The man known as Dan Cooper was, of course, a criminal. But the public for what he had done caused, rather, admiration. In the end, no one was hurt in the deadly game he started, and he himself outplayed the state system, receiving a prize of 200 thousand dollars. The problem is that it is still not clear - who is this?

Misterious story Dan Cooper

Journal: Mysteries of History №31, July 2017
Category: Villains
The ransomed offender was not found
Thanksgiving eve did not bode well for the crew of the Boeing 727-51 flying from Portland to Seattle. Of the 36 passengers who arrived on board, a tall man in a dark suit with a tie would probably be one of the most unremarkable personalities, if not for the dark glasses, strange for a cold day. Taking an 18C seat at the very end of the cabin, he put the briefcase on his lap and ordered a bourbon and soda. Eight minutes after takeoff, 23-year-old flight attendant Florence Schaffner served him a drink. The passenger, in turn, thrust an envelope with a message into her hand.
Deciding that the guy was making an appointment with her, the stewardess tucked the note into the pocket of her jacket, but the man leaned closer to her and whispered:
“Miss, you better take a look at the note. I have a bomb. " The content of the note was similar. So at 2:58 pm on Wednesday, November 24, 1971, this story began.

"I have a bomb"

The crew consisted of the commander - 51-year-old William Scott, his namesake - co-pilot Bill Ratazak, flight engineer Harold Anderson and three flight attendants - Alice Hancock, Tina Muklow and the already mentioned Florence Schaffner.
The hijacker's demands were as follows: a ransom of $ 200,000 in $ 20 unmarked bills and two parachute kits. The ticket assigned to the 18C seat was issued in the name of D.B. Cooper. Later, during the negotiations, the offender introduced himself as Dan Cooper. This name was borrowed from the comic book hero - a funny but brave military pilot.
Having contacted the ground, the captain reported what was happening. Then he sent Miss Schaffner to continue negotiations. As proof of his seriousness, the hijacker opened the briefcase for a second, so that the stewardess had time to see the wires, a large battery and red cylinders. He also put forward a new requirement: not to land until money and parachutes are ready.
In Seattle, the plane landed at 17:39 on a remote lane, and the crew immediately turned off the light on the plane: the offender was afraid to get into the sight of snipers. A police officer brought in money and four parachute kits through a door in the rear of the plane. The fact that the criminal now demanded four parachutes instead of two, the police were intrigued.
Cooper released the passengers and two flight attendants, so that, counting the two pilots, flight engineer and flight attendant Tina Muklow, he now had exactly four hostages. The hijacker demanded to refuel. When the process dragged on, he became very nervous and almost shot the negotiator who was leaning towards him, who took it into his head to read the articles of the code that listed the types of punishment for air piracy.
After the threat of an explosion, the plane was safely refueled, and Cooper announced that he intended to fly to Mexico City. It was then that the FBI agents built the most likely scenarios for his actions. It was unrealistic to expect to get asylum in Mexico and live happily with tons of money. And the distance from Seattle to Mexico City was too long, so on the way it was still necessary to refuel. The fact that a criminal is an adequate person was evidenced by the rationality of his actions. So, one of two things: either he was going to throw out the crew members with parachutes and land the plane on his own in the wilderness, or he wanted to parachute himself, and asked for four sets to distract attention. In both cases, the possibility was assumed that one of the crew members was in cahoots with Cooper, although the functions of such an accomplice looked unclear.

Jump to nowhere

The perpetrator carefully checked the parachutes and counted the money, making sure the police hadn't put any marks on them. However, the banknote numbers, of course, were rewritten. Finally, at 19:40, Cooper ordered the plane to be lifted into the air, and already during takeoff sent Tina Muklow, who was sitting next to him, to the cockpit, where she should have stayed.
About half an hour later, a light on the control panel flashed, signaling that Cooper was trying to open the door at the rear of the plane. The fact that the attempt was successful became clear from the changed pressure in the cockpit. When the stewardess and one of the pilots appeared in the cabin, the criminal was no longer there, and streams of air rushed through the open door.
The Boeing was accompanied by US Air Force fighters, but the hijacker hoped that they would not shoot at a lone parachutist, because the pilots simply could not know if they were dealing with a criminal or a hostage. However, they did not notice the parachutist at all.
Of course, no one was going to let the criminal off his trick so easily. After making calculations, the police concluded that the jump was made at 20:13, when the plane was over the southwestern part of Washington state. Accordingly, Cooper was supposed to land 48 kilometers north of Portland. The terrain was combed with the utmost care. But they didn’t find anything, and in general they didn’t have a chance to find it.
The hijacked Boeing sat down only two hours after Cooper jumped out of it. While the FBI agents and the police were examining the salon, while they were making calculations ... Cooper, presumably, thought out the escape routes and, most likely, hid some vehicle.
True, according to aviation experts, the chances of surviving a jump in those weather conditions did not exceed 50%. However, in case of death, the search engines would probably find the remains of the criminal and his prey. But nothing was found: not a corpse, not a briefcase with a bomb, not a suitcase with money, not two of the four parachutes that disappeared from the cabin.
With the help of numerous witnesses, a composite of the criminal was compiled, replicated throughout America. Three weeks after the hijacking, when the media hype was at its peak, a letter signed by D.B. Cooper: “I'm not a modern Robin Hood at all. Unfortunately, I only have 14 months to live. Hijacking an airplane was for me the fastest and most profitable way to ensure the last days of my life. " Further, the criminal assured that he would never be caught, that he was not going to lie low in some wilderness, and that in his life he had not even received a fine for incorrect parking. Naturally, there were great doubts about the authorship of the letter. But no one succeeded in either confirming or refuting it.

A story without an ending

Based on the knowledge shown by the criminal in the structure of the aircraft, experts suggested that at one time he either worked for the Boeing company, or took part in the creation of the airliner as an employee of one of the contractors.
At the same time, the version about the criminal's service in the Air Force or paratroopers was also being worked out. This is how Robert Raekstro, a California resident who disappeared in 1965, appeared as a candidate. civil aviation and had problems with the police, who arrested him on suspicion of fraud and possession of explosives.
Another candidate was considered missing two years before the incident, grocery store manager Dick Lepsi, who was involved in skydiving while serving in the army and outwardly very similar to the guy from the composite photo. Both versions did not have a sequel.
Interest in the identity and fate of the hijacker flared with renewed vigor in 1980, when farmers father and son Ingram found on the banks of the Columbia River northwest of Portland a stack of faded $ 20 bills, the numbers of which coincided with the bills from Cooper's ransom. A new search was organized, money was found for another 4 thousand dollars, but no other traces were found.
Did Cooper survive, and if so, how did he spend the last months or years of his life? There are no answers to these questions. In 2016, the plane hijacking case was officially closed, although it still serves as a source of inspiration for action writers and detectives.
By the way, after the story of the hijacking, all Boeing-727 aircraft were equipped with a device that, deviating during the flight under the influence of the incoming air flow, prevents the tail door from opening. This device is called the "Cooper paddle".

July 13th, 2016

How many times have we seen films in which good or bad people hijack a plane, take something out of it, or for some other reason jump out with a parachute. Nice crime - try to catch it! Who would have thought that this could happen in reality.

One man managed to complete the perfect hijacking passenger liner... He managed not only to receive the requested 200 thousand dollars, but also to leave the plane unnoticed. They searched for him for 30 years, but to no avail. And today news came that the case was closed, but not in connection with the capture of the criminal.

"After one of the longest and most thorough investigations in the history of our (FBI) existence, on July 8, 2016, the FBI redirected resources allocated to the plane hijacker to focus on other investigative tasks," the bureau's website says.

Let's find out the details of this crime and the subsequent search for the criminal ...

Bomb in bag

On November 24, 1971, a short brown-eyed brunette in his forties walked into the Portland airport building (Oregon) with a small bag on his shoulder. He was dressed modestly and discreetly: a light black raincoat, a suit of the same color in a classic cut, a carefully ironed white shirt, a narrow tie with a mother-of-pearl clip, suede boots. After standing in a small queue at the ticket office, the man bought a ticket for flight # 305 to Seattle in the name of Dan Cooper. Then, wearing dark glasses, confidently and leisurely walked into the waiting room. It was crowded here: on the eve of Thanksgiving, hundreds of Americans flocked to their family and friends to celebrate the national holiday together. In this hustle and bustle, no one paid attention to the lonely inconspicuous passenger.

In the Boeing 727, Dan got a seat in the 18C, at the rear of the cabin, not far from the stewardess's hinged outboard seat. The liner took off exactly on schedule, at 14:50, broke through a dense layer of clouds and lay down on the course. Cooper asked the flight attendant Florence Schaffner to bring him bourbon and soda. When she completed the order, he handed her a note. A pretty girl, popular with men, thought that another boyfriend had decided to flirt with her, and hid the message in her pocket. But the passenger, stopping her, whispered:

Still hoping it was a stupid prank, she unfolded the note. In large block letters it was written in a felt-tip pen: “I have a bomb in my briefcase, I will gladly use it if I deem it necessary. You need to sit down next to me. Your plane has been hijacked. "

The stewardess was forced to obey. Sitting in an empty chair next to Dan, she asked to see the bomb. Dan opened his bag and Florence saw eight red cylinders wired to a battery. Closing the bag, the hijacker dictated his demands: $ 200,000 in unmarked twenty-dollar bills, four parachutes, and an airplane refueling in Seattle. In case of refusal, the plane will be blown up together with the crew and passengers.

The flight attendant reported the incident to the crew commander, he contacted the airline's management, and it was decided to satisfy all the hijacker's demands.

FBI Composite Image of Dan Cooper

Desperate Night Leap

At 17:39, the Boeing landed at Seattle-Tacoma Airport. Cooper, fearing snipers, ordered the lights in the cabin to be turned off. Then an FBI agent, disguised as an airport employee, passed a bag of money and parachutes to the hijacker through the back door. The secret services were a lot puzzled why Dan needed four parachutes, and not military, but sports - after all, no one had jumped from the cabin of a passenger liner - but they did not solve this riddle.

After making sure that everything required was in place, the hijacker released the passengers and the flight attendant Schaffner. The crew remained in their places. An official from the Federal Aviation Administration tried to sneak aboard to explain to Cooper what awaits him for the crime, but Dan refused further negotiations.

At 19:40, the refueled plane took off and headed for Mexico City. After that, Cooper presented his new requirements to the crew, showing his knowledge of flying and aerodynamics. In particular, he ordered to fly with the flaps lowered by 15 percent, the landing gear extended, at a speed of slightly less than 90 meters per second and not to rise above two thousand meters.

At 20:13, putting on a parachute and attaching a bag of money to the body with lines from another (the other two remained in the cabin), Dan jumped out of the plane through the open rear door. The US Air Force fighter following the airliner did not notice the moment of the jump: it is difficult to make out a dark figure in a veil of rain. Nobody heard more about Cooper.

The FBI speculated that the perpetrator had escaped over southeastern Washington and landed near Lake Mervyn (artificial reservoir). The plane at this time was covered with dense clouds, and the military pilots who controlled the fighters did not notice the paratrooper.

The Boeing 727 landed safely in Renault with the rear ramp down. The airstrip was immediately surrounded by FBI agents. They climbed aboard and examined the cabin carefully, but found only 2 of the 4 parachutes. The bomb case and money were not found. The area where the hijacker was supposed to have landed was thoroughly combed, but no traces of the parachutist's landing were found.

All people who spoke to Cooper on board the plane were thoroughly questioned. A composite sketch was made from their words, but no one was able to identify a specific person from it. In the spring of 1972, immediately after the thaw, a team of FBI agents, 200 soldiers from Fort Lewis and civilian volunteers once again thoroughly combed the alleged landing area of ​​the air raider.

The bottom of Lake Mervyn has also been extensively explored. Two local women stumbled upon a skeleton in an abandoned barn in Clark County. But it was identified as the remains of a teenage girl who was kidnapped and killed a few days before the aerial incident. In the end, the authorities were forced to stop searching, as time passed, and they did not give any results.

In late 1971, the FBI forwarded the banknote numbers issued to Cooper to banks, casinos, racetracks, and other major monetary organizations. The numbers were distributed in most countries of the world, but the stolen bills were never found. In 1972, two men used counterfeit $ 20 bills with the listed serial numbers. They were driven by the desire to become famous, posing as the famous air hijacker. However, these gentlemen were quickly exposed and arrested by the police for making counterfeit bills.

Is Cooper dead?

What happened to this desperate air pirate who managed to fool both the FBI and the Air Force? Having studied in more detail the data of the black box and determined the coordinates of the plane during the hijacker's jump, the experts decided that he had little chance of surviving. Dan jumped over southeastern Washington State. He had to land in a hard-to-reach area, in mountains with snowy peaks, the slopes of which are covered with dense forest. In addition, the temperature overboard was below freezing, and a light suit and raincoat could not protect from the cold.

The area was combed search groups special services, police, military units. But the culprit - neither alive nor dead - was not found: no trace!

Three weeks after the hijacking of the plane, the Los Angeles Times received a letter that read: “I'm not a modern-day Robin Hood. Unfortunately, I only have 14 months to live. Hijacking an airplane was for me the fastest and most profitable way to secure the last days of my life. I didn't rob an airline because I thought it was romantic or heroic. For such nonsense, I would never take such a huge risk. I do not condemn people who hate me for my act, I don’t condemn those who would like to see me caught and punished, especially since this will never happen. I had no doubt that I would not be caught. I have flown various routes several times already. I'm not going to lay low in some old town, lost in the wilderness of the forest. And do not think that I am a psychopath: in my entire life I have not even received a fine for parking incorrectly. "

The controversy about who wrote this letter does not subside until now: either Dan himself, or someone worked under his brand.

20 dollar bills found by Brian Ingram on the Columbia River

A discovery made in 1980 by father and son, Harold and Brian Ingram, added fuel to the fire. On the banks of the Columbia River northwest of Portland, an eight-year-old boy discovered a scattering of faded twenty-dollar bills. Obviously, they were carried here by the current. In total, the Ingrams raised six thousand dollars. The experts determined that this was part of the money given to the hijacker. After that, all doubts about the death of Cooper disappeared, and the area was flooded with hordes of treasure hunters, hoping to profit from the rest of the ransom. But nothing else was found.

FBI officials believe that the perpetrator was very careful and shrewd. He asked for 4 parachutes so that the local authorities thought that he would make the hostages jump with him. The perpetrator chose the Boeing 727-100 because it had a rear side ladder and had its engines high enough to jump without the risk of being burned by jet fumes.

At the same time, experts noted that Cooper did not have professional skydiving skills. An experienced skydiver would not jump at night in strong winds and overboard temperatures of -57 degrees Celsius in a coat and moccasins. It would be too risky. The hijacker didn’t even ask for a helmet. He took with him a work parachute and a reserve parachute, but the second was training, that is, sewn. An experienced professional simply could not help but check the condition of the parachutes before jumping.

The FBI has categorically asserted and maintains that Dan Cooper could not have survived to begin with. Jumping in mountainous terrain without a map, without the necessary equipment, in dire weather conditions, means initially condemning yourself to death.

No, he survived!

Lyle Christiansen thinks so. He believes that under the pseudonym "Cooper" his brother Kenneth is hiding. In the army, he was a paratrooper, which means he knew how to jump with a parachute and handle explosives. And he lived exactly in the area where Dan Cooper jumped, and he knew her well.

In 1972, he unexpectedly bought a house for $ 25,000, then another plot. He liked to have a glass of bourbon in the evening and smoked Raleigh cigarettes. He worked as a steward for the very company that Dan had robbed. And by the way, his favorite drink was bourbon. Before his death, the brother hinted to Lyle about some dark spot in his past. And then Lyle saw on TV a program about Cooper's crime, and he recognized the features of his brother in the shown composite image of the car thief. He wrote about his discovery to the FBI and even told why the terrorist demanded a ransom in twenty dollar bills. It turns out that during the Great Depression, the father of Kenneth and Lyle took his kids to the fair and there, participating in a boxing match, he won $ 100, and he was given the winnings in twenty. The brothers remembered this event for the rest of their lives. However, the FBI completely rejected Christiansen's version.

In 1994, dying of cancer, he told his brother Lyle: "There is one thing I would like to tell you, but unfortunately I cannot do it." Subsequently, Lyle began to argue that his brother is very similar to the composite made in 1971. However, the FBI was extremely skeptical about such a statement. His staff said that Christiansen bears little resemblance to the plane hijacker and could not be considered a suspect.

There is a version why the air pirate chose the pseudonym Dan Cooper. That was the name of the popular hero of the Belgian comics, test pilot of the Canadian Air Force, who participated in many adventures and performed an incredible number of feats. These comics were never translated into English, and the citizens of the United States did not have the opportunity to get to know them. But these little books were sold in Canada. What if the legendary hijacker was Canadian?

There are many versions, but the secret of Dan Cooper has not yet been solved. However, his name is immortalized in the history of aviation. After this incident, Boeing-727 aircraft began to be equipped with a device that prevents the opening of the exit in the tail section of the aircraft when it is in flight. This device is called the "Cooper paddle".

In 2011, the FBI obtained evidence that is expected to make significant progress in the investigation into the famous hijacking of a Boeing 727 plane in 1971, according to The Seattle Times.

According to the FBI spokesman Ayn Sandalo Deitrich (Ayn Sandalo Deitrich), the investigation received a tip from law enforcement agencies on a person with important information about the crime committed by a man named Dan B. Cooper. An informant handed over to the FBI an item related to a crime; he was sent to a laboratory for research. Investigators hoped to match the prints that Cooper might have left on the object with samples found on the plane.

According to Dietrich, the find was the most promising trail ever to find the hijacker. At the same time, she then noted that it was not yet possible to talk about a close solution of the crime.

And today the FBI officially announced the end of the investigation on its website. "After one of the longest and most thorough investigations in our (FBI's) history, on July 8, 2016, the FBI redirected resources allocated to the Dan Cooper case to focus on other investigative tasks," the bureau's website says.

The statement notes that the FBI received "a huge amount of information" from citizens, but it was not possible to establish the identity of the criminal.

sources

The hijacking of a Boeing 727 was a terrorist attack that took place in America on November 24, 1971. The plane hijacker, who identified himself as DB Cooper, managed to secure the desired ransom of as much as $ 200,000 without being caught and virtually unknown. This hijacker managed to release the passengers, make the pilots take off again, and he calmly jumped out with a parachute about 50 kilometers northeast of Portland. What happened to him next is practically unknown.

Before Thanksgiving in the United States, a man who traveled under the name Dan Cooper boarded a Boeing 727. Cooper got a C18 seat almost at the end of the cabin. Immediately after the plane left Portland airport, the passenger handed the note to the young flight attendant, she was just sitting in one of the reclining chairs that was attached to the door at the back of Byng. The girl thought that another boyfriend was giving her his phone number, which is why she hid the note in her pocket. But, he leaned over her and whispered: “Miss, you better read this piece of paper. I have a bomb. " The note said: “I have a bomb in my briefcase, I will gladly use it if I deem necessary. You need to sit down next to me. Your plane has been officially hijacked. " In addition to this text, the note indicated the ransom amount in the amount of $ 200,000, it should be twenty unmarked bills, as well as two sets of parachutes. There were also clear instructions on how the parachutes and money were to be delivered. And, of course, it was written that if they did not fulfill at least one of them, the plane would be blown up. That is why we decided to cooperate with the hijacker. The flight attendant was instructed to find out if the bomb was real. Cooper went to the world, and agreed to show her an open briefcase, it contained many cylinders, a battery and wires. What she saw convinced the girl that the bomb was real.

At five o'clock in the evening, airport traffic control transmitted a message that all Cooper's wishes would be fulfilled. The hijacker allowed the pilot to land the plane at Seattle-Tacoma Airport, near Seattle. At 17.39 the plane landed. Cooper ordered the pilot to turn off the lights on the plane so the snipers could not see what was happening. The hijacker ordered one person to bring the parachutes and money. An airport clerk brought all the money, as well as 4 parachutes through the door in the back of the Boeing. Then Cooper dismissed all 36 passengers and the flight attendant Schaffner. The main crew was not released. The FBI office was puzzled about what Cooper's future plans and actions would be. In addition, the agents were wondering if Cooper had an accomplice and why he needed four parachutes. In the history of hijackings until this day, there have been no cases of a ransomware jumping off a commercial plane. While the plane was refueling, a Federal Aviation Administration official who wanted to explain to Cooper the consequences of air piracy went to the plane's door and asked Cooper's permission to board the plane. While refueling the plane at the airport, the hijacker began to suspect something, because refueling had already lasted 15 minutes. After announcing a possible explosion, the team sped up and quickly finished refueling.

At 7:40 pm, after Cooper carefully checked the money and parachutes, the plane took off. A couple of minutes later, the aircraft crew saw the flash of an indicator that indicates the opening of one of the doors. So Cooper opened the back door of the plane and jumped out. From that moment on, no one else ever saw him. FBI agents believe Cooper made the jump at 20:13. At the moment when Cooper jumped out, the plane was passing just through the zone violent storm... That is why, due to poor visibility, the jump could not be detected by the US Air Force fighters who were chasing the plane. Two hours after takeoff from Seattle-Tacoma Airport, the plane managed to land safely in Renault, with the rear ladder lowered. By this point, the airport and the entire airstrip were surrounded by police and FBI agents. After talking with the pilot, they were able to establish that Cooper disappeared in an unknown direction. Agents and police checked the entire plane, looking for evidence and traces, they were able to recover several fingerprints, and also found two of the four parachutes. The police thoroughly combed the entire area, but they did not find anything - no briefcase, no bomb, no money, no parachutes, not Cooper himself.

In the early 1980s, a family vacationing on the Columbia River found a bundle of old, faded twenty-dollar bills. The police made the assumption that they were brought in by the current from above. In total, about six thousand dollars were found. Experts have confirmed that these are bills from Cooper's packs. After that, many finally believed that he died during the jump. This case had a wide resonance in the press, and after many years it became a popular topic for playing around in cinema and literature. So, for example, the initials of the hijacker are identical to the initials of the main character of the famous TV series Twin Peaks, who was Dale's FBI agent Bartholomew Cooper.

Warehouse 13 also mentions the DB Cooper parachute case. And in the equally popular TV series Bones, one of the characters suggests that the found remains belong exactly to D.B. Cooper. The same theme was played up in the series "Impacts", where the heroes undertake to investigate the case of a famous hijacker. In the popular comic "Dilbert" by Scott Adams, the character Dogbert shows in his "museum of the strange and wonderful" all that remains of DB Cooper's body, these were legs sticking out of the ground, as well as an open parachute. This case remains one of the most famous unsolved hijacking cases. A lot of people believed that Cooper was dead, but there are also quite a few who believe or want to believe that this man's life was long and bright. And as one of the characters in Hollywood blockbusters, he managed to survive, being smarter than all the FBI agents and police. And he is basking somewhere on white beaches... After all, neither the body nor the rest of the money was found. And there is a little bit, but 194 thousand US dollars. At that time, the amount was stunning.

Robber Dan Cooper is the most mysterious criminal in the world. Although Jack was an ordinary maniac, of which there are now dozens all over the world, and Dan remained the only one who made the dream of millions come true - "so that we have everything, and we have nothing for it."

Although it is likely that he made his dream come true for only a few minutes, but in the memory of people he remained the personification of a successful robber. The most curious thing is that until now no one knows who this lucky man really was, what his real name is and, most importantly, what happened to him.

It is only known for certain how he looked and what he was wearing. But there is not a single photograph of Cooper. There is only an image from the composite, which captures an ordinary, nothing particularly remarkable person with a rather ordinary appearance. Eyewitnesses noted his protruding ears, thin lips, brown eyes, wide forehead and thinning hair. It was described that he was dressed rather conservatively and inconspicuously: a black cloak, a black suit, a thin tie and a felt hat on his head. In those years, in such an outfit it was easier than ever to get lost in the crowd - this is how thousands of Americans dressed.

When he bought an air ticket to Seattle at Portland airport for $ 18.52 on November 24, 1971, he called himself Dan Cooper. This is not John Johnson, but also a very common name and surname in the United States. That was the time of "unafraid aviators", the problem of air terrorism did not yet exist, so it never occurred to anyone to let passengers pass through a metal detector, and their belongings through an X-ray machine. As a result, Dan Cooper went through security quickly and without delay and took his 18C seat on Northwest Airlines Flight 305 from Portland to Seattle. The flight was short, only half an hour of summer, the weather was good, the Boeing 727-100 was quite modern, the crew was experienced, so there was no sign of anything extraordinary in this ordinary flight.

Dan Cooper - Airplane Hijacking

Even before the turbines hummed and the plane started to move, Dan Cooper asked a passing 23-year-old flight attendant Florence Schaffner to bring him a bourbon. This, too, was not unusual, many passengers brighten up their air travel with a dose of alcohol. And even the fact that the passenger from the 18C seat put Schaffner's note in his pocket when she put the glass of bourbon on his table was nothing extraordinary either. Bored passengers now and then tried to entertain themselves in flight with a light flirtation with the charming Florence. Therefore, she did not express her emotions in any way and did not begin to get the message.

But then the passenger said quietly: "Better read the note, miss." The girl took out a piece of paper and read it. “I have a bomb in my briefcase,” it was written in block letters. - If necessary, I am ready to blow it up. I want you to sit next to me. This is a robbery".

Florence obeyed and sat down next to her, and the passenger, just as quietly and calmly, began to state his demands to her. There were not many of them: 200 thousand dollars in twenty dollar bills and 4 parachutes, of which two were main and two were spare. The stewardess conveyed his wishes to the crew commander. He asked her to make sure that the robber was not bluffing.

Therefore, Schaffner returned to the passenger and asked to show her the bomb. He did not argue and opened the briefcase so that the stewardess could see the red cylinders in it that looked like sticks of dynamite, a bunch of wires and a battery.

The pilots decided not to take responsibility with checking if this works explosive device, and reported everything to the ground in the flight service. There, too, they decided not to risk the lives of passengers and promised to fulfill the requirements of the robber. When the liner landed in Seattle, Cooper really got everything he ordered: 200 thousand dollars in twenty and parachutes.

After that, he allowed the 36 passengers on board and the stewardess Florence, who was on board, to leave the Boeing 727-100. Now on the plane, besides him, only the second flight attendant Tina McLough, Captain Scott, his assistant and navigator remained.

After refueling the Boeing in this composition, they took off. Dan Cooper was not a mindless raider. His new requirements looked very competent: the direction of flight to Mexico City, an altitude of no more than 3 thousand meters (he warned that he would check it with his hand-held altimeter), a speed of 320 km / h, keep the flaps at an angle of 15 degrees. He also ordered the crew to sit in the cockpit and not look out into the cabin.

Cooper's blade

After some time, a light flashed on the instrument panel in the cockpit, indicating the opening of the rear ladder. Captain Scott asked Cooper on the intercom what had happened, without receiving an answer, carefully opened the door and looked into the salon. Passenger seats were empty. Dan Cooper clearly jumped with a parachute through the rear escape exit. The only thing left behind is a pearlescent tie and eight Raleigh cigarette butts.

It is curious that Dan Cooper inscribed his name in the history of aviation not only by the fact that he committed the only unsolved robbery in the air, but also by the fact that after his crime, all Boeing 727s were equipped with a special device that did not allow opening the emergency hatch in flight. tail section of the aircraft. And this device is called "Cooper's paddle"!

The main intrigue of this story lies in the further fate of Dan Cooper. Surprisingly, but true: the two fighters accompanying the Boeing 727-100 did not notice the paratrooper. And searches on the ground, in which, in addition to the police, more than 400 soldiers participated, did not bring any results. Dan Cooper landed in an inaccessible area covered with forests and mountains with snowy peaks. FBI agents have checked and interrogated over a thousand people. But this did not give a single real clue.

The fate of the plane robber

True, almost 20 years after this crime, in 1980, father and son Harold and Brian Ingraham found on the Columbia River, northwest of Portland, a bundle of old, faded twenty-dollar bills, presumably brought by the current from above. The Ingrams gave the $ 5,800 find to the police. Allegedly, experts have established that these are the very twenty that were given to Dan Cooper as a ransom for the lives of passengers and crew.

Until now, the most likely version is that Dan Cooper died on landing. Before the jump, he did not check the parachutes, the main one was in serviceable, and the spare one was inoperative (wired). The bad ones played against him weather and difficult terrain below. It was believed that he simply drowned in a lake or swamp. But for the beauty of the story, Dan Cooper had to survive and happily spend the rest of his life with the looted money.

Among the most likely candidates for the role of the surviving Cooper was a certain Kenneth Peter Christiansen, who was a paratrooper in the army and knew how to handle a parachute and explosives. He lived in Washington state, where Dan Cooper made his intriguing plane jump in 1971. And in 1972, it suddenly turned out that the poor Kenneth Christiansen had 14 thousand dollars to buy a house in Bonnie Lake, a small town in the mountains, and a year later he bought another piece of land next to the house.

Curiously, before retirement, Christiansen worked as a steward at Northwest Airlines, the same one that Dan Cooper had robbed. Kenneth's favorite alcohol was bourbon, and he smoked Raleigh cigarettes. According to legend, on his deathbed, Kenneth whispered to his brother Lyle: - I have to tell you something from my past, but I cannot do it!

Some time later, 77-year-old Lyle Christiansen saw in the television program "Unsolved Crimes" a plot about the aerial robbery of Dan Cooper. When the composite of the criminal was shown on TV, Lyle was stunned, so much the image resembled a photo of his brother Kenneth. And it became clear to him what he wanted to tell before his death.

Lyle did not remain silent and wrote about his discovery to the FBI. And he even made an interesting suggestion why Dan Cooper demanded a ransom precisely in twenty-dollar bills. When he and Ken were young, during the Great Depression, their father took them to a fair and there, winning the boxing ring, earned $ 100, a fortune for their family. The cash prize was given out in twenty, which Lyle and Ken will remember for the rest of their lives.

“After one of the longest and most thorough investigations in the entire history of the FBI, on July 8, 2016, it was decided to redirect the resources allocated to the case. Dan Cooper to focus on other investigative tasks, "- said in a message on the FBI website.

As noted in the statement of the department, over 45 years, a huge amount of various operational information has been processed, but it was not possible to establish the identity of the criminal.

The story, which to this day attracts the attention of lovers of secrets and riddles, began in 1971, on the eve of Thanksgiving.

Passenger with a bomb in a briefcase

On November 24, a man who checked in as Dan B. Cooper boarded a Northwest Airlines flight at Portland Airport.

In the cabin, he took the 18C seat, and shortly after takeoff handed the note to the young flight attendant Florence Schafner. The girl, thinking that the man had decided to meet her, put the note in her pocket, but the passenger said: “Miss, you'd better look at the note. I have a bomb. "

The note read: “I have a bomb in my briefcase. I will use it if I deem necessary. I want you to sit next to me. Your plane has been hijacked. "

The note also called for $ 200,000 in $ 20 unmarked bills and two sets of parachutes.

To prove that he was serious about his intentions, Dan B. Cooper opened his briefcase, in which the stewardess saw red top hats, a large battery, and wires that convinced her that the bomb was real.

$ 200,000 plus parachutes

In order to save the lives of passengers and crew, the authorities decided to fulfill the demands of the invader.

The plane landed in international airport Seattle-Tacoma, near Seattle, Washington.

An employee delivered $ 200,000 and parachutes through a door at the rear of the plane. Then Cooper dismissed all passengers and the flight attendant Shafner... The pilot, co-flight attendant, co-pilot and flight engineer remained on board.

Attempts to negotiate with Cooper were unsuccessful. The intelligence agents were at a loss, trying to understand why the hijacker requested two sets of parachutes and whether he could have an accomplice on board. In addition, no one in history has ever tried to jump out of a hijacked passenger airliner with a parachute.

It was not possible to detain Cooper during the landing in Seattle. After refueling, the plane took off and headed for Mexico. Cooper then ordered the second flight attendant, who remained in the cabin, to go to the cockpit and be there.

Jumped and disappeared

After some time, the crew, according to the readings of the instruments, discovered that Cooper had opened the tail door of the plane. The hijacker jumped with a parachute and disappeared forever.

The jump is believed to have taken place over southwestern Washington state. While Cooper jumped out, the plane was passing through a severe storm zone, shielded from any light sources from the ground by a canopy of clouds. It was not possible to track the parachutist.

The Boeing returned safely to Seattle-Tacoma Airport. The FBI agents who examined the plane did not find any evidence that could lead to the identity of the culprit.

A search in the supposed landing area also yielded nothing. In the hands of the police was only a composite of the hijacker, compiled from the words of passengers and crew members.

Composite image of the hijacker, compiled from the words of passengers and crew members. Photo: Reuters

Three weeks after the hijacking of the plane, a letter arrived at the Los Angeles Times. It read the following:

“I'm not a modern Robin Hood at all. Unfortunately, I only have fourteen months left to live. Hijacking an airplane was for me the fastest and most profitable way to secure the last days of my life. I didn't rob an airline because I thought it was romantic or heroic. For such nonsense, I would never take such a huge risk. I do not condemn people who hate me for my act, I don’t condemn those who would like to see me caught and punished, especially since this will never happen. I had no doubt that I would not be caught. I have flown various routes several times already. I'm not going to lay low in some old town, lost in the wilderness of the forest. And do not think that I am a psychopath: in my life I have not even received a fine for parking incorrectly. "

Money in the river as proof of death

It is believed that this letter was not written by Cooper himself, but by a certain joker. However, it was also not possible to identify the joker.

According to the main intelligence agency, Dan B. Cooper did not survive the jump, crashing on landing. In 1980, father and son Harold and Brian Ingraham found on the Columbia River, northwest of Portland, a stack of old, faded twenty-dollar bills, presumably brought by the current from above, from the north. The check showed that this money is indeed part of the ransom given to the hijacker.

These dollars are the most compelling evidence to date that the hijacker known as Dan B. Cooper has died. The remains of Mr. Cooper, as well as any other traces, could not be found.

These dollars are the most compelling evidence to date that the hijacker known as Dan B. Cooper has died. Photo: Reuters

Guitar strap did not reveal a secret

Five years ago, in 2011, a certain Marla Wynn Cooper gave the FBI a leather guitar strap made by her uncle. Mrs. Cooper believed that her uncle was the mysterious hijacker of the Boeing.

According to her, the uncle, who was going to solve the family's financial problems, left somewhere in 1971 on the eve of Thanksgiving, and later returned with numerous injuries. At the same time, he allegedly confessed to his brother, Marla Wynn's father, that he had hijacked the plane.

Marla Winn Cooper revealed that her uncle's last time saw in 1972, but, according to her, he lived happily for more than a quarter of a century, having died in 1999.

The strap provided by the woman, however, turned out to be unsuitable for research, so it was not possible to confirm or deny the new version.

Over the past 45 years, the hijacker Cooper has become a cultural phenomenon in the United States. His name and history have been referenced in numerous books, films and TV series. The authors of some of them offer their own versions of solving the mystery of this crime.

All this, however, has nothing to do with reality. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation decided that it would not be appropriate for its agents to resemble the characters in The X-Files. Mr. Cooper's mystery has finally been put into the hands of amateur enthusiasts. Perhaps they will be more fortunate.