Monday, July 16, 2012

D. B. Cooper, By Kenneth Lafler

   

    




    



        In 1971 one of  the most  infamous  skyjackings in commercial aviation  occurred in Seattle. This crime was committed  by
a man using the indentity of D. B. Cooper.


 

       D. B.  Cooper originally used  Dan  Cooper as his false identity . D. B. Cooper was the name that accidentally went out on the news  
and the name stayed  with the case. 


 
       



'
     On Thanksgiving  Eve  1971,  a Boeing  727  was  on the runway  
 preparing to  make  a  routine run  from  Portland to  Seattle. This was usually a thirty five minute flight, but instead would last two hours  with  Cooper holding the  plane  and  passengers  hostage.


   

    After take off , Cooper  quietly  
slipped  a  note  to a stewardess saying  
he  had  a  bomb  on board  and would detonate it  unless he was given  4 parachutes  and  200,000  dollars in unmarked bills. 

 
    Cooper  seemed  to  display  an advanced  knowledge of the 727. Ralph  Himellsback was the FBI  agent assigned to the  case.  Himellsback felt  Copper  appeared to  have  a military  back ground and a  high degree of pilot training.



 

   On  arriving  at  Sea-Tac International  Airport  the  passengers  were allowed  to disembark  and  the  money was 
delivered. The serial  numbers  had  already  been  recorded by the FBI.


 
    The  plane  took off again  at  7:36 P M.
 
Shortly after  take  off  Cooper  ordered  the  crew  to remain in the front compartment of the  plane.
 

 

   About  five minutes  after this the crew  felt  a  sudden  loss  of  cabin pressure, meaning Cooper had  open  the  rear  hatch  to the  stairs.

    No  one actually  saw  Cooper  parachute out of the plane, but  he  picked the  perfect  place  to  hide when  he  landed.

    He  selected  the  Merwin  dam  area located in Oregon to  parachute  into. This area  is comprised  of extremely  rough  terrain and large boggy areas . It would be very difficult to conduct a ground search in this dam and lake area.

   Also Cooper parachuted out of the plane at night. Merwin Dam, which had lights across the  entire dam and were constantly lit, provided Cooper the perfect landmark. By seeing the lit dam, Cooper would have known exactly were he was.

   Cooper also display an advanced understanding of parachutes and how to use them, having chosen military chutes and also a more compact, lighter  type of equipment.

  


   Most experts on parachutes felt that if  Cooper was able to pull the  rip cord  and cleared the plane, he probably survived  the jump and landing.

     

   Survival  Experts  also  felt Cooper  could  have survived  indefinitely in the  wooded  area with plenty of water and vegetation .

   Cooper  seemed  to  know  a  great  deal  about operating a  727.  When  the  plane  took off again  he ordered the wing flaps set at  15  degrees  and the landing  gear lowered  creating more drag on the  plane slowing it down .This created a more suitable parachuting situation. Had the plane been going faster he probably would have been ripped apart.



    The  727  was  used  extensively  in Viet Nam for airlifts, and medi-vac of the wounded to hospitals, leading investigators  to believe  he  was possibly  a  pilot  during the Viet Nam war years.

     In  1980  a  boy digging  in the sand  by the Columbia  river  found  5000  dollars  in the mud.
This  was traced to the marked bills Cooper was carrying. 

  

  This  was the only money  ever to  surface of  the  200,000  dollars .

     
           Little known facts  about the case. 

  The  authorities  felt  for  quite  a while  that  D. B. Copper  and the  Zodiac Killer  were one and  the same person due to  similarities in the cases. Several people were actually investigated on these grounds. 

  D. B. Cooper completely disappeared after he parachuted from the aircraft, and only the  5000 dollars found near the Columbia river  was ever  recovered. No other marked bills  ever surfaced.

  Coopers remains were never found  and neither was a parachute in the area where he supposedly landed.

   If Cooper wasn't killed by the jump and landing,  and the marked bills never were recovered , nor his parachute,  then what did happen to D. B. Cooper?

                 By
                          Kenneth Lafler.




  






























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