title= FBI Records: The Vault: D.B. Cooper Part 64

|url= https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/d.b.-cooper-part-64/view

|publisher= Federal Bureau of Investigation

|access-date= July 26, 2022

|archive-date= July 26, 2022

|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220726181912/https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/d.b.-cooper-part-64/view

|url-status= live

}}

{{cite report

|date= November 26, 1971

|title= FBI Records: The Vault: D.B. Cooper Part 53

|url= https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/d.b.-cooper-part-53/view

|publisher= Federal Bureau of Investigation

|access-date= July 31, 2022|archive-date= July 27, 2024

|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240727133257/https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/d.b.-cooper-part-53/view|url-status= live

}}

{{cite report

|date= November 24, 1971

|title= FBI Records: The Vault: D.B. Cooper Part 67

|url= https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/d.b.-cooper-part-67/view

|publisher= Federal Bureau of Investigation

|access-date= July 27, 2022

|archive-date= July 27, 2022

|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220727041837/https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/d.b.-cooper-part-67/view

|url-status= live

}}

{{cite report

|date= November 26, 1971

|title= FBI Records: The Vault: D.B. Cooper Part 11

|url= https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/D.B.%20Cooper%20Part%2011/view

|publisher= Federal Bureau of Investigation

|access-date= July 26, 2022

|archive-date= July 23, 2022

|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220723113405/https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/D.B.%20Cooper%20Part%2011/view|url-status= live

}}

{{cite report

|url=https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/d.b.-cooper-part-66/view

|title=FBI Records: The Vault: D.B. Cooper Part 66

|date=November 26, 1971

|publisher=Federal Bureau of Investigation

|access-date=August 2, 2022

|archive-date=August 2, 2022

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220802161629/https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/d.b.-cooper-part-66/view

|url-status=live

}}

{{cite report

|date= December 6, 1971

|title= FBI Records: The Vault: D.B. Cooper Part 60

|url= https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/d.b.-cooper-part-60/view |publisher= Federal Bureau of Investigation

|access-date= August 15, 2022

|archive-date= August 15, 2022

|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220815190238/https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/d.b.-cooper-part-60/view

|url-status= live

}}

{{cite report

|date= November 25, 1971

|title= FBI Records: The Vault: D.B. Cooper Part 65

|url= https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/d.b.-cooper-part-65/view

|publisher= Federal Bureau of Investigation

|access-date= August 4, 2022

|archive-date= July 27, 2024|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240727133326/https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/d.b.-cooper-part-65/view

|url-status= live

}}

{{cite report

|date= February 19, 2002

|title= FBI Records: The Vault: D.B. Cooper Part 52

|url= https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/d.b.-cooper-part-52/view

|publisher= Federal Bureau of Investigation

|access-date= August 7, 2022

|archive-date= August 10, 2022

|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220810000544/https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/d.b.-cooper-part-52/view

|url-status= live

}}

{{cite web

|url=http://foia2.fbi.gov/cooper_d_b/cooper_d_b_part07.pdf

|title=FBI Part 7

|access-date=April 23, 2011

|url-status=dead

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721035908/http://foia2.fbi.gov/cooper_d_b/cooper_d_b_part07.pdf

|archive-date=July 21, 2011

}}

{{cite report

|date= April 12, 1972

|title= FBI Records: The Vault: D.B. Cooper Part 24

|url=https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/D.B.%20Cooper%20Part%2024/view

|publisher= Federal Bureau of Investigation

}}

{{cite news

| title= FBI working new lead in D.B. Cooper hijacking case

| date= August 1, 2011

| website = CNN

| url= http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/08/01/fbi.db.cooper/

| url-status= live

| access-date= August 1, 2011

| archive-date= November 10, 2012

| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121110100258/http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/08/01/fbi.db.cooper/

}}

{{cite magazine

| last = Gray | first = Geoffrey

| date = October 21, 2007

| title = Unmasking D.B. Cooper

| magazine = New York

| issn = 0028-7369

| url = https://nymag.com/news/features/39593/

| url-status = live

| access-date = April 24, 2011

| archive-date = October 22, 2007

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071022133823/https://nymag.com/news/features/39593/

}}

{{cite magazine

| last = Pasternak | first = Douglas

| date = July 24, 2000

| title = Skyjacker at large

| magazine = U.S. News & World Report

| volume=129 |issue=4 |pages=72–73

| issn =0041-5537

}}

{{cite web

| title = D.B. Cooper redux: Help us solve the enduring mystery

| date = December 31, 2007

| publisher= Federal Bureau of Investigation

| url = https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2007/december/dbcooper_123107

| url-status = live

| access-date = April 24, 2011

| archive-date = October 17, 2010

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101017185906/https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2007/december/dbcooper_123107

}}

{{cite news

| last = Seven | first = Richard

| date = November 17, 1996

| title = D.B. Cooper – perfect crime or perfect folly?

| newspaper = The Seattle Times

| url = https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19961117/2360262/db-cooper----perfect-crime-or-perfect-folly

| url-status = live

| access-date = April 24, 2011

| archive-date = October 2, 2012

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121002080430/http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19961117&slug=2360262

}}

}}

• {{cite book|title=Myths and Mysteries of Washington|last=Bragg|first=Lynn E.|year=2005|publisher=Globe Pequot|location=Guilford, Connecticut|isbn=978-0762734276}}
• {{cite book |last1=Colbert |first1=Thomas J. |last2=Szollosi |first2=Tom |title=The Last Master Outlaw: How He Outfoxed the FBI Six Times – but Not a Cold Case Team |date=2016 |publisher=Jacaranda Roots Publishing |isbn=978-0997740431 |edition=1st |title-link=The Last Master Outlaw }}
• {{cite book |last1=Edwards |first1=Robert H. |title=D. B. Cooper and Flight 305 |date=2021 |publisher=Schiffer Publishing |location=Atglen, PA |isbn=978-0-7643-6256-9 }}
• {{cite book |last=Gray |first=Geoffrey |author-link=Geoffrey Gray |date=2011b |title=Skyjack: The Hunt for D.B. Cooper |publisher=Crown |isbn=978-0307451293}}
• {{cite book

| last = Gunther | first = Max | author-link = Max Gunther

| year = 1985

| title = D. B. Cooper: What Really Happened

| publisher = Contemporary Books

| location = Chicago

| isbn = 978-0809251803

| oclc = 12103370

}} — Disclaimer: Large amounts of Gunther's content based on alleged interviews with a woman known as "Clara", who claimed to have discovered an injured Cooper two days after the hijacking and lived with him until he died a decade later. This material is considered by the FBI and others as a hoax or fabrication, whether by Gunther or "Clara". For critical analysis, see {{cite news |author=Perry, Douglas |date=November 15, 2018 |title=New suspect in D.B. Cooper skyjacking case unearthed by Army data analyst; FBI stays mum |website=OregonLive.com |publisher=The Portland Oregonian |url=https://www.oregonlive.com/news/erry-2018/11/e18eba2aa14557/new-suspect-in-db-cooper-skyja.html |url-status=live |access-date=September 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211221133411/https://www.oregonlive.com/news/erry-2018/11/e18eba2aa14557/new-suspect-in-db-cooper-skyja.html |archive-date=December 21, 2021 |quote=Others called it straight-up fiction, and for good reason. A key subplot of the book – LeClair and Clara's meet-cute experience in a small, unnamed Northwest town the day after the skyjacking – is obviously untrue. ... Another interpretation: Gunther just made it all up.}}

• {{cite book |last= Hengi |first=B.I. |title= Airlines Remembered |publisher= Midland |year=2000 |isbn= 978-1857800913}}
• {{cite book

| last1 = Himmelsbach

| first1 = Ralph P.

| last2 = Worcester

| first2 = Thomas K.

| year = 1986

| title = Norjak: The Investigation of D. B. Cooper

| url = https://archive.org/details/norjakinvestigat0000himm

| publisher = Norjak Project

| location = West Linn, Oregon

| isbn = 978-0961741501

}} (Himmelsbach was the FBI's chief investigator on the case until his retirement in 1980; "Norjak" is FBI shorthand for the Cooper hijacking.)

• {{cite book

| last = Olson

| first = Kay Melchisedech

| year = 2010

| title = D.B. Cooper Hijacking: Vanishing Act

| publisher = Compass Point Books

| isbn = 978-0756543594

}} (Straightforward accounting of official information and evidence.)

• {{cite book |last1=Wigger |first1=John |title=The Hijacking of American Flight 119: How D. B. Cooper Inspired a Skyjacking Craze and the FBI's Battle to Stop It |date=2023 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-769575-3 |language=en}}

{{Commons}}

{{Prone to spam|date=December 2021}}

• [http://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/ FBI Reading Room Files of the D.B. Cooper Case]

{{Aviation accidents and incidents in 1971}}

{{Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States in the 1970s}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, D. B.}}

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