The Skyjacker Who Vanished: The Case of D.B. Cooper

Oddity Shop

Welcome To The Oddity Shop, Where The Bizarre is Always on Sale. This week, your Curator Kara has the Famous Mystery of D.B. Cooper.

"I have a bomb." These four words, scribbled on a note passed to flight attendant Florence Schaefer on November 24, 1971, launched the most famous hijacking case in American history.

The mysterious passenger in seat 18E ordered bourbon and soda before revealing his demands: $200,000 in unmarked bills, four parachutes, and a flight plan to Mexico City.

After the passengers were safely released in Seattle, the hijacker – who purchased his ticket as "Dan Cooper" but would become immortalized through a media error as "D.B. Cooper" – ordered the plane to take off with just the flight crew aboard. Somewhere over the Pacific Northwest, in pitch darkness and stormy weather, Cooper lowered the Boeing 727's rear staircase and jumped into legend with the cash strapped to his body. Despite one of the largest manhunts in FBI history, Cooper's identity and fate remain unknown.
What's your theory about D.B. Cooper's fate? Call our voicemail line with your ideas about who he was and whether he survived that fateful jump into darkness.

Refs:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._B._Cooper
• https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/db-cooper-hijacking
• https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/30/db-cooper-plane-hijacking
• https://skydivecalifornia.com/blog/skydiving-statistics/#:~:text=You%20are%2C%20after%20all%2C%20jumping,1%20fatality%20in%20200%2C000%20jumps.
• https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/db-cooper-tina-mucklow-untold-story-1111944/
• https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag/florence-schaffner/#:~:text=Shortly%20after%20takeoff%2C%20Cooper%20gave,demands%20to%20the%20flight%20crew.
• https://www.reddit.com/r/dbcooper/comments/1et8lyz/what_is_your_theory_on_what_happened_to_db_cooper/

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Chapters

1. Podcast Introduction (00:00:00)

2. Personal Updates & Morning Recording (00:01:52)

3. The Northwest Flight 305 Hijacking Begins (00:06:12)

4. The Hijacker's Demands and Flight Crew Response (00:18:20)

5. Landing at SeaTac and Passenger Release (00:30:57)

6. The Daring Mid-Air Escape (00:41:17)

7. The Hunt for DB Cooper (00:47:24)

8. Theories on Cooper's Fate (00:54:12)