Air Line Pilot magazine, 'The Robin Hood syndrome' viewpoint column
Document date February 1972
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Id: Cooper-Part-01:007-007
Subject: Cooper Files: Cooper-Part-01:007-007 Document: Air Line Pilot magazine, 'The Robin Hood syndrome' viewpoint column Id: Cooper-Part-01:007-007 Page: https://cooper.theunsolved.net/documents/Cooper-Part-01%3A007-007 What is wrong (title, date, type, which pages belong together, copies)? What does the scan show?
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FBI 164-81, Vault Part 1 p. 7, News clipping, dated Feb 1972 — cooper.theunsolved.net/documents/Cooper-Part-01%3A007-007
AIR LINE PILOT VIEWPOINTS...
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The Robin Hood syndrome
Once upon a time there was an English archer named Robin Hood who lived in Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire. He gathered unto himself a band of rebels who supported themselves by robbing the rich upperclass gentry that ventured into his domain.
Over the years, Mr. Hood has been immortalized in song and poem for his legendary deeds. Many proverbs and sayings have been handed down in English literature that give this group of rogues an undeserved aura of respectability.
Legends die hard. Mr. Hood and his gangsters still occupy an honored place in story books, cartoons and films although their greedy motivations have been sanitized for young minds.
While Air Line Pilot is not in the business of destroying legends, one fact is clear. Mr. Hood was a thief, pure and simple, even though those he relieved of their gold might have been able to afford the loss.
A modern-day Robin Hood has now emerged. He told Northwest Airlines his name was D. B. Cooper when he boarded Flight 305 during the Thanksgiving holidays. After takeoff, he commandeered the 727, threatened to blow it up, demanded and got $200,000 and four parachutes and then bailed out somewhere between Portland, Ore., and Reno, Nev.
When it turned out that Mr. Cooper couldn't be promptly located, his name and dramatic deed caught the public fancy. There were some citizens who felt he had earned the $200,000 through his act of bravery and daring. A song was written about him; a Portland vendor is reportedly doing well selling T-shirts featuring a parachute desc[ending] with a suitcase full of greenbacks.
Dr. Otto Larsen, sociology pr[ofessor] at Washington University, is rep[orted to] have explained the newly [aroused] Robin Hood syndrome this way:
"We all like adventure stories[. That] hijacker took the greatest ultimat[e risk.] He showed real heroic features[—mys-] tery, drama, romanticism, a high [degree] of skill and all the necessities [for the] perfect crime.
"This man was neither politi[cal nor] neurotic. His motive was simply [$200,-] 000 and people can understand [that.]
"His was an awesome feat in t[he bat-] tle of man against machine. One [indi-] vidual overcoming, for the time [being] anyway, technology, the corp[oration,] the establishment, the system."
Although it may be comfortin[g to] some to be able to explain huma[n aber-] rations so easily, the fact remains [that] Mr. Cooper, or whatever his name [is,] committed a serious crime and [is no] less a criminal because social scie[ntists] can explain why he committed [it. He] endangered a plane-load of passe[ngers,] intimidated the crew, blackmailed [the] airline out of hard-earned cash [and] caused damage to an aircraft.
Mr. Cooper is no hero. He is [a crim-] inal in every sense of the word[. He is] being sought for an act of piracy [that] cannot be condoned or excused[.]
If Mr. Cooper is dead, justice [has] been done. If not, we have news [for] him. He is the object of one of the [most] thorough searches ever conduct[ed by] the FBI for a wanted criminal[. When] found, he will be prosecuted [to the] fullest extent of the law.
This Robin Hood will end up in [illegible — right edge cut off]
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48 AIR LINE PILOT/February 1972