Stewardess account of the hijacking, report pages 7-10
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Id: Cooper-Part-112:027-030
Subject: Cooper Files: Cooper-Part-112:027-030 Document: Stewardess account of the hijacking, report pages 7-10 Id: Cooper-Part-112:027-030 Page: https://cooper.theunsolved.net/documents/Cooper-Part-112%3A027-030 What is wrong (title, date, type, which pages belong together, copies)? What does the scan show?
A person reads every report. Corrections are made by hand, to the data — titles, dates, names, which pages belong together — never to the scans, and they can take a while to appear.
FBI 164-81, Vault Part 112 pp. 27–30 (DB Cooper-7053–7056), Report — cooper.theunsolved.net/documents/Cooper-Part-112%3A027-030
SE 164-81
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[REDACTED] was responsible for the Tourist Section on the flight and, while the plane was still parked at the terminal area, she served refreshments to the Tourist Section.
The hijacker, in seat 18-E, was the first person served and asked for Bourbon and 7-Up, and he paid for it with a $20 bill. After serving the rest of the passengers in the Tourist Section, she gave the routine Oxygen Mask Usage and Escape Route demonstration. The take-off announcement was then given and she sat in the stewardess seat located in the rear of the plane, behind row 18, occupied by the hijacker.
The Boeing 727 has three seats on each side of the aisle. Row 18 is the last one on both the right and left side of the aisle. The seats are identified from left to right as you face the front of the aircraft with A, B, C on the left side of the aisle and D (aisle seat), E (center seat) and F (window seat) on the right side.
Almost flush against the back of row 18, except for some eight inches near the aisle, is a bulkhead which forms the wall for the lavatories, located behind row 18; one on the right and one on the left. Beyond the lavatory doors is the door leading to the air stairs.
The door to the air stairs is always closed and locked, except when loading or unloading passengers. It is located straight away at the end of the aisle beyond row 18 and is perhaps some 3½ feet from the last row and is in easy reach for someone sitting in row 18.
Built into the lower portion of the door to the air stairs, is the stewardess seat which is pulled down when in use, so that a person sitting in that seat looks straight down the aisle toward the front of the aircraft. On take-off, this seat was occupied by Stewardess [REDACTED]
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[REDACTED] advised that after she had been seated about 30 seconds and as the plane started taxiing toward the runway, the man occupying seat 18-E turned around and handed her an envelope. She did not open it at once, but after he glanced at her several times, she opened the en- velope and removed a note, neatly written with a felt tip pen which stated as follows:
"Miss - I have a bomb here and I
would like you to sit by me."
[REDACTED] after a few words with the hijacker, got up from her seat, dropping the note as she did so, and sat in seat 18-D next to the hijacker.
At this time [REDACTED] came to the rear of the aircraft and having seen the note fall to the floor, she then picked it up and read the above message concerning the hijack.
The plane lifted off the runway at 2:58 PM and as it did so, [REDACTED] used the interphone to advise the pilot that the plane was being hijacked. After advising the pilot of the situation, [REDACTED] replaced the phone and ob- served that [REDACTED] who was still seated next to the hijacker, was writing the following message on a piece of paper.
"I want $200,000 by 5:00 PM in cash.
Put it in a knapsack. I want two
back parachutes and two front
parachutes. When we land, I want
a fuel truck ready to refuel.
No funny stuff, or I'll do the
job."
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[guess: specifics] [guess: others] [illegible] [guess: No] [illegible] [guess: types] [illegible] [guess: they] [illegible] THO[guess: UGHT] OF REFUEL [guess: LINE]
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DB Cooper-7054
SE 164-81
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After [REDACTED] finished writing the note dictated to her by the hijacker, she got up from seat 18-D, and stepped to the rear of the aircraft and from [REDACTED] who was then on the interphone, obtained the note and envelope originally given to [REDACTED] by the hijacker.
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[REDACTED] then took the hijacker's envelope and note, as well as the one she had written as dictated by him, and went forward to the cockpit to give them to the pilot. She was doing this while the plane was still taking off.
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At this point [REDACTED] who had been on the interphone, came up and sat in seat 18-D (aisle) next to the hijacker in 18-E.
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After [REDACTED] delivered the notes to the cockpit, she remained there at the instruction of the captain; however, after she had been seated in the cockpit for a few minutes, Stewardess [REDACTED] advised by the inter- phone that the hijacker wanted both the note he had written and the one [REDACTED] had written for him, to be returned to him. [REDACTED] then took both notes back to the hijacker.
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Both [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] were shown the contents of the briefcase which the hijacker was holding on his lap, which he said contained a bomb. The contents of the briefcase were described as a device with eight red cylinders and a wire running from the cylinders toward a large 6"x8"x2" battery. The wire had a red plastic coating, except for the last inch, which was bare, and which the man held by his fingers. He told them it was an electrical device. He said the aircraft radio should be used as little as possible.
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According to [REDACTED] the crew immediately contacted NWA via the company radio and did not alert the passengers nor did they press the Emergency Transponder Code Button, signaling a hijacking to the Control Towers, due to the hijacker's insistence of "no funny stuff."
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[guess: Pages] [illegible] [illegible]
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The pilot and NWA officials, after being apprised of the hijacking, were positive in their statements that they wanted no one else to go near the plane after its arrival at Sea-Tac, and wanted no interference in the re- fueling operation, or delivery of the money and parachutes.
The crew of the plane subsequently requested Seattle Approach Control for holding instructions in order that they could remain airborne long enough for NWA people at Sea-Tac to get the $200,000 and the four parachutes.
The passengers had been told that they were burning off excess fuel and had some mechanical difficulty.
During the approximate one hour and 15 minutes during which the plane circled over Sea-Tac, NWA representa- tives succeeded in obtaining $200,000 in used 20 dollar bills as well as two back parachutes and two chest parachutes.
During the flight from Portland to Seattle, [REDACTED] asked the hijacker why he picked on NWA. The hijacker replied,
"Its not because I have a grudge against
your airline, its just because I have a
grudge."
He then added that the flight suited his time, place and plans.
The money was obtained from the Seattle-First National Bank and delivered to NWA facilities at the airport by bank employees in an unmarked Seattle Police Department vehicle. The money was handed over to [REDACTED] Director of Flying, NWA.
The two parachutes were obtained from [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Renton, Washington, and taken to NWA facilities by taxi.
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[guess: poss] [guess: Man] was in trouble financially
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DB Cooper-7056
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Serials: SE 164-81